A Mid-Week Concert Preview, SOOpfest 2 Updates, And A New Spaceship Opening Video!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to note that former Havadder frontman Jason Roy's obituary was finally posted on SooToday on Monday, noting that he suddenly passed away at home on July 30th. Jason (who often went by Jay) is survived by his sisters, stepmother, and many others in his extended family. The obituary details his sense of humour, many friendships, love of music, and his musical talents (including songwriting), though it doesn't mention his local bands by name. Jason's battle with addiction is also touched upon, and in that respect, the family would appreciate donations by e-transfer or cheque to Save Our Young Adults in his name/memory. Cremation has taken place at O'Sullivan Funeral Home, and while there were no public services, a celebration of life is reportedly planned for a later date. This was well written and helped explain Jason's positive impact on so many, so give it a read above! R.I.P. Jay!

Today's post otherwise has new live video from a local band, info on a publically advertised house party concert, and leading off, here's a mid-week concert preview. Prolific local acoustic classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison's summer arrangement at The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post TONIGHT! This will technically be Tym's second concert appearance of the week, as he took part in the aforementioned Save Our Young Adults walk for National Overdose Awareness Day at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Monday, but between his own lack of public promotion and the somber nature of the event, I hesitate to cover it as a concert, as that's not really the point. Kudos to Tym for supporting a great cause though, drug and alcohol addiction is always worthy to advocate the fight against! Tonight's Trading Post show is the penultimate gig in Tym's seasonal run there unless it gets extended.

Regardless, the Mike Case Stage is only open seasonally, so time is ticking if you want to see Tym at this outdoor Great Northern Road stage! You can check out his hard rocking covers tonight from 6:30-8:30 PM with no cover charge or age limit. 9&10 News has a better forecast for tonight than last week, with partly cloudy skies becoming clear during Tym's sets, and temperatures expected to hover around 21°. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, here's some info on the planned second SOOpfest benefit concert! Local promoters Underground Events SSM hosted the first at a private residence on July 24th as charity drive/fundraiser for the Ken Brown Recovery Home, the $onny Vybe$ memorial, and the Soup Kitchen, and just eight weeks + one day later, they're rolling it back for the same charities. The show will again take place at an unspecified private locale ("ask a punk" for the address, lack of advertised punk bands acknowledged), and because it's not a static named location like Unnecessary Noise or the former Mellow D's Underground, I won't call it as a full public concert here, though it is publically advertised. Just ask those connected to the event for the address! This will also be a backyard potluck barbecue, similar to in July. Only one act (rap collective Fvcksxvad) are returning from last month, while party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, folk singer/guitarist Gimiiwan Ikwe, ...

...Peasant Poetry (featuring Case's Music drum instructor Jamie Talbot), and a mystery project named So Many Bees are also scheduled. Unspecified guests will also be present, as will an open mic/jam element. A very varied lineup is in store for SOOpfest II, though I do wonder, wouldn't a benefit concert like this raise more good for the intended charities if it was a truly public event at an permanent venue with an address that can be posted on social media? In any event, visit the above links (and/or "ask a punk") for more details on SOOpfest II later this month!

Finally for today, we go to a bandmate of SOOpfest promoter Mikhal Muto, namely his ASDP colleague Ralph Barber's space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening! It only took 18 days, but third video of their full set at Blaster Powerhouse on August 1st was uploaded to their Facebook page on Sunday, and it sees them playing "a fresh song" that is "something new and on the spot". Like their "Everybody's Gonna Pay" video before, this is an instrumental with Andrew facing Ralph with his back to the live audience. It's a solid driving hard rocker, but presumably because it was improvised, they noted that "(we'll) probably never play this again". In that case, good thing it was filmed, so give it a watch below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Ethereal Tomb), Soundcheck/Separate Wayz Updates, And New Videos!!

I think our backlog is sufficiently addressed enough where we don't have to post twice a day regularly (famous last words), but there's still stuff to cover, new and old alike! For this post, we have new live videos, recent updates from a local weekend cover staple, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you should know on this Tuesday morning!

Barrie doom metal trio Ethereal Tomb will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a "DIY garage show" on Monday, September 28th at Unnecessary Noise! Remember, this is the house party venue at a private residence that began being used as a location for select Underground Events SSM concerts this year, so while the address is not publically listed, the show is being publically marketed as a normal concert event at a specific venue otherwise. Fans may recall seeing promoter Mikhal Muto bring Ethereal Tomb to the former Soo Blaster in July of last year, and while this is a smaller scale event, their brand of "Turtle Island street metal" should deliver the sludgy intensity for local fans next month! The local openers will be really varied from the extreme metal to cap off the evening, including ska punk quartet ASDP (fronted by Mikhal, who opened last year's Ethereal Tomb show while still a member of Hails) and young hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe.

This all ages concert has a 6:00 PM start time, admission is $10 or "pay what you can", and as this is at Unnecessary Noise, "ask a punk" for the address (though note that ASDP are the only punk band on this particular bill). Definitely a talented spread of sounds to be had at Unnecessary Noise late next month, so visit the above links for more details!

Next up, let's touch on some recent news and notes from local classic/hard rock cover band Separate Wayz, who have technically been quiet this month as a local concern, but they've been busy in informal and out-of-town ways. On August 8th, a stripped down acoustic version of the band made the 3½ hour drive to Sudbury to perform at Her Northern Voice, a week-long concert festival honouring female singers, with Nicole, Terry, and frequent guest guitarist Travis Sharpe (Terry's Soundcheck/TNT bandmate) performing there at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre. This is basically why Nicole guested with TNT at the Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day here a couple days prior, as it served as a local teaser and warmup. Separate Wayz (+ Travis) played on the penultimate Saturday lineup, where they technically opened for Susan Aglukark, though they were part of the free matinee block before ticketed admission was enforced for the closing acts.

