LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations), A New Local Album, And Much More!!

Today's post touches on some assorted recent stories, including a big loss for local news media, a new song from a local metal project, and a new album from a reunited local band of sorts, but we're leading off with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced two upcoming dates for next month, both Saturday nighters, as they'll rock Shooters Downstairs Lounge on October 19th and then Gateway Casino on October 26th! Fresh off of their set at this past Friday's Band Together To Rock Cancer benefit (more on that on the site soon), these two dates will be Generations' first at either venue since last month. The shows will also presumably see guitarist Tony Kajnar back after he missed the benefit gig on Friday (Muckrakers frontman Mike McDonald filled in for the night, and if you want a teaser of our upcoming coverage, click here). No word yet on if the October 26th gig at the casino will be Halloween themed or not, but remember that Halloween is a Thursday this year, allowing venues the opportunity to host their party a day late on November 1st rather than five days early.

You can enjoy Generations' classic and hard rock cover array on these Saturdays next month with no announced cover charges and 19+ age limits, and while they'll take the stage at 9:30 PM at Shooters, the Gateway Casino concert is at 8:00 PM. No word on if we'll see Valerie, the Tonys, and Pierre anywhere else before mid-October, but keep this talented veteran group's next announced shows in mind, and see above for more details! 

Next up, here's a mild surprise, as defunct local classic metal quartet Late & Loud kinda sorta reunited to release the second score/soundtrack album to their Dungeons & Dragons podcast Late & Legends last week! As you may recall, Late & Legends sees Jonathan Tiberi, Brendan Christie, and Benn Garside (with Josh Hatherley as game master and audio editor) play D&D with their own storylines and characters as they explore/save the city of Renlan, and they released their first score album of songs used in the podcast back in April 2021. It is still available to buy/stream at this link, but has brand new artwork and a slightly amended title. Now, Late & Legends began season 4 in May of last year and hasn't posted a new episode since that month, but "Season Two (Podcast Soundtrack)" reflects the episodes that aired in February-October 2021, and if you want to catch up on the action, click here or visit your favourite podcasting host service.

Unlike with "Late & Legends 1", it seems like Brendan Christie had a much stronger hand in recording this material, with Jon and Benn only getting limited credits, and Josh is not listed as writing or performing at all once again. You can buy the 12 song score album for $8.99 on Bandcamp or stream the whole thing for free there, and it may just get reviewed on the SMS in the coming week! Plans to review Sykotyk Rampage's new album may get delayed, as I was hoping to have the accompanying comic book for full context by now, so it may get bumped to October in lieu of "Late & Legends 2". Stay tuned, but give it a listen above! As this is three+ year old music, Late & Loud are not back in our active band links. 

Speaking of projects featuring Brendan Christie, here's the latest from his active progressive/djent metal band Convergence, who posted the first full song from their upcoming EP "Gemini" onto their YouTube channel on Friday! The song in question is "You Are Not Flesh" (obviously a new/altered title from prior track listing reveals), and it was uploaded there in two copies: an instrumental version and, as embedded below, one with vocals (it's a lyric video, to boot!). You can also buy (for $1) or stream it on their Bandcamp page, complete with altered cover artwork. As best as I can tell, Brendan himself provided the harsh vocals here, as also heard on their non-EP original song "Cancer" from last year, something I surprisingly never clarified on here at the time. I got kind of a Phil Labonte vibe from his vocals, which is neat! I'll hold comment on the song otherwise pending our eventual "Gemini" review, but check out "You Are Not Flesh" below!

Finally for today, I wanted to note the abrupt closure of a long running local news website that, in its various iterations, has crossed the SMS' radar multiple times. On August 30th, FirstLocalNews (née SaultOnline) shut down after just 15 months in operation following their change in ownership and branding. Producer and local news veteran Craig Huckerby revealed in this SooToday article by Alex Flood that the closure was due to low advertising revenue following the relaunch as FirstLocalNews, prompted when Rock 101/et al. parent company Sovereign Communications bought SaultOnline from Superior Media, starting fresh with a brand new site and name. FirstLocalNews had its roots dating back to Craig leaving the former MCTV News in 2003 to launch LTVNews (later SooNews and Local2), before SooToday bought it in 2014. Craig and Superior Media launched SaultOnline in Local2's wake, with ownership also producing local news television content via ONNtv, which also appears to have closed.

