Rotaryfest 2026 Fallout (Part 2!!)

Today's second post (eight already this month!) takes us back to last month's Rotaryfest for more media and videos and whatnot from that survived the air quality index levels to rock out at Clergue Park! Check out yesterday's first post linked here for what's known to be circulating publically from the first four bands on Stage 1 on Friday, July 17th. We'll next look at the co-headliners on that Friday, namely local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush, who were filmed by the prolific Christopher Paci for his YouTube channel. Yes, Dopethrone, Three Days Grace, and Bush fans, Chris' videos for all of these concerts are among our still ridiculous backlog, stay tuned hopefully soon! Chris swung by Clergue Park late, and only filmed three videos that night, with his only Headrush video being of them covering Greta Van Fleet's "Highway Tune".  Bizarrely modern choice for them, especially given earlier marketing putting them as primarily covering 1980s music.

I am admittedly not a Greta Van Fleet fan, but Headrush do cover this song well, and it's a good match for John Anderson's vocal range! The crowd sounded receptive too, so give their Rotaryfest 2026 video a watch below, and yes, I am well aware of their Laird Fair gig, that too is coming to a proper post as soon as possible! This backlog will take some time!

Chris' other videos on Rotaryfest Friday were of North Bay classic rock cover band Just Press Play, whose lineup features long-time Stage 1 sound tech and former That's Chester/Obsession guest guitarist Dan Belanger. Rain cropped up during their set, which is obvious by the small crowd and scattered umbrellas, but kudos to Chris for filming what he did, and that includes covers of Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" and, as embedded below, Cheap Trick's "The Flame". Just Press Play sound good on these covers, with strong vocals and tight musicianship, and they did hint on their Facebook page to wanting to play here again, so hopefully (if outdoors) there's no rain or smoke to worry about! Just press play on these videos above & below!

Over on Stage 2, The Sault Blues Society took over the Friday lineup for a fifth straight year of Friday Night Blues. None of the acts have major social media presences at a level where they are posting videos online to watch on public and official sources, alas. Still, Bob Davies snapped photos of all five bands on the Second Stage that night, so click here for some really nice photos, and familiar faces lined all five groups! Moving back to Stage 1 on Saturday, July 18th, the earliest band that has a public video to my knowledge (outside of our coverage) is classic rock cover quartet Mid Life Crysis, who the aforementioned Chris Paci filmed covering 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" before he hit the road to see Bush in St. Ignace. "Voices Carry" isn't the biggest 1980s cover choice in retrospect, but it's soundly covered by this experienced and familiar local band (in their tenth Stage 1 appearance), and it lets Lori show off her vocal range!

We'll close our second Rotaryfest fallout post with the next Saturday band with public videos, namely classic rock cover quartet RPM, whose entire set was filmed across multiple cameras for their Facebook page! You can see the songs broken up in individual videos linked below, but they eventually posted a full-set video combining everything into a 49 minute watch. In order, Dino, Marcel, Rob, and Joseph played a medley of songs by The Romantics, Neil Diamond, John Mellencamp, and John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, followed by Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", John Mellencamp's "Authority Song", The Outfield's "Your Love", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Looking Out My Back Door", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way", Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me", Huey Lewis & The News' "Walking On A Thin Line", ...

...Bryan Adams' "Summer Of 69", and AC/DC's "TNT". Credit to Out & Out Country/ex-That's Chester drummer Ric Datson for helping set up the multiple cameras here, in a similar way to his Double Down footage from Rotaryfests past. While only really dipping their toes into heavier covers late, RPM are a talented group who have definitely improved as an ensemble and individually over the past decade, and they had a good crowd for their set (which I saw most of, so I can vouch for how they went over!) Give RPM's full multi-camera set a watch for yourselves below!

When we pick up our Rotaryfest fallout coverage (hopefully soon-ish), we'll look at any extant public videos from the last four bands on Stage 1, and if there's space, the Saturday lineup on Stage 2, but our next post will be a news post. Stay tuned for that and more in the near term! Thanks everyone!

