LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Viscera), The Second Downtown Street Party Preview, And More!!

Here's a new news post on this Wednesday morning, which includes a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month and a clarification on what's airing on one of our two local rock radio stations, while this post also serves as a bit of a soft launch for the busiest weekend of the year around these parts via a preview of a big outdoor concert tomorrow night. Let's get things rolling!

Sault Michigan hardcore punk trio Viscera will play their next local gig on Saturday, August 22nd at Three One Three On Ashmun! Announced via their Instagram page on Monday as part of this concert calendar (also confirming a new return to Marquette on August 1st), the local date will see Viscera headline at the former Back Door, in what is being branded as from "Soo Tang Records". Is that Viscera's own in-house promotion agency, and is Soo Tang for the children? Viscera made their local debut at Three One Three in March, and for their encore there, they are looking for support bands, so if you're interested in hopping on this bill, message their Facebook page or above for more information! This concert takes place at 7:00 PM, it is presumably 21+, and while admission fees aren't given yet, the March show there (which featured Marquette metal band PonyWorm) cost $10 in advance & $15 at the door.

While we're on the subject, Viscera released their first ever music video to their new YouTube channel on June 6th! Their first studio original song since adding bassist Chris Lovins to their ranks, this is entitled "Chinga La Migra" (Spanish for "Fuck Immigration"), which sets the tone for a politically charged anti-ICE music video, though it's more of a lyric video, as you don't see Bob, Chris, or Mitchell on camera. In your face with strong opinions that will especially resonate with many Yoopers, and it leans into hardcore punk well, though the slower, more melodic choruses kinda stunt the momentum. Give it a watch/listen below, and stay tuned for more from Viscera and their Three One Three show next month soon!

Next up, here's our preview of TOMORROW'S second Downtown Street Party in Sault Ontario for 2026! As these move west along Queen Street East, Street Party #2 takes place on a closed block of Queen from Brock Street to Elgin Street (the former RBC to the courthouse), but as this stretch is adjacent to to the Downtown Plaza, there will be more going on during the festivities. Local vendors will be on site, along with beverage gardens, food for sale, kids activities and games (in a proper Kids Zone, no less), and numerous Queen Street businesses will be open en route. The Downtown Plaza will play host to Nicole Does Trivia at 7:00 PM, followed by a free screening of Jaws 1 at 9:30 PM, and of course, this all happens concurrently with day #1 of Rotaryfest at nearby Clergue Park. Visit You Belong SSM's Facebook page for complete details on the non-musical portions of the second Downtown Street Party!

Like with last month's inaugural party since the City took over booking these from the former Downtown Association, there will be bands on two "stages", one at Brock Street, but the other will be at the turnoff for March Street (near The Queen's Tarts) rather than Elgin. Not as a far of a walk that way! The Brock Street Stage will play host to this event's likely only SMS-amenable act, namely acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos, who claimed on their own social media to be playing at 8:15 PM. The apparent headliners there are classic rock trio Flathead Ford (who said that they'd be on at 9:30 PM), and You Belong SSM have curiously not said who the third/opening act will be, referring instead to "more hometown heroes" and "so much more". We'll let you know if anyone is clarified! As for the March Street Stage, local country musician Brendan Hodgson is headlining there at 9:30 PM.

Classic country band The Stumpy Coldwater Trio gave their start time as 7:00 PM, leaving Rusty McCarthy (now alongside his regular partner Maja Bannerman) to likely be playing in the 8:00 PM hour. Remember, this is not an official Rotaryfest event, but as there's no Stage 2 bill tomorrow, the shoe kinda fits, even if this isn't on the same block of Queen as the Second Stage used to be held on! Downtown Street Party #2 is FREE & ALL AGES with a 6:30 PM start time, and 9&10 News is calling for mostly-partly cloudy skies tomorrow with no chance of rain, and temperatures ranging from 17-21°. Should be a fun time for all, with a dash of punk to boot, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Dos Amigos live!

Finally, I wanted to follow up on a brief note from last month where I mentioned that 104.3 The Fox and their sister Rogers Radio rock stations in Kingston and Northern Ontario have stopped airing the Winnipeg-based Sunday Night Vinyl Series, let alone on-air theme weeks. Based on what I have heard listening to 104.3 FM in recent months, as well as listings on the station websites and lack of promotion therein, it looks like Rogers have quietly dropped three more scheduled programs from the air no later than January. These include the Classic Rock Lunch with Lew McDonald (weekdays at noon), This Week In Rock with Adam Kane (Saturdays at 11:00 AM & 6:00 PM), and The Church Of Rock with Cosmo Grant (Sundays at 9:00 AM). All of the above hosts (including Howard Mandshein of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series) remain as on-air talent with Rogers rock stations, and Lew is still our afternoon DJ.

This leaves just the two zoo crew shows (Brock & Dalby and Biggs & Barr), individual DJ blocks, and Classic Rock Sundays as the only regularly scheduled programs on 104.3 The Fox, though if you miss Howard, Adam, and Cosmo, you can still hear them on Seekr via 92.1 CITI in Winnipeg or CHEZ 106.1 in Ottawa. Losing these shows is clearly a Rogers call and not the Soo's fault, and I haven't seen a public statement as to why these shows all ended at around the same time, but variety of the spice of life, and I do hope that Rogers try again with new scheduled programming in the future! That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Sykotyk Rampage - "WYRD Radio 3: The Midnight Horror Show" Album Review!!

It's now time for our 200th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and I wanted to briefly thank everyone for following along this long for us to get to that milestone number after over 16 years of reviewing one local metal, hard rock, or punk album every month! As our extensive backlog of new album releases continues being rifled through, review #200 is of local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage's 71st album "WYRD Radio 3: The Midnight Horror Show"! Independently released to their Bandcamp page around August 10th of last year but given a September 1st release date by the band, this was the only album of 2025 for this prolific veteran group, and their third concept album based around programming on the fictional WYRD radio station. As always, this album was recorded in their usual improvised nature at River Front Recreation Studios.