For what it's worth, the Sunday the 9th concert at Her Northern Voice featured a set by Lime frontwoman "Miss" Madii Schomogyi in the identical 2:00 PM timeslot, while Sudbury psychedelic hard rock band The Dirty Mystics (who debuted at The Northern Vibe Festival in 2024) also played that day. Celebrating women in the arts (not just singers) is a fantastic idea, and it's great that so many local and non-local ladies were able to rock Sudbury that weekend! Among various "sneak peaks" (sic), a video from promoters The Sudbury Performance Group was posted on Facebook of Nicole, Terry, and Travis covering The Weeknd's "Blinded By The Light", though it is unfortunately vertical and only 30 seconds long. The side-stage vantage point is sure unique. if not supremely indicative of where they were, but they sounded good here! Nicole also just hit the road again with Soundcheck (Jim & Johnny included) for an "epic crossover" gig.

The five-piece combined band headlined at the Gold Rush National Drag Race in Chapleau (this time 3½ hours north of here) on Saturday, but media and teasers from that trip north did not follow on either band's page. There is big lineup news concerning both groups that I'll touch on in this weekend's concert previews, as Soundcheck have late notice gigs this weekend (with or without this band member, I don't yet know), but visit the above links for more on Separate Wayz & Travis (or Soundcheck & Nicole), and here's the live video from Her Northern Voice!

We'll close this post with some new videos from local space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening! As you may recall, the "east end rock n' roll" act (featuring ASDP drummer Ralph Barber) played their first public gig of 2026 at an all-locals concert at Blaster Powerhouse on August 1st, and they began uploading official videos of their set to their Facebook page last week. The guys plan to "post the whole show in bits", and they clearly meant it when they said "the whole show in bits", as the first video features just Andrew and Ralph setting up before their first song! Embedded below is their first song from this set, an original named "Everyone's Gotta Pay", and at press time, they have not uploaded any more songs, videos, and/or bits from the set. This is an instrumental hard rocker that Andrew plays virtually the entire time while facing Ralph with his back to the audience, but the video was filmed side-stage, so it doesn't hurt the home viewer experience.

You don't see a lot of videos from the former Soo Blaster shot like this, so it gives a unique look at the action! I hope this is a fair comparison, but I was reminded a bit musically of Helmet from this performance, and while there were no vocals, it has a spark and a catchy groove, so give it a look below, and hopefully more official videos of this Spaceship Opening set surface!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a busy slate of mid-week concert previews and more on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Customer Service & Dos Amigos), The Krash Concert Preview, And More!!

Keeping our ongoing efforts to clear this backlog out, here's another news post on this Saturday night, which also finishes up this weekend's hard rock/punk concert previews and looks at some recent assorted updates, but let's kick things off with two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will return to Thomson Farms Cider & Winery for one night only on Thursday, August 27th! Their second and presumably final show at the 4057 Third Line West farm/winery for the season, and one of a number of Thursday-only musical acts to play there for 2026, this show was first announced earlier this week via this Instagram-only poster for Dos Amigos' late-August dates (we'll address their now-short notice Tap Room gig on Friday when we get to our next weekend concert previews). In fact, the Thomson Farms show will kick off a busy summer-ending weekend for Mikey & Dustin, who will also play previously announced shows at The Whisky Barrel the next day and at the first annual Prince Fest on Saturday the 29th, so if you like the BookcluB sister band's unplugged covers, keep all three shows in mind! As usual, Thomson Farms concerts are on their patio.

It's worth noting too that Dos Amigos members teased in Facebook "Stories" that they played a gig on a Miss Marie Lock Tour boat on August 9th. While live music has been ticking upwards on Miss Marie tours for special events, as best as I can tell from decorations in photos shared in the "Stories", this was a private event. It would be interesting to cover some proper concerts on the Soo Locks tour boats though! The outdoor Thomson Farms show on Thursday the 27th will be at 6:00 PM with no age limit or announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details!

Next up, here's another newly-announced concert from local promoters Underground Events SSM, this time on Saturday, October 24th at Blaster Powerhouse, as Halifax pop punk/emo quartet Customer Service will make their local debut here that night! A newer alt-rock group with a nostalgic sound for fans of 2000s mainstream emo and punk with some suitable song names to match, hopefully Customer Service pull a solid crowd in two months' time! Local openers will include ska punk quartet ASDP (led by promoter Mikhal "Cha" Muto), hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe (who the Facebook event page describes as "pop? punk" but I wouldn't necessarily agree), and lo-fi/anti-folk singer/guitarist Shae Tull, who will be known on both sides of the border now thanks to her varied regional concert appearances. While the show is a week before Halloween, costumes are encouraged, so keep that angle in mind!

All of the action at the former Soo Blaster has a 7:30 PM door-opening time, advance tickets will cost $20 through the local openers or at The Rad Zone (the door charge will jump to $30), and there is no age limit as usual. Sounds like a fun time for punk fans in particular, and a suitable attraction for the Halloween season to come, so see above for more on this concert!