As SMS coverage goes, we always got more relevant material from SooToday and their offshoots than from the sites that Craig produced, but I always appreciated having different viewpoints for major concert events when Local2 or SaultOnline sent their own reporters to attend, and they had some good exclusive content that you can (partially) read about on the SMS where dead links allow. Truth be told, them starting completely anew as FirstLocal did them no favours, even if necessitated by the need to rebrand and launch a new website, but hopefully staff lands on their feet with new ventures, as local journalism is important! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 1)!!

After managing to dodge most of the rain in the weather forecast, Rotaryfest is in the books for 2023, and there is a fair amount out about the Soo's summer festival from its music stages! We'll start with Stage 1 bands at Clergue Park on Saturday night, and while a featured touring band hasn't closed the main stage since 2016, it does make sense on paper to start with Winnipeg-based Bon Jovi tribute band Bed of Roses, who had pictures taken by an uncredited Sault Star photographer that you can see at this link, There are also photos by Ron Jokelainen from First Local News, which is the rebranded and relaunched SaultOnline, whose website was abruptly taken down on June 12th despite posting new articles just two days prior, as well as videos of new local cover band Bourbon Blue on their Facebook page. While site staff were vague on the reason for the change, issues with the prior domain host may have been a factor.

Losing years of site content is not ideal whatsoever, and a little transparency in that regard may have been ideal for SaultOnline readers, but First Local News has improved in the ensuing weeks, and hopefully they can pick things up reasonably well! New name's not especially "local" to the Soo though. As for Ron's Bed of Roses coverage, the photos are not on the same quality as The Sault Star's, but you do get more of a write-up of their set, so click here to see everything of his! The only other Rotaryfest coverage there to touch on the music was this article featuring a photo of The Wyld Stallyns' set on Saturday, coincidentally also the Stage 1 band performing in three photos from Alex Flood's coverage on SooToday (he also got one of Stage 2 performers Distich's set). One more news coverage note, as Renegade/Bed of Roses frontman Darryl Clayton was interviewed by The Sault Star!

In advance of Rotaryfest's kickoff, this article by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly went up on Wednesday where Darryl talked about the differences in paying tribute to both Bon Jovi and Styx, what it was like playing live in front of Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald, and how he first got into covering Styx, among other related topics. Good read for fans, and apologies for being late to the party in addressing it here! As far as videos go, we do have some public footage to check out of the closing bands on Saturday, as the ever-prolific Christopher Paci was back at Rotaryfest to film a few bands this year for his packed YouTube channel, including two clips of Bed of Roses' sister band Renegade in their headline set on Friday. I wouldn't say Styx are a "hard rock" band, but you can check out their faithful renditions of "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto" by clicking there or above, and they had a good turnout!

As for Bed of Roses, Chris filmed three videos of them tackling the Bon Jovi classics "Wanted Dead Or Alive", "It's My Life", and as embedded below, "Living On A Prayer". Chris was nowhere near the stage (a possible consequence of arriving for just the later sets), but he got a good central vantage point and made optimal use of the zoom function. Bed of Roses delivered a solid sound for Bon Jovi fans, especially compared to how the real thing sounded in concert last year, and the crowd was very receptive and eager to sing along, which you love to see! Check out Chris' videos above & below, and stay tuned for more from him soon!