"The original crash band" are represented by singer/drummer Paul Becker, his brother Dirk on guitar and vocals, guitarist Shane Kokis, and bassist Tony Briglio, with former bassist/Paul's son-in-law Brian Cattapan guesting on one track. "WYRD Radio 3" is on sale on Bandcamp for $15, and while you can stream the whole album for free there, consider buying it to support Sykotyk Rampage's work! With 30 tracks (a double album if released on CD) running for over 2 hours and 22 minutes, let's begin this lengthy review!

While I have yet to review the first "WYRD Radio" album from 2015, I did review the sequel "Kype The Jesus Boots" in 2022, and the concept nature carries over via the loose format of this being alleged on-air programming for the station, featuring Tony and synthesized robot voices recording bumpers and DJ segments. While "WYRD Radio 2" ended with a teaser that next week's show would be about alien abductions, the third album of the series is not the realization of that claim. Here, your "DJ" is named Zara, and the album opens with the spoken word track "WYRD Witch A1", which is set up as if we're in for 2 hours of progressive jazz from a band named Bebop Devoe, but before the first song can play, the station is hijacked by some kind of supernatural beings led by an "orange demon" (also a speech synthesis voice), who takes over the station and plans to devour our souls!

The demon substitutes the jazz for his own evil music (re: new Sykotyk Rampage originals), and the first one is "Succubus", which is 9 minutes long, and that's not even the longest song here! A slow, bass-led jam track with Paul on vocals (plus the ominous female voices threatening to kill us that first popped up in the opener), this is well played but it meanders for way too long on the same trajectory without a major change in tempo or structure, and I'd have chopped this one at least in half before compiling the album. The second proper song is "What You Gave Away", a much shorter but still almost 6 minutes-long track that is a little more lively while still having a sludgy jam essence. Not a bad showcase for Dirk & Shane on guitar, and it drives along well, but if you like their more freewheeling crash rock stylings, the album doesn't start off in such an upbeat way.

Fourth up is "Warlock", running for an album-long 9:11, and this is very reminiscent structurally to "Succubus", but it is at least more animated for Paul's vocals, and it does build in intensity with shouted vocals at the midpoint, though they do come off a little over-processed. Tony's steady bass work keeps things driving along, and there is more of an animated vibrancy to the riffs and pacing, including a late guitar solo, if layered under vocals. Definitely an improvement from "Succubus" for this album's two 9+ minute songs, but this again could have been heavily edited down. We take a brief pause from the music for to return to WYRD Radio via "WYRD Weather A2", where we get a weather report, and if you remember that an orange demon is enslaving the planet and killing us all, you can imagine that it'll be hot out! Tony appeared to voice the meteorologist for this segment.

Apparently, Sykotyk Rampage are partially known in this album's story as "Frankie Flesheater & The Burning Cowpat", who are the orange demon's favourite band, so now you know! The next "hardcore ditty" is named "Krazy Dragon Krossing", which is a fuller composition and nowhere near as long or drawn out as the previous, but it feels too tinny and processed, like they caked it in effects in post. The original raw recording would have been preferable, but it's a good mid-tempo rocker that is ticking things a little closer to how I like my Rampage! The dragon phase of the album continues with "Dragons At Wing", a more laid back rocker that has a bit of a funk essence to it, and it does pick up a bit in tempo and energy in the back half, with the closing bridge giving me "Called In Dead" vibes. It's good to see some more of the freewheeling Sykotyk Rampage late, and Paul's drumming works well, so it's an early highlight on the album!

The final dragon-themed song is "Castle Of The Dragon's Teeth", and despite is relatively short length compared to the proper songs before it, this is another measured rocker that doesn't get too wild and raucous. The processing and filtering is taken way too much of here, as I can barely hear Paul's singing and the song just has a fuzz to it that really impairs everything except the bass. Definitely a low point for the songs so far, as it just plods along in a haze. We pause for a commercial break next via "WYRD Cobra A3", which runs for an album-low 98 seconds. This has "The Crimson Nipple" (a British TTS voice) endorsing the Iron Cobra, the ideal vehicle to drive in Hell, and it's laid over a brief Sykotyk Rampage song that is otherwise not on the album without the copy. It's sad, because the "Iron Cobra" song was really promising and heavy, and I'd have recorded an extended & clean version here!

Full music returns with "Arc Of Darkness", which has an extended feedback-heavy intro including some hard-to-decipher female vocals (which resurface at the midpoint), but when the song fully gets going, it again suffers from having the recording being layered in effects or filters, as I can't make out Paul well again. The song is clearer and more defined though, with Dirk and Shane's guitar soming through in sections, but it kinda comes and goes in clarity like a radio station reception. The raw performance would be ideal, but even then, it wasn't at the rollicking levels I best like from them. Afterwards is "Harpies Bring Your Death", which doesn't really reinvent the wheel from the songs heard so far. Better and much cleaner post-production, and Paul's vocals are much more distinct, so it is a better song than we've recently had, but it does nothing I haven't heard before on the album.

On "Lich Queen's Sextoy" (they titled it, not me!), this has more of a trancey, psychedelic vibe while still being unquestionably sykotyk. Paul is on vocals here, but we again have the layered filtering taken to the nth degree here, as this song may as well be an instrumental with how quiet he is! The song is at least a change of pace that lets the guys show off some more diverse influences, so it works on that basis (the last 45 seconds is raw banter after the guys recorded this song in studio). Next is "Wicked This Way Comes", which has spacey beeping and hard-to-decipher spoken word (is that Shane?) laid in with a spare, deliberate composition. Paul does sing on this track late, but again, it's muddy background vocals that I can barely hear, and I don't know why they're leaning on that so much. Some creative aspects to this track add some zest, but this isn't a driving rocker like what works well for the guys, at least for me.