While we're on the subject re: Underground Events SSM-promoted concerts at Blaster Powerhouse featuring ASDP, there's one taking place TOMORROW NIGHT to cap off this weekend's hard rock concert previews, to be headlined by Saskatoon "D-beat hardcore punk" band Krash! The first band from Saskatchewan that Mikhal has brought in for a concert, Krash's name is apt given their aggressive and raw brand of hardcore punk and noise rock, so they should brutalize Blaster Powerhouse tomorrow! The aforementioned ASDP will be joined as local openers by local death metal quartet Eden Plague, as the former Bear Hunters continue their local resurgence, though they revealed on their Facebook page that this will be their last show of the year before "shifting all gears to our debut LP (as Eden Plague), although we may have something big in October". What do they mean? We'll know soon!

Note that their one new original song is actually named "Primogenesis", not "Primal Genesis" as I heard at Rotaryfest. My bad, but the two sound near identical! Tomorrow's concert (which ASDP may be closing if you believe the band order on the poster) is also all ages, tickets cost just $10 in advance through the local openers and/or The Rad Zone (the door charge jumps to $15), and bands start at 7:00 PM with an expected early ending time given that this is a work/school night. Visit the official Facebook event page for more on what should be an entertaining night out of mixed genre action for metal and punk fans, and here's Krash live!

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

 

• A mystery band named Needhealer have been added to the Viscera-headlined concert at Three One Three On Ashmun this coming Saturday, as per Viscera's Instagram page on Thursday. I can't find anything concrete on who Needhealer are, where they're from, and/or what they play, but unless nothing comes out next week, you can be the first to find out at the former Back Door on Saturday! Stay tuned for more in our next weekend concert previews regardless!
• After holding the successful SOOpfest acoustic charity concert at a private Sault Ontario locale on July 24th, the aforementioned Underground Events SSM are looking into hosting a sequel to that event on Saturday, September 19th, presumably at the same place. Last month's SOOPfest featured an acoustic ASDP set, rappers Fvcksxvad, uncredited guests, and an open mic block. In the event that it has a stated location or an "ask a punk" angle, keep it in mind, especially given the presumably returning charitable aims, and click here to inquire about performing!
• A review of last month's Go North Music Festival in Richards Landing was the lead article in last week's issue of the St. Joseph Island publication Island Clippings, which you can read online at this link. While most fallout from this year touched on the festival in general or the Friday program, Island Clippings' reporter praised Wide Mouth Mason's Saturday co-headlining set for harnessing a high crowd energy. It's a good write up on the biggest points of the Centennial Grounds music festival, so give it a read above!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a single-band post about upcoming concerts from them next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Salem Trials) & Videos From Maddy's Mighty Mutts' Family Fun Day!!

With this being the quietest concert weekend in a month or so, we have some extra time to tick some more items off of our backlog, so here's a new news post on this Friday afternoon, and it includes new videos and related updates from a recent fundraiser event. However, leading off is a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT of a very heavy persuasion for next month!

In the newest concert announcement from local promoters Undergound Events SSM, Ottawa deathcore quintet Salem Trials will make their local debut on Saturday, September 26th at Blaster Powerhouse! A brutal and intense batch of original songs will be in store next month from this very heavy group, who definitely caught my attention from the off, so keep their gig at the former Soo Blaster in mind! Another Ottawa-based quintet (metalcore band The Jenova Projekt) will play Sault Ste. Marie for the first time next month, and while not ad relentless, they have an appealing hard-edged sound that reminds me a bit of Demiricous on some songs, and it will be good to have them on stage here also! Local support will come by way of space/hard rock duo The Spaceship Opening (more on them soon) and sporadically seen party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, featuring promoter Mikhal Muto on bass.

While The A.A. missed out on the most recent rap show at Blaster, this will put them in slightly closer musical range to let their double bassed, guitar-devoid brand of music find a receptive audience! This all ages concert will have doors opening at 8:30 PM, and advance tickets will be on sale soon at The Rad Zone and via the local openers for $25 (the door charge will jump to $30). Sounds like a brutal concert to me, and it trends heavier the longer it goes, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, some videos from last week's Maddy's Mighty Mutts Family Fun Day concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion have made their way online! Though the exact lineup order was never released, between 9 and 11 acts graced the stage for this dog rescue charity fundraiser on this Wednesday (which is still odd timing to me, especially given its 8 hour runtime). You can see some of what took place that day on the Facebook event page, where promoter Paige Dennie posted videos of four acts there on the "Discussion" thread. The earliest of her videos is of local hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe covering Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag", though the video only runs for 35 seconds and was shot vertically (sadly, all of Paige's videos are vertical and short). I'll be honest, I hate "Teenage Dirtbag", but 5 Dollar Bribe play it well from what I can detect, and Jayce's vocals don't wear on me like on the original, so that much is of note! Give their video a watch below!

I wanted to note re: 5 Dollar Bribe too that local classic/hard rock cover band Separate Wayz shared a "Story" on Facebook of 5DB playing during their soundcheck. Why was Separate Wayz present when they weren't playing? Well, singer Nicole Thibodeau was the "friend" (friends?) teased to be guesting with TNT (Soundcheck's Terry Eaton n' Travis Sharpe, the former also in Separate Wayz) here, and Separate Wayz also posted a "Story" of her and TNT covering "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac at the Family Fun Day. Alas, "Stories" self-destruct after one or two viewings, and are short/vertical videos anyway, so all I can do is tell you about them, but hopefully TNT went over well under the tent! Terry and Travis would perform more with Nicole this past weekend on the road, and I'll talk about that in an upcoming post. Travis was also teased in some event marketing to be guesting with Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg "The Ranting Rockstar" Simpson on this day, but he does not factor into Paige's video from Greg's set.