We'll close today with the one-off headlining reunion of local classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester (yes, their recent Facebook rehearsal video is also coming soon), as Chris filmed them covering Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" and as embedded below, AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock". Of course, this set was fronted by original singer Richard Fullerton rather than Greg Simpson, so mid-2000s That's Chester fans were definitely excited. Everyone performs strongly in both clips, and the Chesters get lots of time to rock out and show off during the AC/DC cover, with guitarist Gabe Tessaro (nice to see pause his retirement for a night) even pulling off some Angus Young moves and a nice extended guitar solo! Whether you prefer Ritch or Greg (or even Jim) is a matter of personal preference, but Ritch had strong enthuasiasm and vocals to match on these covers, so check everything for yourselves out above & below!

That's all for now, but look for more from Rotaryfest and elsewhere on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Mike Haggith & Spades GT Updates, Plus More Recent Notes!!

New news post for you guys on this late Tuesday night, as we continue clearing out our news backlog, if slowly! Assorted shorter topics round things out, but let's first look at some recent updates from two local acts who coincidentally both relocated to Barrie!

Local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith is definitely staying busy as of late, and while we do have both his Face To Face concert live-stream and a recent video interview to look at (hopefully) soon, let's lead off with the big news, as Mike's new studio album "All The Best In All You Do" has an official release date of Thursday, July 13th! You can pre-save it on Spotify at this link, though remember that he plans to include Bandcamp-exclusive bonus tracks for the paid release there. An offical lyric video for "Carousel" from the new album went up as a scheduled upload earlier today on Mike's YouTube channel, which features Mike (one assumes) writing out the song lyrics with a Sharpie on pieces of paper, with late input from rose petals. Is the destruction of flowers an intentional visual motif for the album? Note the film grain and the VCR graphics too, albeit in widescreen.

No word on the album cover, but note the release date of July 13th coincides with his Rotaryfest Stage 1 set that same day, so we get the de facto release concert! Mike should have physical copies in tow that weekend. While the lyric video is embedded below, Mike also uploaded this "Shorts" video to YouTube as well to hype the album, which includes an audio sample and recommendations to fans of Tears For Fears, Louis Tomlinson, U2, Coldplay, and Train. In other words, don't expect The Din III here, but the jury's out on the full product yet! Assuming this date holds, and nothing new from metal or hard rock acts beats it to market beforehand, "All The Best In All You Do" is currently slated for an SMS review in... November, alas. We have quite a backlog of new albums to look at, and I don't want to usurp anyone in line from release date, but Mike is absolutely in line, and I know that fans are highly anticipating this one!

Of course, I will hold comment on "Carousel" pending our eventual review of the album, but you know that Mike is moving up in the world when he's putting out a proper lyric video with production values like this for one of his singles! Visit his official website for much more on "All The Best In All You Do", stay tuned for more from him soon, and here's "Carousel"!

Next up, here's some recent non-"Reel" updates from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's Facebook page! In terms of concerts, their Toronto gigs at Beer Bash VI on June 3rd and Indie Night In Canada last week (allegedly their last Toronto show "for some time") both went really well according to the band, and you can see lots of photos (and, yes, "Reels") from them on Facebook! Apparently, live clips from their Indie Night In Canada set were played on Wallygator's Rock & Roll Swamp on CGCM Rock Radio this past Saturday, continuing their positive relationship with that internet station, so consider giving them a listen, as you never know if you'll hear some "Sewer City Radio" there! Spades GT's next show will see them and guitarist Daniel Horton's other band The Fast Life join forces at Rhythm & Brews (no relation) in Cambridge on Friday, so click here for details!

Note that none of these shows were branded as a release party for "Sewer City Radio", though I guess Beer Bash VI was the de facto one, as it was a day after the album came out. There are some new "Reels" too, but rather than nitpick the enterprise again, let's hold those for a future post and feature a Spades GT video that I can embed on the SMS! This was filmed by attendee Amanda Schilz and publically shared to the former Jack Spades' Facebook page on June 3rd as part of a batch post of Beer Bash photos. It runs for just 17 seconds, it is sadly vertical, and it mostly focuses on fans before slowly panning to the stage, but it sounds good while it lasts, so Spades GT fans can check it out below!