Next is another station break via "WYRD Traffic A4", as "Professor OCD" (another synthesized British voice) is delivering the traffic report, and given that demons and zombies are wreaking havoc across the planet, you might want to stay at home! The second half of "WYRD Radio 3" begins with "Rich Demon", and this is a down-and-dirty blues rocker that thankfully lets us actually hear Paul's singing. Tony shines on bass here, and I appreciate the more direct lyrics, but it's not the carefree punk-influenced rocker like I best enjoy from the masters of the crash. "Young Power Of Yung" follows with a scratchy funk rock guitar line that is a fun little shake-up for the album as a whole, but it's all that this song really has going for it. Paul's vocals are again heavily buried in the mix, the other instruments don't play a prominent role, and not much happens in its runtime. This honestly feels like an unfinished song, and I'd have worked on it more.

Track #17 is "Cruel Soul", which is a leisurely paced blues rocker that at least has clear vocals from Paul, strong bass, and a distinct structure that doesn't overstay its welcome. While well performed for what it is, I do wish that this apocalyptic, planet-destroying concept album had more intense hard rock numbers! Then we have "Dreamspell", a fitting name for this slower and more ethereal (by their standards) track, and in that respect, Paul's vocals being too layered and inaudible helps! I get how it might fit the album theme, but if you've come for "crash rock", this is too much of a diversion, and it just lies there. After being sent to Hell during the events of "WYRD Witch A1", actual station DJ Zara returns on "WYRD Crisps A5" as subservient to the orange demon, where she introduces the next songs from Sykotyk Rampage, but not before running a commercial for Zombie Brain Crisps.

Let's just say these aren't the chips you're used to seeing at the store! The next proper song is "Steam God's City", which is the first song on this album featuring Dirk on vocals, albeit sharing with Paul. It's good to hear Dirk's quavery punk snarl trading off with his brother here, and everyone's clear and in the foreground, but the song itself isn't too musically involved and has a spare, empty quality. Not my favourite composition but the vocal variance is noted! After that is "Giants", a 6 minute jam rock number that has Paul singing about the invading giants. Nice direct and suited lyrics for the album concept, but the song itself gives no horrific vibes to match, as it's just a repetitive blues rock number that moves along one track without ever shifting gears. The penultimate station break is next, entitled "WYRD Resistance A6", where an ogre battalion resistance leader (another British TTS voice) calls on humans to stand up and fight.

The resistance has reclaimed WYRD Radio from the demons and killed the invading DJs, but can mankind defeat the orange demon and the rest of his minions? This announcement is oddly played twice, once with the echoed effects used for "Zara" on "WYRD Crisps A5". The next three songs are allegedly the resistance's battle cry (though still Sykotyk Rampage), starting with "Ogres Hunt Trolls", and this is similar in pacing and structure to "Giants", but it has a little more in the way of guitar flourish. Nothing shocking to report here, if you like what the Beckers and crew have been up to far, you'll like this, but it's not peak SKR for my preferences. Next is the longer "Sword Of The Dreamlords", which is a drawn out and (dare I say) proggier composition that, while not heavy or speedy, does let the guys stretch their legs a bit.

By no means is this a favourite song (it's wanders and the buried vocals from Paul return here), but it's effective at what it's trying to be! Next is "Bridge Of The Troll", and a fuller sound with good distortion makes this a better track than many on offer, and Paul's singing is a little clearer, if still bogged down in background effects. Just too laid back and casual for an alleged "battle cry", you know? The last station break here is "WYRD End A7", where Zara (freed from her demonic enslavement) returns to thank everyone for listening to the midnight horror show, though specifics on how the orange demon was defeated will have to be deciphered out of song lyrics. Zara sets up "The WYRD Radio Touch Me Softly Music Hour" next featuring romantic songs, and a French AI voice takes over to set up the programming ahead. The album ends with four songs ostensibly from this show.

Of those, the first is "Systemic Shock", which notably sees the return of late 2000s-early 2010s bassist Brian Cattapan (I don't know if Tony is on this track too or not). How "romantic" this song is will be very much up for debate, but amazingly, it took surviving the attempted apocalypse and hellscape to get something more akin to what I most like out of Sykotyk Rampage! Brian's uncle-in-law Dirk sings lead here, and there's good energy and attitude here befitting the title, and while I think the song is way too long, it's fun for long-time fans and easily a favourite track on the album! Next is "Nightmare", which Dirk also handles vocals for, and this is a power pop song that sharply contrasts from his sharp and angry vocals that suit the title theme! If you like songs like "Lowest Of The Low", the vocals are not dissimilar, but the song is very casual and easy going with fun guitar riffs. Not a bad change of pace!

The second-to-last track is also the shortest proper song here, "Francois' Wonderland", which sees Paul return to lead vocals for the last time on the album, and this is more akin to their earlier and better known bluesy rock songs with clear and more melodic singing. Dirk and Shane deliver fun swingy guitar riffs throughout, and while it can be a tad repetitive, it's a short listen. This is a song that would play well live if they ever returned to concerts! "WYRD Radio 3" ends with "Swipe Right To Die" (maybe we should switch dating apps!), and while Dirk is singing lead, this is a more drawn out, reserved song like much of the "midnight horror show" content. The title's threat only really feels matched via Paul's backing vocals. Not a bad composition, but too long and meandering compared to what I prefer.