While being shot vertically doesn't matter for a solo musician, Paige's video runs for only 11 seconds, and it features Greg's slowed down cover of Kiss' "Rock & Roll All Nite", which is a staple of Bone Yard's "uncorked" sets, and The Bearded Lounge's concerts prior. We don't hear much, but if you like Greg's laid back take on this Kiss staple, you'll like what was filmed, as seen below!

Also filmed for the event page was (former?) Dodge This singer/guitarist Jason Taillefer, who had his keyboard ready again here, and Paige filmed him covering Coldplay's "The Scientist" for 21 seconds. Like with "Teenage Dirtbag", I must confess that I don't like Coldplay at all, but Jason at least sings this a little deeper and more matter-of-factly, and he is a talented multi-instrumentalist, as Phatstick fans will be well aware! The last of Paige's videos comes from this concert's co-headliner, namely former Haggith/Eclipse frontman Curtis McKenzie (Bone Yard 225 played last on this evening). Paige filmed him covering Collective Soul's "December", but for one reason or another, this 21 seconds-long instrumental clip can't be embedded on external websites, even though everything else in the post from that day can be. Facebook has been iffier lately re: videos randomly being unembeddable, even with no copyrighted music, so yeah, it's something to juggle at present.

What we hear sounds good, but again, no singing. Embedded below is a video of Curt at the Family Fun Day, but this was actually uploaded by Beck's Bar's Facebook page, with a hard-coded caption slapped on it in post-production to hype Curtis' matinee concert there this past Sunday. Obviously, the caption limits my ability to relevantly use it for concert preview purposes around here, but on this video (also of him covering "December" from a closer vantage point), we do get more of an actual verse with singing, and while I do think Curtis should lower his voice a tad, it's well done for what was filmed! Give it a watch below, and see more from Family Fun Day above!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for another likely news post later today! Thanks everyone!

The 2 Stoned Crows In The River Concert Preview, New Videos, And More!!

Before I kick off this post, I wanted to apologize for two missed concerts for coverage on the SMS in this busy month. The most recent is an apparent gig by local punk/alternative cover sextet BookcluB at Peace Restaurant at 250 Queen Street East this past Friday, a show implied to be on their outdoor patio based on the Facebook "Stories" promoting it (the only way the band even acknowledged it on social media; Peace never said a thing). The possibility exists that this was a private event, but if it was public, I do apologize, but I can't cover something that no one announces in a permanently sharable way! The other show was a bonus Mike Case Memorial Stage concert for Tym Morrison, who played outside of The Trading Post on Friday, July 10th, as per this Facebook event page separate from his every-Wednesday summer concert arrangement there.

Alas, this would be easy to miss given that the only distinguishing characteristic of the event page compared to his batch one for the Wednesday shows is the date, especially as a Friday show is far more amenable for concert-goers, but the event page went up with less than 3 hours to go before showtime, so it was extremely late notice anyway. Was he a last minute fill-in for someone else? Still, I do apologize, but Tym will be back there on Wednesday! Now, here's one more weekend concert preview to cap off this beyond stacked run on the SMS and some new videos from both sides of the border as we start playing catch-up!

In the last show of this final full concert weekend of July 2026, an all-local concert named "2 Stoned Crows In The River" goes down TONIGHT at Blaster Powerhouse! Promoted by Underground Events SSM, this show is so named because of two bands each with "Stone" and "River" in their names, with a "Crows" reference for good measure. In presented band order on the Facebook event page, tonight's bands (all relatively newer ones to the local scene) include indie/southern rock quartet Eli Russell & The River Fools, alt-hard rock band Riverside Stasis (in their final gig with outgoing rhythm guitarist Liam Dinsmore), "diamond rock" quartet/Doo & The Boyos spinoff Stones At The Alter, and blues/hard rock trio Stones & Crows. Not a bad lineup of rising local talent, and in many cases, familiar faces in new projects! Of course, props to Anthony Boudreau (a.k.a. Tony Stone) for drumming with both Stones & Crows and Riverside Stasis tonight too.

This is an all ages show as usual for the former Soo Blaster, it has a projected 7:00-10:00 PM runtime (just as well on a work/school night), and admission is a flat $15 at the door with no advance tickets. Whether you saw The River Fools and Stones & Crows at Rotaryfest Stage 2 last week or not, there's a lot to like from this mix of bands tonight, and while Eli's new band isn't as hard rock leaning as their fellow performers, don't bypass their talented original sound either! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, best of luck to Liam in his swan song with Riverside Stasis, and here they are live!

We'll close today with new videos, and we'll start with the first public video (that I am aware of) from yesterday's ARCH Run outside of Jay's Piston Broke Pub, specifically of local hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe's closing set! This was uploaded to drummer Chase Chapman's mom Jodi's Facebook page before being shared publically to the band's Facebook page, and sees them covering Marcy Playground's "Sex & Candy". I don't think this song suits Jayce's vocal range, especially with how low the original's are, but it's well covered overall! Bands again played on a flatbed trailer, and a tent was put up there as well, but I believe they mostly dodged rain despite cloudy overcast skies all day. Alas, while the video was shot in horizontal landscape mode, it was uploaded into vertical letterboxed dimensions, making it tiny, and I'll never understand how that keeps happening. Check out the new 5 Dollar Bribe video below, and stay tuned for more from them soon!