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

• Local hard rock quartet Half Past announced the addition of guitarist Al Fletcher's old Skeyes of Seven bandmate Johnny Amendola to their lineup on their Facebook page on Saturday, replacing Jamie Labreche. A reason for Jamie's departure was not announced, but they have yet to play a live concert since their fall 2021 reunion despite him coming on board at the time. Hopefully nothing bad happened with Jamie, but it's good to see Johnny (also of Cherry Crush and Tripod The Dog fame) back out there, and hopefully we hear more from Half Past soon!
• New and online page-less local classic metal/hard rock trio Nostalgia have slightly amended their name to Nostalgic, as per this Facebook event page for their Reggie's shows this past weekend. A reason for the name change wasn't announced, but it's one letter (the last letter, at that), so I can see it blowing right by some fans. Stay tuned for more from Nostalgic when it comes in!
• SaultOnline's Heidi Ivany covered the Queen: It's A Kinda Magic concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre last month for this article, where she highly praised the band, stage show, and overall attention to detail for recreating Queen's 1986 world tour. 23 pictures from the concert were also featured, as well as a note that the band promises to return to the Soo on their Canadian tour next year. Good read, so give it a look above! As best as I can tell, there were no Facebook videos on SaultOnline's end here.
   

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Hard Rock Project, A New Album Release, And Marianas Trench/Trews Concert Fallout!!

After a weekend trip out of town, I'm back home to play catch-up with recent news and notes as we enter September's final week! Today's post is half devoted to fallout from a major recent concert, but we're leading off with a new band and a new album release you guys should hear about, so let's get things rolling before the day drags on any longer!

We have a new local hard rock solo project (for now) to add to our band links, entitled Less Than Zero! This is the new project from former Winkstinger rhythm guitarist Jason Ladouceur, who has moved back home and has been working on Less Than Zero since at least July via their page on Bandlab (no sign of a Facebook page yet). Surprisingly, Less Than Zero are a rap rock project, which might seem like an odd concept in 2022, but it's not unheard of nowadays. Remember, The Apocalypse Afterparty already fly that flag, and the now-inactive Stoned To Deaf favoured the sub-genre also. Jason has been very enthusiastic about Less Than Zero as of late, as Facebook friends will attest, and he does hope for this to expand beyond a solo studio project, with a Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on September 3rd looking for band members so they can play live in town.

Over a dozen original song demos are on Less Than Zero's Bandlab page, plus an off-subgenre cover of Megadeth's "Sweating Bullets", so head there to check those out. Jason handles vocals for the project, and he uses sampled drums at the moment. The songs on offer vary in heaviness, with some having a mild techno beat and others being straight up hard rock, and while there is definitely promise here, I do think Jason needs to dial in how his vocals sound, which often come across like overly processed spoken word than the more aggressive rapping that some of these sounds would seemingly call for. Interesting ideas though, and a change of pace in many respects, so give Less Than Zero a listen above!

Next up, here's a surprise new album release, as local alt/blues hard rock veterans Sykotyk Rampage surprisingly released their 67th canon studio album (and third of 2022) on Friday to their Bandcamp page! No sign of a matching Reverbnation upload yet, but their prior album "Scott's Pub & Crash Music" (also from this month) hasn't gotten one yet either, Entitled "Love Muffin", the album has a dark cover image reminiscent of some of their earlier releases in layout, if without their usual irreverence (for that, listen to the songs!) The album is another long one (if not as long as "WYRD Radio 2") with 20 songs that would require two CDs if released physically. Three of the songs are labelled as "Live22" at the end, implying that they are live re-recordings at The Cave, and with new songs on offer like "Doodahoopaloo" and "Circus of Konfusion" on offer, you know their usual blue Chinese metal crash punk stylings will be on full display!

As I said when I mentioned the release of "Scott's Pub & Crash Music", an SMS review of a new Sykotyk Rampage album is not imminent, as we only just reviewed "WYRD Radio 2" in July, but one or the other is tentatively pencilled in for January 2023. In the interim, "Love Muffin" runs for $7 on Bandcamp , and can be streamed for free there as well, so fans of the Beckers, Shane, and Tony won't wanna miss out above!