Having survived the orange demon's attempted annihilation of Earth, what are my final thoughts on "WYRD Radio 3"? Honestly, it's a step down in quality from 2024's "Waerlogas Sagas 1" and reminds me in ways of what might have happened if 2023's "69" had an overarching concept. Sykotyk Rampage's brand of crash rock is not everyone's cup of tea, but I like them best when they're playing energetic freewheeling jam hard rock, and this album had little of that until the midnight horror show story had wrapped up (the three songs before "Swipe Right To Die" were my favourites here). When the demons were on the warpath, this album was often very slow, deliberate, and meandering, not helped by the 23 proper songs having an average length of 5:31. My biggest issue was a sporadic one, but why were Paul's vocals so heavily processed or buried in the mix on many of the included songs?

For such a heightened and evocative sci-fi story, I'd have been accentuating it with clear vocals across the board, let alone more with more forceful and heavy music. I assume the tempo choices were to set an ominous mood, but I rarely felt chaos and despair. It's not a bad album, everyone performs to their strengths, with strong guitar and bass throughout, but I'd have made different tonal and post-production choices. See what you think at the above links, and I hope you guys liked this month's album review! No rest for the wicked with our backlog, as next month's album review will be of alt-hard rock band Handsome Sandwich's sophomore album "Collage"! Look for that and much more next month! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Sole Aggressors), More From Them, And A New Album Release!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to note a late concert cancellation from yesterday's rainy weather, as local hard rock/classic metal quartet Tarnished did not perform at American Legion Park in St. Ignace for their planned Music By The Bay outdoor concert. While The Nameless' outdoor show in Goetzville went on despite the forecast, Tarnished confirmed on their Facebook page that their concert was off last night at 6:32 PM, 28 minutes prior to when it would have began (note that they never plugged the show on Facebook prior to then). Disappointing, but Mother Nature can be inconvenient at this time of year. Hopefully Tarnished try again for the Music By The Bay series in 2026!

Today's post otherwise features a new local album release, and leading off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related band breakup, as Sault Michigan punk trio The Sole Aggressors will reportedly play their final public concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this via their Facebook page yesterday (their first Facebook post since March, though they have played live and plugged shows via Instagram since). The 2023 LSSU Battle of the Bands winners revealed that they are disbanding "due to recent events... before we all part ways for college". While they didn't elaborate on what the "recent events" were, The Sole Aggressors are far from the only example locally of a high school-aged band splitting up due to members moving out of town after grade 12. TOMORROW'S show will take place in the garage at guitarist Brett Siesel's residence, and the address is on the poster.

While the show will technically be all ages, they "ideally" request no alcohol or drugs on the premises. The concert takes place TOMORROW at 7:00 PM, and there is no cover charge, but they will be selling merchandise and taking donations. It is worth noting that The Sole Aggressors were also supposed to play at an outdoor house party concert in Thessalon, Ontario yesterday featuring loads of familiar Sault Ontario names across multiple genres, but even if Thessalon was within our coverage range (it's over an hour from Sault Ste. Marie), it too was rained out. The Sole Aggressors made a solid name in their two year run via their battle win and by being a rare example of an E.U.P. band to play in Sault Ontario (let alone more than once), while also being a pure punk band, which has never been common in Sault Michigan. Even if they never have a reunion, they made their mark in multiple ways, and have a solid sound and quality original music.

Of course, best of luck to Brett, Calvin, and Isaac (and Henry) in whatever lies ahead for them, but send off The Sole Aggressors in style TOMORROW NIGHT, and for a preview, here's one of three full concert videos from their YouTube channel that we have yet to feature on here! How I've been slacking on their YouTube channel in the past year, I don't know, but I'll get to all of their uncovered videos there soon, and we'll start with their set opening for Dick Texas at a Serious Business-promoted concert at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley in November of last year. The 39 minutes-long set was actually filmed by Dafter solo musician Molly Escherich and her mom Tiffany, and in order, the guys played "Down By The Bay", "State Of The World","Teenage Guide", "Kill Thy Neighbour", "False Hope". "Fast Punk For Fast Food", "Time To Commercialize!", "Reject", "Melted Plastic", "Hypocrite", "Kill A Celebrity", "Ventilation", ...

... "Tale Of An American Hero", "Fool", and "Heil Artificiality". While re-arranged in the order, every song from their set at Pickles in August 2024 is featured here, alongside "Tale Of An American Hero" & "Heil Artificiality" as new additions. Camera angles are all stationary here, but the Escherichs did move it a few times, particularly closer for the last two songs. Not a packed house but there's some loyal fans on the floor throughout. Maybe they're blocking the camera a bit, but The Sole Aggressors have a strong and in your face punk sound that comes through really well in this full set video with a slowly improving stage presence. Give it a look below, and go see The Sole Aggressors one last time in the Soo TOMORROW NIGHT!

Finally for today, here's a surprise album release, as Sault Ontario "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage released their 71st studio album onto their Bandcamp page last week! Entitled "WYRD Radio 3: The Midnight Horror Show", this is a thematic sequel to their prior "WYRD Radio" albums from 2015 & 2022, themed around the pretense of the songs being played on a fictional radio station. While the end of 2022's "WYRD Radio 2: Kype The Jesus Boots" hinted at their next "broadcast" being about alien abductions, this album has a fantasy epic theme not unlike last year's "Waerlogas Saga 1: Konfysion Of Fyck", though not sharing that storyline or multimedia comic book spinoff. As usual, "WYRD Radio 3" was recorded at The Cave completely improvised, and was mastered at their own River Front Recreation Studios, with singer/drummer Paul Becker, guitarist/vocalist Dirk Becker, guitarist Shane Kokis, and bassist Tony Briglio all back here. The album is well over 2 hours in length with 30 tracks.

While this may seem like a lot for a local hard rock album, remember that "WYRD Radio 2" had 40 tracks and would need three CDs if sold thusly. While Sykotyk Rampage have a presence on major streaming services, I believe the new album is currently a Bandcamp exclusive, though note that they officially list "September 1st" as the release date there. In any event, you can buy it on mp3 there for $15 or stream it for free. Without ongoing backlog of new album reviews on the SMS, "WYRD Radio 3" is currently pencilled in to lead off 2026 on the SMS, so look for that in January, and check out the album above! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more soon! Thanks everyone!