Finally, here's a new video from Sault Michigan punk/hard rock duo About:Blank's Facebook page from two weeks ago! Remember, Jon appears to have been just a guest bassist in their video from last month. This video sees Parker and Kade playing a new original song named "Pollution", which notably starts off with a 30 second clip where Parker expresses his frustration with pollution and they agree to write (and immediately perform) a song on the idea. A surf punk-inspired number that has a "Crocodile Rock"-ish vocal melody at points, it's a fun song, but this clearly isn't an ideal setup in terms of capturing the audio, as the guitar is extremely muffled. Not badly performed all the same, so give it a watch below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS this week, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profile and CD review before the month is up! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Lazys & WestFest II!)

Happy Canada Day to our Canadian readers! Just a quick note that the full music schedule for TODAY'S opening day of Poutine Feast was finally revealed on the You Belong SSM Facebook page yesterday, confirming that Vito Tassone (credited as "VT Music") and Josh "The Preacher" McNally will also be performing, as will unspecified indigenous performers. The official timeslots weren't given, but they're in descending performance order with Eli Russell & The River Fools up first at 12:00 PM, and BookcluB & Dos Amigos both confirmed on Instagram that they'd be at 8:15 and 4:15 PM respectively. If you're going to the plaza, have fun and stay hyrdrated! Now, here's two big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to look for in the coming months!

The full lineup for the second annual WestFest at Anna Marinelli Park on Saturday, August 8th was gradually revealed on the West Village Renewed Facebook page last month, and with this video 100% confirming the five final acts (down from seven last year), who all is heading to Jamestown next month? Surprisingly, only one band from 2025 is returning this year, and unlike last year's focus on Rotaryfest alumni (all but one act being from recent Stage 2 lineups), the four newcomers here have never played Rotaryfest in the forms you'll be seeing at WestFest II. Headlining this year are local/Collingwood folk rock quartet The Ontarians (featuring the Soo's own Frank Deresti and Chris Johns), while folk/country quartet The Golden Scoundrels will co-headline as the only return act from last year. Two familiar faces will play solo sets prior, including the solo debut of BookcluB/ex-Hails guitarist Carmen Muto!

I have no idea what Carmen's solo set will entail in terms of genres, possible bandmates, if he'll be singing too, etc., but he's an exceedingly talented guitarist for his age, so hopefully he makes a big impression! Also performing at WestFest next month is Ava Nori, the daughter of Treble Charger frontman Greig Nori, who you may recall guesting with her dad's band at their last local concert at The Machine Shop in March 2024. Ava's arguably better known for her poetry (she was interviewed about it on The Borderline, even), but come out to Anna Marinelli Park to see how she does as a solo musician! Opening on August 8th are new local alt-hard rock quintet Riverside Stasis, one year after singer Tea Emlaw headlined WestFest 1 with Handsome Sandwich in that band's final Sault Ste. Marie concert set. I have no clue if Riverside Stasis were always planned to play next month, or if they had signed up for the cancelled battle of the bands to find the opening act.

Given their pedigree (including 3/5ths of HeadFirst), hopefully they were picked on their own merits, but regardless, Sault Ontario has been snakebit for battles of the bands since the pandemic! Like last year, WestFest is a centerpiece event for The West Village Revitalization Project in their efforts to revive and bring attention to the Jamestown and Steelton areas in the west end of the downtown core, and community initiatives and causes therein. Termed as a "block party meets music festival", this outdoor event at 169 James Street will also feature local vendors and family activities, and if the same as 2025, a beer garden, so click here for full non-musical details and any to come. This year's WestFest is blocked to start and end later than last year's, with an advertised runtime of 4:00-11:00 PM, with Riverside Stasis kicking off the live music at 5:00 PM. While last year's was free, WestFest II will have admission by donation, so pay what you can to support the cause.

While Riverside Stasis are the only assuredly hard rock-leaning act next month (again, I don't know what to expect from Carmen solo), there should be a little for everyone to enjoy musically at WestFest II, and I do hope that the weather cooperates, both in terms of possible rain and the temperature/humidity next month. Kudos to West Village Renewed for keeping their revitalization going, and visit the above links for more details!

Finally, Australian hard rock quintet The Lazys will make their local concert debut on Friday, October 9th at Blaster Powerhouse! Announced late last month via this poster that bafflingly doesn't give the date (The Lazys' website and the Facebook comment replies confirmed it), this is a band that will be familiar to listeners of 104.3 The Fox, as The Lazys have far more Canadian rock radio success than American thanks to hit singles like "Too Tough To Die" & "Hot Under The Collar". While not as AC/DC-coded as their fellow Aussies in Airbourne, there's still a retro flair to their catchy brand of hard rock, and no less than Ian D'Sa from Billy Talent has co-wrote music with them, so it'll be neat finally see The Lazys in the Soo! Opening on October 9th (also in their local debut) are Winnipeg "nu grunge punk n' roll" quartet The Bloodshots, an all-Indigenous group whose described genre is pretty accurate, as they cover a lot of ground in their original music, so there's a lot to like within, and do check them out in advance!

A local opening band is to be announced for this all ages concert, which is expected to start at 8:15 PM. Advance tickets are on sale for $40 at this link and presumably at the former Soo Blaster, and the price will jump to $50 at the door. This should be a fun concert for modern hard rock fans with an old school flair, and there's three months to prepare for it, so visit the above links for more details, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews and this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Poutine Feast), New Videos, And Hails Updates!!