We'll close with news coverage & media from a major recent concert, namely the Marianas Trench/Trews show at GFL Memorial Gardens on Thursday night! I don't believe SooToday were on hand to cover the show, but the Sault Star's Jeffrey Ougler and SaultOnline's Mike Chikoski were present to get pictures for their respective publications, For SaultOnline's article (otherwise written by Craig Huckerby), Mike snapped 26 pictures, with thirteen being of Marianas Trench, seven of The Trews, three of local openers The Northwest, and three of front row fans during the headliners' set. The Sault Star's article has a little more said about the show itself, but less pictures (23), and not in the exact performance order, but there are nine of Marianas Trench, seven of The Trews, five of The Northwest, and two of fans. Solid pictures on both fronts with some really good angles!

In terms of videos, there is surprisingly only one public YouTube video that I've found at press time, and it's from The Northwest's set! This was filmed by the ever-prolific Christopher Paci for his YouTube channel, and while it was uploaded on Friday, further videos have not followed from the touring bands. He has staggered uploads before, so if more surface, we'll let you know. Chris filmed the local indie/punk quintet playing what appears to be either a new original song or a cover (if the latter, I couldn't make out the lyrics). Regardless, it features guitarist Greg Callaghan on vocals for the verses with Wayne Watkins on choruses, which is reminiscent of "Lights" from "All In", but not a match. The audio isn't overly crisp through the camera, which can be a hazard of shows at the Gardens, but Chris had a strong angle, and I'm curious to hear this song in studio form! Check it out below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Thanks everyone!

Heavy Lies The Crown's New Album, Plus Lots Of New Videos!!

I have a new news post for you guys on this Saturday morning, including new videos from an assortment of artists from a few different locations, but leading off, we have details on a new album release (well, on a free streaming service), so here's what you need to know!

As teased over the past week, St. Ignace, Michigan progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown released their self-titled full-length album yesterday on Spotify! As best as I can tell, the album is not available on other platforms, so you can't actually buy it outright (at least not yet), but the final product can be streamed on-demand for free! The 12 song album includes re-recordings of all four songs from their 2019 debut EP "Scatter Brain" (with "Thing #1" renamed as "A Hell Bound Heart"), plus the previously posted new tracks "Every Step Of The Way" & "Voices", and six brand new cuts named "Friend", "Interlude", "Princess", "*69", "Dead Teeth", and "A Sold Soul". It is great to finally see "Heavy Lies The Crown" out for public consumption, and while I'll hold comment pending a possible review if the album goes on sale, their prior studio tracks should get fans suitably hyped! Check out all twelve songs for yourself on Spotify!

Next up, let's head to Sault Ontario for some new videos from local party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty, who have had some lighter content to share on their Facebook page this month, like this video where frontman Paul Stanghetta analyzes similarities between songs by Moneen and Boys Like Girls, and this one where he has a minor mishap with a lighter. Their newest video has Paul & Amanda leaving SaultOnline/ONNtv's offices, with Paul heavily apologizing for them exiting from the wrong door, but wait, what were they doing there? The band proper didn't share the video, but Paul was interviewed about the band yesterday during ONNtv's morning show First Local, and the episode can be streamed on-demand on SaultOnline's YouTube channel! The Apocalypse Afterparty segment begins at the 17:26 mark, with co-host Heidi Ivany interviewing Paul for about 5 minutes.

Here, Paul discusses his musical influences, the connectivity of the local music scene, groups Paul's opened for in his various bands, and his short term goals for The Afterparty. Fun and light interview buoyed with good energy from both Paul and Heidi, so give it (and the whole episode) a look below, especially if you miss Soo-produced local news like this!