Our Recap Of Bone Yard 225's Interview On The Borderline!!

It's been a while since we've talked about on-air content on local internet radio station The Borderline (they haven't had a lot of new hard rock/punk-leaning programming beyond what's in their music rotation in a good while), but on Wednesday, local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard 225 were interviewed by Adrian Vilaca on the Smart As Trees podcast! This is the first Smart As Trees episode that's really crossed the SMS' radar since their Clusterfolk episode in 2022, believe it or not. The interview is conducted by Adrian with all three members of Bone Yard, and just a warning before listening that there is some adult language. After introducing Greg, Alex, and Warren, the interview proper begins with frontman Greg Simpson acknowledging their beginnings in 2009 as a country cover band with him singing and playing guitar, with his old band Stiffler's Mom coming up along with Warren's own original music.

The reasoning behind tacking "225" to their name is finally brought up in an online context next, as the band wanted to differentiate themselves from the multiple other bands elsewhere named Bone Yard without rebranding fully, so a friend inspired them to add the number 225 based on placement of B and Y in the alphabet (B is the 2nd letter, Y the 25th), a'la biker codes, plus the existence of the angel number 225. Despite my initial assumption when the name extension was announced last year, it is not a reference to the United Steelworkers Local 2251, which I was corrected on at the time. After addressing the band's own colourful language and imagery, they introduced their debut original song "F.A.F.O." (as in, "fuck around & find out"), which is played on-air at the 7:10 mark. When the interview resumes, Adrian asks about the sing-along aspect for that track and how it went over when Bone Yard first played it live.

Next, we hear about their live shows and their recent runs of shows in Sudbury, plus planned on-the-road gigs in Thessalon and Kirkland Lake this summer, and Greg said that they're apparently exploring the possibility of playing shows in the United States. Warren did note that they're looking at writing new originals and working on a few new covers, seemingly implying that they might be doing a studio cover or two as well, and they're also trying to garner a loyal cult following as they continue getting their name out there. As of recording the interview, they had 79 shows booked for 2025, and the guys credited their support system as well, before their second single "Gypsy Spell" was played at the 18:45 mark. When the interview picks back up, Adrian asks the band about their charitable involvement in Toystock (for Christmas Cheer) and the Dragonfly Run (for ARCH), and what inspired them to support these causes.

The late Tyrone Souliere (Alex's former Mojo bandmate) is invoked here when discussing their support for ARCH and fighting cancer. Next, they discuss the fan support that they get, with the band criticizing the costs involved to both go out to see live music, and for venues to have the setups to host full rock bands, especially post-pandemic, while not being afraid to speak up about their issues with the state of live music in spite of the talent performing in the Soo. After discussing their belief to question things and debate the issues, Adrian plays their newest song "Fuck!" at the 35:35 mark. In the last three minutes of the interview, Adrian asks what Greg, Alex, and Warren's "desert island discs" would be (as in, if you were stranded on a desert island, what albums would you want to listen to indefinitely?), before closing with plugs for their social media and the guys giving Adrian a t-shirt, as seen in the teaser video below!

Uploaded to the band's YouTube channel prior to the interview's live debut on The Borderline, it features an on-air plug for the station from your local 225, plus photos from the interview and sample audio of their own music. Overall, this was a good interview that set things up well for fans of Bone Yard as they enter what should be their biggest year yet! Given how long they've been running, the fact that they're making such a push into original music and tour dates in 2025 is very neat, and while I did have some trouble differentiating Greg & Alex's voices, it's an informative listen for fans of "the dirty 3", so give the full interview a listen at this link, and stay tuned for more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!

Details On The Fox 104.3's Saturday-Sunday On-Air Schedule!!

Today on the SMS, we're outlining the weekend schedule on The Fox 104.3 FM, which is quite different than what listeners to CJQM will be accustomed to from Monday-Friday! Remember, there is no "Shows" tab on the station's website yet, but the schedule is more or less verbatim to what you'll hear on Q92 in Sudbury and their sister stations in North Bay, Timmins, and Kingston. After spending much of Saturday mornings on autoplay music rotation, the first scheduled program of the day is This Year In Rock, which airs from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM with a re-airing from 6:00-7:00 PM. Hosted by Adam Kane of 92.1 CITI in Winnipeg, he looks at ten notable rock songs from a given calendar year, while he also outlines historical events and milestones from the year in question, often with a Canadian slant. The local premiere episode from January 11th was on 1976, while this Saturday's episode focused on 1978.

This show is roughly comparable in purpose to the syndicated Time Warp with Bill St. James on Sault Michigan's Rock 101, though Time Warp is four hours long and has more of a sonic collage of audio clips beyond just songs (also, the two shows do not conflict, as Time Warp runs on Saturdays from 6:00-10:00 AM). I like hearing more modern tunes than what This Year In Rock has focused on so far, but classic rock fans should be into it, and Adam's trivia and facts add some spice! From 12:00-6:00 PM on Saturdays, you'll hear Dan Koo (the Country 104.3 holdover in the 2:00-6:00 PM weekday timeslot) back in the booth, and after the This Year In Rock replay at 6:00 PM, the last scheduled program on Saturdays from 7:00-9:00 PM is The Biggs & Barr Show with Pastey Jamie, the Ottawa-based zoo crew show heard on The Fox weeknights from 6:00-8:00. Less unique programming, but there's lots to enjoy for rock fans!