Before we kick off our likely last news post of June 2026, just a heads up that Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover band Tarnished had to cancel their St. Ignace Car Show matinee gig on Saturday, as per their Facebook page 22 minutes prior to showtime. A reason wasn't given, but Alex & Josh still played their acoustic Bay Mills gig that night, so Chris and/or Ron being unavailable could explain things. Disappointing given the timing, but Tarnished will return to St. Ignace for an outdoor Music By The Bay concert on September 5th! Now, here's a Canada Day SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and more recent news and notes from the last little while!

Local punk/alternative cover sextet BookcluB and their sister acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will reportedly both be among the lineup on WEDNESDAY at The Downtown Plaza as part of the opening Canada Day program for this year's Poutine Feast! Apologies for the short notice, we only caught lineup details for this year in the batch post promoting the touring poutine festival on Facebook (only the paid advertisement version lists any scheduled musical performers, not the static promotional images shared as permanent posts). After 2025 had a reduced music lineup that was never announced on social media, we at least know some of the 2026 performers, with BookcluB and Dos Amigos (neither of which have corroborated the Poutine Feast advertising) joining new local southern/indie rock quartet Eli Russell & The River Fools and classic rock veterans RPM on WEDNESDAY.

Also teased are "...and more!", but who they are isn't known, let alone the timeslots, or the entire Thursday music lineup beyond Jay Case, but we will touch on the Friday program in our next weekend concert previews. Expect games, family entertainment, other vendors, and of course, lots of touring poutine food trucks on WEDNESDAY through Sunday at the plaza, so click here for full details on the daily themes! Poutine Feast is on daily from 11:00 AM-9:00 PM, this is absolutely FREE & ALL AGES (food purchases aside), and 9&10 News is calling for partly-mostly cloudy skies, with temperatures ranging from 25-30°, so prepare accordingly for the heat. Visit the above links for more details, and here's BookcluB live at the plaza!

Next up, here's the first public video that I can actually embed here (not a "Story") from local ska punk/"crackrocksteady" quartet A.S.D.P. in concert! The band still doesn't have a formal social media page outside of Bandcamp, but this was uploaded to drummer "Just" Ralph Barber's personal Facebook page yesterday, and then publically shared to frontman Mikhal Muto's promotion agency Underground Events SSM's Facebook page. This comes from the all-local concert that they headlined at Blaster Powerhouse this past Saturday, and this may not be representative of Adam Smith Death Parade's general sound for two reasons. One is that it's not a ska punk song (rather a cover of Pennywise's "Bro Hymn"), but also because this doesn't just have Mikhal, Tucker, William, and Ralph on stage. No, everyone is on stage, from members of other bands that night (Chris Nielsen and Spencer MacGillivray among them) to other fans and friends.

If you know anything about "Bro Hymn", the community aspect adds a lot, and it's great to see everyone having a blast in what I can only assume is the last song of the night! The attendee who filmed this (I recognize him but don't know his name off hand) unfortunately shot this vertically and only for a minute, but it's a fun watch, and I wonder who brought the balloons? Check it out below, and hopefully some more public videos of A.S.D.P. surface, even without a Facebook page of their own!

Also today, here's the latest from Mikhal's old hardcore punk band Hails, who announced the addition of With Gunfire/ex-Jack Spades guitarist Anthony Orazietti to their lineup on June 3rd, replacing Carmen Muto (Mikhal's cousin). A reason for the switch was not publically announced, but Carmen didn't immediately leave when Mikhal did at the end of 2025, and he has since been confirmed as the new lead guitarist of the aforementioned BookcluB, so follow them for his next live outings. Anthony is a talented and underrated shredder, so hopefully he bolsters the ranks well with Brent & Keegan going forward! While Ha!ls' first local date of the year and with Anthony will be at the Ripcordz concert at Beck's Bar on July 18th, they will actually debut the new lineup on Friday, July 10th at the conveniently named Dock Ellis sports bar in Toronto, which will be a headlining date alongside three bands from the GTA.

Hails are a ripping live act that fans of Brent's past work as a frontman will take to with ease, and it's great to see that their six month+ break from the stage is winding down, so if you won't be in Toronto in two weeks for the new lineup's soft launch, don't miss out on the new Ha!ls lineup with The Ripcordz the following week (on Rotaryfest Saturday, even!)

Finally for today, here's some updates from local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9! The band is in the midst of their annual summer break from nightclub concerts, instead focusing on festivals and private events, but even given that, this is a quiet stretch for them, as their only public booking in Sault Ste. Marie until the fall was at Throttle Fest at Runway Park on Saturday, June 20th. If you want to get a glimpse of how the set at the outdoor motorcross/mud drag event looked, then here's a (sadly) vertical clip of Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve covering Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" late in the concert, as per their Facebook page the following day. Silent 9 were playing on a flatbed trailer at Runway Park, and there was an active crowd rocking out at this point in the night, if perhaps with a few bugs. The video is only 20 seconds long, but what we hear is well performed!

Note that the thumbnail image is from much earlier in the set for one reason or another (the video was 100% shot at nighttime), and as such, I do think that the stage lighting on the trailer made Silent 9 look too purple, especially in contrast to the outdoorsy locale, but you shouldn't be expecting Bell Border Jam II either. The description of the video does imply that Silent 9 will be back for Throttle Fest II next year, but with no Rotaryfest or Giovanni's sets this month (or anywhere else), local fans won't be able to see Silent 9 again at a public event until September, unless you wanna drive to Thessalon or White River. Give this new video clip a watch below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news, updates, and concert previews as we enter the month of July! Thanks everyone!