Also today, let's check out a couple more YouTube reviews of songs from local/Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's new album "Bridges", as sourced from the many album reviews shared to his Facebook page in recent weeks! First, I forgot to note yesterday that Mike's song "From The 55th Parallel" was reviewed by Thomas Christ for episode #11 of You Rock! as well, this time as the opening song of the episode (ex-Bizotic frontman Brad Griffith also turned up under his solo handles Gortium85 & Coax Chrome). Strong review of this song here, if brief, but Thomas made up for it in the next two! And as a prelude to Mike's interview with Studio Live Today's Pete Johns from earlier this month, Pete closed episode #76 of his similar YouTube series Your Music Live (where the host listens to & give reviews of independent music) with Mike's song "The Nature Of The Times"!

Yes, Brad/Coax Chrome is also featured in this same episode. Pete called the song "a beautiful way to finish off our show here today", and live-stream viewers seemed to agree, so give the whole episode a look below to hear Mike and a lot more international musicians getting some deserved exposure! "An Act Of Strength" and the song "Bridges" also feature in the next two episodes of Your Music Live, viewable here and here.

Finally today, I have a prolific local musician to move to our inactive band links, namely Dafter, Michigan hard rock singer/guitarist Kenneth "SweetKenny" Sutton. An extremely prolific musician who released dozens of albums in the 2010s, including ten that got reviews on the SMS from 2013-2018, SweetKenny has not posted any music-centric updates on social media since November 2020, meaning we're past our one year cutoff, though Ken is still artistically active as a screenwriter, with his website being redesigned to put his own screenplays ahead of his music. This does flow with his late-period albums all being scores for usage in films and video games, so Ken definitely has an artistic mind being put to use, and he did win Best Script Short at the Accord Cine Fest earlier this month! I hope SweetKenny resumes his music at some point (even if just as scores), as he definitely has talent and a lot of good original ideas!

I did want to end on a seasonal note however, as the last song Ken posted on his Facebook page (as of today) is an original song from last November named "Christmas Snow Is Falling", which he said is "a sad song about a lost love". This is a softer number with just Ken on vocals & guitar, and given the more reserved nature, there's less of an Elvis Presley affect on his singing like you often heard in his heavier pre-score material. Change of pace, but not badly composed, so give it a listen below!

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

Toystock VIII Fallout & Videos (Part 1!)

After a delay of far too long (blame personal commitments and the holidays), it's time to finally look at fallout from this year's Toystock charity concert at The Grand Gardens North on Sunday, November 24th! Lots of local news services were in attendance for the eighth annual installment last month, including CTV Northern Ontario, who sent camera crews to the event for a 52 second piece on that day's local news, similarly to last year. The video proper features video of Kaitlyn Parr's set (albeit without audio of consequence), plus a brief interview with Toystock organizer Greg Simpson about Toystock's growth. While it's not a long feature, it's great to see MCTV give it any platform, so give it a look at the above links! SooToday's Darren Taylor was also on hand for this article on the festivities, featuring 12 photos from the afternoon, including four photos of L!me's set, one of Kaitlyn's, and seven of attendees and the donations. Shame he couldn't stay longer, but Darren got some nice shots!

The article proper features a similar but extended interview with Greg about Toystock, and it's great to see how much he enjoys giving back to the community and helping the less fortunate each year like this! Finally, SaultOnline's Megan Pounder was also in attendance for this article, which features 11 photos, mostly of the Stuff-A-Bus, though she did get one band photo (more them in a second.) She left most of the formal coverage for an attached YouTube video that presumably also got played on the ONNtv streaming channel. The video features lots of clips from Toystock in progress, as well as an interview with Greg's wife and co-organizer Kerry Simpson, and it's very informative while also giving a nice look at what was going on that afternoon. The only band featured in the piece or in the photos was the Case's Music Band, but in a surprise change from years' past, they were not made up of students there. Rather, this band was comprised of Case's Music instructors, all familiar to local music fans!