For the record, Biggs & Barr were followed on Saturday the 11th by the syndicated Greg Beharrell Show from 9:00 PM-2:00 AM, but Greg's show has not visibly resurfaced on the former Q104 since that night. If you liked what you heard on the first three nights after the format change, or are curious as to how Greg is on air, click here to find his current affiliates!

Lastly for the regular schedule on The Fox 104.3 is the biggest diversion of all, as Sundays there are Classic Rock Sundays! From 6:00 AM until midnight, CJQM and their sister rock stations devote 18 consecutive hours to music almost entirely from the 1960s-1980s, which will please classic rock fans and former The Bear listeners to no end! In terms of scheduled programming, Sunday's first show (from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM) is the Church Of Rock, which is hosted by Cosmo Grant out of CHEZ 106 in Ottawa. This program is loosely themed around being an actual Sunday church service, with Cosmo's "sermons" being trivia and context on certain songs. Informative program with a good range of classics, and I even heard a couple of 1950s songs on air during the Church of Rock! Note that the show's first hour does run opposite the last hour of The Chop Shop with Steve Black on Rock 101, in case you're planning what to hear.

From 12:00-8:00 PM on Classic Rock Sundays, DJs are in the booth, with the first being "Big" Kris Bawden (a.k.a. BK) until 4:00 PM. BK isn't otherwise an on-air personality on The Fox or Q92, but he is also out of CHEZ in Ottawa. The Fox's weekday afternoon DJ Lew MacDonald takes over from 4:00-8:00, and he is definitely well tuned to classic rock, as he also hosts the Classic Rock Lunch from 12:00-1:00 PM on weekdays. The last scheduled program of the weekend is the Sunday Night Vinyl Series, which airs at 8:00 PM and seems to have a somewhat variable end time. Each week, host Howard Manshein (also out of CITI in Winnipeg) plays a notable rock album in full, from front to back, while adding trivia and context before and afterwards, as well as at the midpoint when the vinyl would be flipped over from side A to side B (nice touch!) For the local premiere episode, the album played was Rush's "Moving Pictures".

Last night's album was Van Halen's 1978 self-titled debut, and if you noticed that both albums were by the band who was spotlighted with their very own "week" of coverage and extra songs played on air, you're not alone! I don't know whether the Sunday Night Vinyl Series selection is made prior to or as a result of what band gets the weekly focus, but keep that in mind going forward! It does go head to head with the second hour of the modern hard rock-focused hardDrive with Lou Brutus on Rock 101, so make note of that as well. Beyond the possibility of the Sunday Night Vinyl Series album being post-1989, I did catch at least one instance of a 1990s song being played during Classic Rock Sunday (Colin James' 1990 hit "Just Came Back" was definitely played one week ago), so the 1960s-1980s focus isn't 100% ironclad. Personally speaking, I honestly prefer The Fox's general rotation to Classic Rock Sundays, but there are still lots of good tunes then!

Myself, I do want to hear modern stuff along with older songs, but 18 hours of classic rock will have a lot of appeal for many listeners, especially with the Canadian content factor. If you want songs from the 1990s or this millennium though, you'll have to tune in before 6:00 AM Sundays, or wait until Monday. Barring future programming changes or hosts/DJs coming & going, this concludes our look at The Fox 104.3's on-air schedule, so hopefully this helps give a better look at what you're hearing on Sault Ontario's new rock station, and whether you're all-in on The Fox or if you like bopping between it and Rock 101 or any other stations as songs/shows dictate, enjoy this new variety on the local dial! Thanks everyone!

Details On The Fox 104.3's Monday-Friday On-Air Schedule!!

After a few days of double checking the on-air schedule, here is our second post all about new Sault Ontario rock radio station The Fox 104.3 FM! In our post from this past Sunday, I looked at general information about CJQM's switch from country to rock, and gave some insights into their playlist rotation, but today's post looks at the on-air programming lineup during the work week (we'll look at the different weekend schedules in a post early next week). At press time, The Fox's website does not have a "Shows" tab like its sister stations to reflect the shows and DJs on air, but you don't need one, as the local station shares a nearly identical schedule as The Fox 101.9 in North Bay, Q92 in both Sudbury & Timmins, and (where all four stations get their base playlist and schedule) K-Rock 105.7 in Kingston. The only programming exceptions from those markets are a North Bay Battalion talk show and the "Friday 6pack" in Kingston.

The Fox has two different zoo crew programs during the week, including The Brock & Dalby Show from 5:30-9:00 AM and The Biggs & Barr Show from 6:00-8:00 PM, bookending overnight autoplay with no hosts or DJs. The former show is hosted by Brock Lewis & Drew Dalby out of K-Rock in Kingston, while Chris Biggs & Jason Barr (alongside Pastey Jamie) host the latter from CHEZ 106 in Ottawa. Both shows are formatted similarly, in that their host segments pop up between the station's music rotation, though only Brock & Dalby introduce songs. If you just want to hear the hosts and their on-air segments (like The Draft and The Quiz on Brock & Dalby, or OttaWHAT?! and Lights Out on Biggs & Barr), you can hear both programs sans music/commercials and with some additional exclusive content on major podcasting services, plus Rogers' Seekr application.

Which of the two zoo crew shows that you like more will be subjective (let alone if you factor in Scott Cook In The Morning on Rock 101 in the morning drive timeslot, which runs from 6:00-10:00 AM), and while I have laughed a little more at Brock & Dalby, both shows have certainly had their moments. I do like when radio hosts have someone to play off of and react to, so keep both shows in mind if you haven't tuned in yet, and if you like what you hear, catch up with their podcasts!