Saturday Hard Rock/Punk Concert Previews, Plus New Live Videos!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to apologize for not being able to get About:Blank's late notice Art In The Park acoustic matinee set at Moloney's Alley today into a regular post, but alas, they only announced their involvement on their Facebook page this morning, and they were not on the AI poster promoting the music lineup there. I'd have happily covered it here had it had been announced even yesterday, but I did get the word out on our Facebook page, at least. From here, we leave Sault Michigan to cap off this weekend's hard rock concert previews in Sault Ontario, including new videos from two of the bands in question, so here's what you should know!

We'll pick things back up at Beck's Bar TOMORROW NIGHT, and while Stones & Crows are debuting there tonight, Saturday belongs to Bone Yard 225, as the southern hard rock trio are playing a standard 9:00 PM nightcap concert and doubling up by going "uncorked" in the 3:00-7:00 PM matinee timeslot as well! The extended eight hour concert (with two hour gap) is so they can be the musical entertainment at the Biker Rights Organization's annual Shoot & Scoot motorcycle rally, which starts at the newer A&W on Great Northern Road and ends at Beck's (relocating from The Moose Lodge this year). Also at Beck's, attendees can expect a barbecue and concert action from "the dirty three", but visit the above links for what to expect at the rally, which does involve some field target shooting en route! Bone Yard have long been supporters of motorcycle riding and the B.R.O., and hopefully there's a good crowd for acoustic show #1 and plugged-in show #2!

Greg, Alex, and Warren's marathon day will have no cover charge for general attendees, and this is a 19+ event. Just two weeks removed from their last Beck's stop (which was their first electric gig in three months), hopefully things go smoothly for their southern fried hard rock originals and covers tomorrow, and that they use the 7:00-9:00 break wisely before recorking! Visit the above links for more details on your local 225's double concert and/or the Shoot & Scoot, and for a preview, here's a brand new live-streamed video of them live at the Queen Street Cruise last week! This comes from the outdoor waterfront portion of their Saturday gig during the car show (placed again near Montana's), and it features the guys covering Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music". It's a lively cover played in nice weather conditions, but the video is vertical, and it comes in midway through the first chorus.

Unfortunately, the band representative shot this video as a live-stream for their Facebook page, not a standard video, so as per Facebook's current guidelines, it will vanish from Facebook around July 20th unless they convert it to a regular video or re-upload it.  Give it a watch (while you can?) below, and click here for Greg's own highlight/behind the scenes video from the Cruise proper! No music there, but all of the band make appearances.

Next up, an intriguing package of newer and not-as-frequently seen local bands will join forces at Blaster Powerhouse TOMORROW NIGHT thanks to Underground Events SSM! Ska punk quartet A.S.D.P. (led by promoter Mikhal Muto) will play a rare headlining set tomorrow at the former Soo Blaster, while local metal trio The BAG will return to the site of their album release party in their first show since then tomorrow as the co-headliners, returning the favour after A.S.D.P. opened for them in April. Local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will end a 15 month stage hiatus when they take the stage tomorrow themselves, and it's great to see them back after way too long! Opening tomorrow is the live debut of Riverside Stasis, the new band from Handsome Sandwich, Raincourt, HeadFirst, Jack Spades, and Stones & Crows alumni. The talent is certainly there, but how will things go for their first live concert set?

Admission is $15 via advance tickets from the performers or at The Rad Zone, but the price will jump to $20 at the door. This is an all ages event that will begin tomorrow night at 8:00 PM. Definitely a solid lineup of newer and established local talent that hard rock and punk fans won't want to bypass, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and in lieu of a publically embeddable video of A.S.D.P. (remember, their social media presence is slight), here's The BAG live at the same venue!

Finally for known hard rock concerts this weekend, we'll head north to The Water Tower Pub, where local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will take the stage for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen at Minelli's 75th anniversary festival this past weekend, this will effectively be a rescheduling of their cancelled April 18th show at The Water Tower Pub due to an unspecified family emergency. Exactly 10 weeks later, they're back, and hopefully there's lots of fun classic and hard rock favourites from Valerie, Joe, Pierre, and Tony once again! I do not know who is playing at this venue tonight, but tomorrow's show will be at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. For a preview, we have some brand new videos of Generations live outside of The Marconi Hall for the Minelli's festival! Shared to the band's Facebook group in a batch post, the videos were shot by drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn.

She filmed them covering John Mellencamp's "Authority Song", Brandi Carlile's "The Story", Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69", and as embedded below, Nazareth's "Turn On Your Reciever". All have Valerie Powley on lead vocals except "Authority Song", which had Tony singing. While the videos are sadly all vertical (you don't have to accentuate the pavement like that when people aren't even standing there), the performances are sound, and this looks like a well staged event fitting a 75th anniversary! Visit the above links to see all of Dawn's videos, and turn on your receiver so you can check out the cover below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Hellrager & Krash), A New Local Band, And More News & Notes!!

Another packed news post is ready to check out for this Tuesday night, and it includes some recent shorter updates, two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this summer with a common band, and first, a new addition to our links & coverage, so here's what you should know!