Kraken Mara EP Updates, A New Local Metal Radio Show, And New Videos!!

Before we get into the meat of this post, today marks the 14th anniversary of The Sault Metal Scene's launch on July 4th, 2007, and I wanted to thank the vast, vast majority of you for your support and kind words over the years! I just wish that we weren't in a pandemic during the anniversary for a second straight year, so I won't get too self indulgent, but hopefully I can time it with a proper concert to mark year #15 in 2022! Today's sixth post in as many days (amazingly) has new videos, the impending launch of a new local internet radio show, and leading off, some new album releases (maybe?), so here's what you should know!

 

Local progressive metal duo Kraken Mara may have quietly released their debut EP "Press Start" for sale.... AND a second EP.... and I mean, quietly! The band has not publically announced anything regarding a release on their Facebook or Instagram pages (they haven't even posted on either since April), but at some point in the past month, Kraken Mara posted "Press Start" and a 3 song follow-up EP named "Game Over" on their website on Wix. Both appear to be on sale for $15 each, but when I attempted to click through to see what Wix's online storefront process is like (I have never heard of a heavier local band only putting out an album this way), neither allowed you to proceed past entering an e-mail address to get the files sent, so I am thinking that they haven't completely finalized the release. In any event, this confirms that both "Press Start" and "Game Over" are complete and fully streamable there, both remain instrumental releases, and like "Press Start", the second EP features session drummer Cliff Aubut.

"Game Over" features the song "Moon's Haunted" (a prior removal from "Press Start") and new tracks named "Escort Mission" & "Antipath", mostly shorter than what made the cut on the main EP. Even if their sale postings worked, I probably wouldn't be reviewing "Press Start" on the SMS until next month (Molten Imp are waiting in the wings already), but if you want to hear all eight songs for free until/unless you can properly buy them, click here or above, and we'll keep you posted when we hear more!

Next up, do you recall the occasional teaser from musician interviews on local internet radio station The Borderline where a guest was suggested/teased as the host of an upcoming metal-centric program? Well, one is finally debuting tonight! This has not been announced on the station's website at press time, but former Winkstinger/Twistory frontman Josh Amendola tells me that he will be hosting a metal-centric series named Metal Morpheus that debuts tonight at 9:00 PM! Naturally, the first episode will go through the roots of metal in the 1960s and 1970s, but Josh did say that local bands will be in the eventual playlist. If you can't tune in live, one imagines that episode #1 will be available for on-demand streaming after the fact, once Metal Morpheus appears on The Borderline's website. For obvious reasons, it's great that The Borderline finally has a metal show!

Adding some musical diversity beyond the occasional interview or one-off interview is very welcomed, and it's nice that it's slotted earlier than you may expect for a metal radio show on an otherwise non-metal station! There are unknowns yet, but tune in to Metal Morpheus tonight at 9:00 PM to hear how Josh does in episode #1, and I apologize again for the delay in mentioning this on the SMS! He originally caught me in a busy stretch what with all of the new concert announcements in the area, no hard feelings whatsoever!

We'll close today with new videos, starting with a new cover of Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" from ex-Garden of Bedlam frontman Erik "Buzz" Boissineau's YouTube channel on Friday! His first upload there in three months, this vocal/acoustic guitar rendition lets you hear a higher and softer aspect of Buzz's range that isn't as apparent from his proper bands, and while I prefer later, more progressive Radiohead songs, this is well done across the board! Give Buzz's newest cover a watch below!

Finally, here's a new instrumental jam video from veteran local hard rock guitarist Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel on June 23rd! An progressive rock playthrough alongside pre-recorded drums by Washington-based drummer Bill Ray, Mike suggested in the description that this isn't finished and may have had a timing slip-up, but it sounds fine so far! Smooth and melodic, well handled by a prolific musician who knows complex prog rock very well, and it's nice to see more new content from Mike's YouTube channel, so give this video a watch below, and hopefully we hear more from Mike soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site later this week! Thanks everyone, and to all of our American readers, have a happy Fourth of July!