From 9:00 AM-6:00 PM weekdays, The Fox enters normal rock radio airplay with DJs in the booth, plus weather and news reports. Mid-week, you'll hear three DJs, including Heather Williams from 9:00-11:00 AM, Lew MacDonald from 11:00 AM-2:00 PM, and Dan Koo from 2:00-6:00 PM. Heather is out of CHEZ in Ottawa, and also hosts the Today In Rock interstitials, where she names off three major events in rock music history on this day in the past. Lew is out of K-Rock in Kingston, and his time in the booth encompasses the Classic Rock Lunch, featuring an hour of just pre-1990 rock songs from 12:00-1:00 PM (call it an appetizer for Classic Rock Sundays, which we'll outline early next week). The 2:00-6:00 DJ changes in every market in this five station loop, so Dan is the only locally-based on-air personality, and also the only on-air holdover from the hosts/DJs on Country 104.3.

If you're tuning in online to Country 600 in North Bay (which shared the same playlist and schedule as 104.3 until last week), Dan is still on air there too, so things will be familiar regardless. I suspect Dan will also be the primary conduit for local promotions and interviews for The Fox, but we will see how that bears out in the coming months. I'm not one to compare and rank DJs on a given station, but all three have handled their spot well on CJQM, so continue getting familiar with all three if you have the former Q104 on during the week! Lastly, if you were tuning in to The Fox from launch, you may have heard a different host/show at nighttime during its first three days on air, namely the syndicated Greg Beharrell Show, which has been heard on dozens of rock stations across North America and isn't exclusive to Rogers. It aired last Thursday & Friday from 6:00-10:00 PM and this past Saturday from 9:00 PM-2:00 AM, but was not on this week.

From what I can tell, episodes of Greg's show (which used to air on Q92 and in North Bay) were used as a stopgap until Biggs & Barr episodes were ready to run on CJQM, though that's just how I read it. As far as I know, Greg Beharrell is not related to Luxury/ex-Billy Bastards guitarist Greg Beharriel. In the event that he resurfaces on The Fox, Greg's show is similar to The Fox's zoo crew programs, in that host segments were dropped in between the music rotation, including light-hearted conversations with callers, and he came off kinda Ryan Reynoldsy, if that's fair. If you're curious, click here to see what other stations that Greg airs on! We'll leave things there for now, but the variety of on-air content, musical or otherwise, is very noted for local rock music fans, so hopefully this post helped outline the weekday schedule! Weekends on The Fox is very different, so look for our coverage of what airs on Saturdays & Sundays on the site next! Thanks everyone!

The Fox 104.3 FM: First Details On Sault Ontario's New Rock Radio Station!!

Alright, it's time to finally dive into the local radio bombshell from Thursday afternoon on the SMS, now that I have spent a few days listening in, so let's begin: Sault Ontario has its own rock radio station on the FM dial! At 2:00 PM on Thursday, Rogers Radio suddenly switched the format of Country 104.3 (née Q104) to mainstream rock, giving the Sault Ste. Marie market two fully local rock stations for the first time since Classic Rock: The Bear left 97.9 FM fifteen years ago, and suddenly giving the Sault Michigan-based Rock 101 some direct competition. CJQM is now airing as The Fox 104.3 FM, with the name coming from their sister station The Fox 101.9 in North Bay (whose call sign is CKFX, hence "The Fox"). Of course, Rogers likes having their stations sharing similar branding and playlists, so The Fox looks and sounds very similar to not just the North Bay station, but also Q92 in Sudbury and Timmins, with only minor variations in the playlist and on-air talent, but with local commercials, bumpers, and inserts.

This is also how Kiss 100.5 operates, and how Country 104.3 did until Thursday. One imagines that the local staff at CJQM opted to take on The Fox name rather than go the Q92 route because everyone in the Soo associates Q104 with country music. If you hadn't listened to much of Rogers Radio's local stations before now, 104.3 FM and Kiss 100.5 are both locally based out of 642 Great Northern Road, and The Fox has inherited one of the best FM radio signals in the market, with both FCCData and Radio-Locator showing a wider coverage range than Rock 101 (which already has a good reach). The on-air presentation may share a lot with Q92 and North Bay, but many bumpers directly reference Sault Ontario, and in many respects, Canada in general, with "great Canadian moments" heard often between songs and commercials. Note that the station frequency is usually said on air without saying "point" (as in "one oh four three"), unlike how Country 104.3 did it.

It's also worth noting that they're openly calling The Fox "the Sault's rock station" in bumpers, even though Rock 101 has been doing that for years, and it's in their logo! As far as I know, The Fox hasn't directly referenced Sault Michigan/the EUP at all from what I've heard on air, but this does open up the door for Yooper listeners to be exposed to more Canadian music, and that's a key setlist difference for the new station! Per the CRTC, CJQM must play 30% domestic content. Last night, I recorded both Rock 101 and The Fox from 12:33 AM (when The Hair Scare ended on 101) to 6:00 AM (when Classic Rock Sunday began on 104) to get a playlist sampling of the two stations, and while I won't give away that big of a chunk of what The Fox is airing, I can tell you that in that span of time, they played 79 songs, 25 of which were by Canadian artists. There was a stretch where eight songs weren't by Canadian acts, but four of the next six were.

Meanwhile, Rock 101 played 76 songs in that span, of which only seven were by Canadian artists (remember, there's no Cancon laws in Michigan), but there was a spell where five out of thirteen songs were Canadian. In that near 5½ hour span, just four songs (AC/DC's "Highway To Hell", Everclear's "Santa Monica", Three Days Grace's "Mayday", and The Tragically Hip's "Courage") were played on both 101 and 104. Seventeen acts cropped up on both stations while playing different songs. Of course, personal tastes are extremely subjective, so what you prefer to listen to will vary, but there's suddenly a much wider rock radio variety, which is definitely welcomed! In terms of time period for songs in general rotation, at least overnight, Rock 101 actually led The Fox in terms of new songs (fourteen from the 2020s compared to six on The Fox), while the former Q104 was more inclined to play 1990s and 2000s songs by a count of 39-26.