We have a new-ish local band to add to our active links, and they are local alt-rock quartet The Reeves! You may recognize this band from their debut set at Toystock in November, but at the time, I wasn't sure of their general sound, aside from what their predecessor bands played. The Reeves are basically the successors to 2023-2025 alternative band The Haze (f.k.a. Skinbox), with singer/guitarist/synth player Brad Irwin (ex-Gnaeus) and guitarist Steve Edwards (ex-Pixo Control/Vol.) returning from that group. The rhythm section here is filled out by former Long Shot bandmates Adam Dawe and Jeremy Ganuelas on bass and drums, and it is good to see them back in a new project! While sound descriptions of Skinbox/The Haze pointed to them playing alternative/indie rock and Arctic Monkeys covers, the write-up on Rotaryfest's website says that The Reeves "combine elements of hard rock/blues and other genres to create their own unique vibe".

No word on if the name is an allusion to small town mayors, celebrities named Reeve/Reeves, or some other reference, but their second public concert will see them as the first scheduled band at Rotaryfest Stage 2 on Saturday, July 18th, and their set will reportedly feature "a collection of songs that will become their debut EP". No media of The Reeves is publically streamable yet, but this is a talented group on paper, and they do have descriptions pointing to a heavier sound than The Haze/Skinbox had, though be advised that Steve or Brad took down The Haze's social media pages when that band broke up. Stay tuned for more from them when things go public!

Next up, relaunched local death metal quartet Eden Plague have announced two upcoming indoor concerts that they'll be rocking out at, so besides Rotaryfest, when can you see the former Bear Hunters next? The first of the two will be on Tuesday, July 28th, when they make their debut appearance at Beck's Bar, and the headliners will be Cornwall hardcore metal band Hellrager in their first regional concert since playing at the Northern Vibe Festival in 2023! That's not for a lack of trying, as they dropped out of the last two Northern Vibes, but it will be good to see Hellrager in city limits for a change! Nice punishing sound that is reminiscent of bands like Clutch and Motorhead, and remember that guitarist Jay "Beard" Sarrazin was a member of Spades GT from 2022-2023 (playing with them at Northern Vibe 2022 as a fill-in bassist). He previously came to the Soo with his old band Caym twice in the mid-2010s.

Joining Eden Plague as openers are local metal quintet With Gunfire (the former Sault Side Squad) in their first concert of 2026 and first since finally launching their own Facebook page. Hopefully their recent break has been fruitful towards their promising original slate! Promoted by Eden Plague drummer Johnny Belanger, this stop on Hellrager's Jurassic Punk tour will have a 19+ age limit, no cover charge(!), and an early runtime of 6:00-10:00 PM, which is just as well given that it's a work/school night. This should be a fun one for metalheads across the board, with lots of familiar faces, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

The other new Eden Plague show ahead will be at Blaster Powerhouse on Sunday, August 16th, and apologies for the almost month-long delay in this making the site. Compared to the metal show three weeks prior, this is more of a genre hybrid event as put on by promoters Underground Events SSM, and it will be headlined by Saskatoon "D-beat hardcore punk" band Krash in their local debut. If you like down and dirty hardcore punk with aggressive vocals, Krash will deliver the goods, and they should take names when they rock the former Soo Blaster in two months! Note that the Facebook event page claim that "we're getting our first Saskatchewan band in the Sault!" clearly only refers to Underground Events SSM bookings, as The Sheepdogs played here in April, among other bands from there in the past. Promoter Mikhal Muto's ska punk/"crackrocksteady" band A.S.D.P. are slotted ahead of Eden Plague in the band order here, and may be the last band if you believe the poster.

While not a hardcore punk act, it's only natural that Adam Smith Death Parade get in on this one! A 7:00 PM start time is advertised on the Facebook event page for this all ages concert, and tickets cost $10 in advance (I presume at the venue and through the local openers, as I haven't seen an online ticket sale page). The door charge will jump to $15, and given that this too is on a work/school night, Mikhal pledged that the show will end early due to that. Add another intriguing concert to the pile for your summer plans, just don't krash when driving to Blaster! Visit the above links for more details on both upcoming Eden Plague shows!

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

 

• While not yet confirmed by name within the band's slim social media presence, it looks like former One Shot guitarist Tucker Lidstone has joined the aforementioned A.S.D.P., making them a quartet. Tucker had previously performed at common folk punk-leaning events with frontman Mikhal Muto, and has been pictured in recent photos with the band, including at the Write-Ups show at The Speak Easy in May (source here). No word on if he is the guest guitarist "Keagles" from their debut album "Atom Bombs & Lemonade", but hopefully Tucker is a solid addition to their live roster! 
• Remember when a mystery act named "Benny's Acoustic Thing" was booked to open the Saturday bill at The Northern Vibe Festival last year? Well, that was supposed to be Ben "Boom" Poitras, the singer/bassist for the aforementioned Hellrager, but he and the band both dropped out of last year's festival after the heavy rainstorm severely damaged the Forest Stage overnight. It would have been interesting to hear how his acoustic thing sounded, but alas, blame Mother Nature! Thanks to former Forest Stage curator J.D. Pearce for confirming who Benny was.
• This is old news now, but it looks like the Sunday Night Vinyl Series ended on 104.3 The Fox and their sister Rogers Radio rock stations at the end of 2025, as did the conceit of on-air theme weeks (which always tied in with that week's album of choice). The 8:00 PM series featured Howard Mandshein from 92.1 CITI in Winnipeg spinning a classic rock album from front to back while discussing its backstory and legacy. While inconsistent depending on musical preferences, the Sunday Night Vinyl Series was an informative listen during The Fox's first year! I would have liked to seen newer bands/albums selected though, as well as more Canadian content.

 

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