No radio station has a perfect rotation for everyone, but I do like a lot of what I've heard from The Fox in the last few days, particularly the general rotation on weekdays and Saturdays (Sunday is largely classic rock-focused but we'll touch on the individual programs in an upcoming post). The Cancon selection alone will appeal to a lot of people, and for a market that has always been kinda funny for awareness of domestic rock bands who do better in markets not on the US border, having this exposure and airtime will only help get ears on them and build fans! For better or worse, you likely aren't hearing The Headstones, Big Sugar, Arkells, or Sloan on Rock 101. I also found that Rogers isn't as liable to edit down songs, so we got the full "Killing In The Name" and "Epic" here, where 101 often airs shortened versions. Regardless, I'll like the ability to hop from signal to signal when a song I dislike comes on, so I'll like having both 101 and 104 as presets!

Rest assured, while I am glad that Sault Ontario has a domestic rock station of its own, and we don't necessarily have to gamble on fringe Northern Michigan stations to pick up here as an alternative, I do feel for fans of Country 104.3 who miss that station, a staple of the local FM dial for decades. I never wanted to get a Sault Ontario rock station at the expense of another one. A reason wasn't publically given for the format change, for the record, though Rogers must have seen something concerning with listenership or ad revenue. While we still have Country 105 (WMKD 105.5 in nearby Pickford, Michigan), that station's coverage area is smaller and isn't beholden to Cancon rules, so this may hurt local exposure to domestic country music. After the format switch, Rogers/The Fox did recommend that listeners tune in online to Country 600 in North Bay, which is very similar to what we got in the Soo by default (albeit still on AM there).

If you want the same playlist and miss Robin & PJ and them, tune in to Country 600 on their website or on applications like Seekr (Rogers' new radio application) and TuneIn. If you're curious, the closest Ontario-based country station to the Soo now is Country 103 in Little Current, 3+ hours east of here (Sudbury has Pure Country 91.7, which is owned by Bell). We'll have more on The Fox in an upcoming post, particularly the schedule of on-air programs, but enjoy our new rock station and the variety that it affords! Tune into 104.3 FM to see what's up at the former Q104 as it begins this new era, and we'll have more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Tarnished News & Updates From Late Last Month!!

For a second straight day, here's a single-band post from the E.U.P., as Sault Michigan classic metal/hard rock band Tarnished have been very busy in the past two weeks+, so what have they been up to as of late? Just two days after they were interviewed on Rock 101, the guys got another local FM radio interview on June 14th, this time on Bridge FM, the local classic hits station that was rebranded from Eagle Radio 95.1 in April. WUPN isn't a full rock station, but they have featured Tarnished on the Rise N' Shine Morning Show in the past, and that's where they were interviewed that day by host and station owner Tim Ellis that morning at 9:30 AM. It took over a week, but they posted a "Reel" of them covering Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" unplugged in studio on June 23rd! Note that we're staring at the back of Parker Talentino's head throughout, but I assume space concerns are to blame there.

Alas, the video itself is horizontal, but rather than upload it as a normal embeddable video, they opted to pillarbox it as a "Reel", so while nothing's cropped as a result, the video is now tiny. Definitely not ideal, but this glam metal classic is effectively acousticized, and I hope that the interview proper went well! The following day, Tarnished hit the road for Gould City (90 minutes southwest of the Soo) to perform again at the outdoor stage at Byce's Michihistrigan Bar & Grill, and photos from that night were shared to Facebook! Since Josh Fair opted to give up drumming in favour of guitar, we never quite know what form Tarnished will take for live gigs unless they specify in advance, but for this show, they called in Rhythm & Brews/ex-Highway 63 drummer Ron Suchey to guest with them again, though he did not drum on every song. Josh returned to the kit (perhaps reluctantly?) on at least two songs, while frontman Alex Traynor drummed while singing on at least one.

At least in what was posted, Parker played bass (no sign of Chris Leask). Three videos from that night were uploaded from June 19th-20th as "Reels", so while I can't embed these short vertical videos here, they include covers of The Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" and The Surfaris' "Wipe Out", while the other one has Alex shredding Van Halen's "Eruption". At least on the latter, the vertical framing isn't a problem! Ron drums on the Beastie Boys cover, while Josh drums on "Wipe Out" with mid-song assistance from Ron. Josh is also behind the kit on "Eruption", albeit adding drum hits that weren't there on the original solo. Each "Reel" sounds heavy and lively while they last, and it looks like a good time was had by all! In their next "Reel" on June 22nd, Tarnished uploaded a "throwback to 2012". If you were expecting a throwback to Alex's then-local band Banned, you may be disappointed though!

This is actually a short cover of Anna Kendrick's "Cups" from the 2012 movie Pitch Perfect, which Alex sings while "playing" a plastic lemonade cup. Cute video, and Alex does get some good percussion out of it! On the 25th, Alex was back (in "Reel" form!) to thank their fans for giving their new single "Lightswitch" 1,000 streams on Spotify, and in the fastest time yet for one of their original songs, which is definitely encouraging news! There's much more from Tarnished to come, specifically from the past week, but let's close with a video that I can embed, namely a reaction video to "Lightswitch" by Leigh Spencer of the British YouTube channel Iridium Rock & Metal Reviews from that same day! After some initial confusion as to which band member is the lead singer based on the available credits (it's Alex), it is nice to see that Leigh's first words after he first took his headphones off were "I really liked it!"

Praise was also given to the melodies, smooth vocals and driving beat, and Leigh continued to boast about the song when it completely ended. "Lightswitch" made its way across the Atlantic via a viewer suggestion, and it's always neat to see local music find a receptive audience in a far flung locale like this, so hopefully Leigh helped expose Tarnished to even more fans in the UK and elsewhere! Check out the full reaction video below, and stay tuned for more from Tarnished on the site soon! Thanks everyone!