In fact, if you like local progressive rock quintet Machines Dream, this will have been extra exciting, as singer/bassist Craig West, guitarist Jake Rendell (on drums), and keyboardist Brian Holmes made up 3/4ths of this band, rounded out by Parabol guitarist Steve Myers. Judging by the performed cover in Megan's video (The Beatles' "Back In The USSR"), I imagine they didn't get too proggy at Toystock, but they definitely had the musical chops and experience to make their mark! The above news coverage didn't get into hard rock covers or bands, but we do have some footage of that ilk today, as power rock quartet Re:Born played at Toystock VIII and posted footage of the last six bands onto their Facebook page the following day! They weren't present for the opening four acts, but we will address more afternoon band footage in an upcoming post. We'll start with headlining country rock cover quartet Bone Yard, who Re:Born filmed covering April Wine's version of Hot Chocolate's "You Could Have Been A Lady"!

As previously filmed by Mike Caruso at Reggie's West on Halloween, this rendition is a welcomed classic hard rock sampler in their country-heavy repertoire, and the filmer has a nice central angle of Bone Yard in action, with solid use of the zoom lens. Give it a look below!



We'll close today with Re:Born's video of themselves in action on this night, wherein they play their original song/Project 421 carry-over "Running Away". With their cameraman playing on stage, the camera is stationary here, but the audio quality and angle work out just fine, and everyone plays to their strengths, with Blair's guitar work shining as usual, and Elly's getting more and more confident on the mic with every set. Check their clip out below, and stay tuned for much more from Toystock shortly!



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

The Offspring/Sum 41 Concert Fallout & Videos (Part 1)

As you are likely well aware, The Offspring and Sum 41 rocked GFL Memorial Gardens on Tuesday night, and we have lots of fallout from that show to talk about on the site today! SooToday's Donna Hopper and SaultOnline's Megan Pounder were both on hand to cover and photograph the festivities, with both writing briefly but positively about the show, which seemed to get a strong reception! Megan said that the Gardens was "packed", but a SooToday commenter estimated that there were 2,500 fans on Tuesday, so go with whoever you like on the crowd size. Regarding photographs, Megan snapped a whopping 89 pictures on Tuesday, including 44 from Sum 41's set and 45 from The Offspring's, with crowd shots intermingled. Donna only posted 27 pictures (13 from The Offspring's set, 14 of Sum 41's, also with crowd pictures), but hers are noticeably higher quality. Regardless, both got some great angles of the bands and fans, so give both a look at the above links to see what all went down!

Note that neither Donna nor Megan uploaded any photos of opening English alt-rockers Dinosaur Pile-Up for unannounced reasons. As for videos, I have found publically shared footage from five different users from Tuesday's festivities, primarily of The Offspring's set, with only one (so far) posting anything from Sum 41's set, and none filming Dinosaur Pile-Up. We have more videos to come in the near future, but let's start with YouTube user Frank Thomas' sole upload from the Gardens, and this features the headlining California punk quartet playing their opening three songs, namely "Americana", "All I Want", and "Come Out & Play". Sadly, Frank's video is in the vertical orientation, but he has a good central view of the stage, and The Offspring sound relatively solid! Dexter's voice is noticeably deeper compared to the old days, but the band still has it musically and energetically, so give this footage a look below!



We'll close today with videos from the aptly named YouTube channel named "Concert Channel", primarily as this is the only channel so far with footage of Sum 41. First though, they filmed four videos of The Offspring, including their new song "It Won't Get Better", and the established favourites "Want You Bad", "Bad Habit", and (embedded below) "Gotta Get Away". Despite being filmed horizontally, the quality isn't as good here, with very scratchy audio, overly bright stage lighting, and a sharper angle from almost beside the stage. That said, you can tell the band and fans are in their element, so give these videos a look above and below!



Finally, "Concert Channel" also filmed two videos of Ajax, Ontario punk quintet Sum 41's set, namely of their original songs "Motivation" and, as embedded below, "We Are All To Blame" (complete with an audience lighter or two during the soft choruses!) The recording quality is about the same, but performance-wise, Sum 41 sound great underneath it all, and this lineup definitely has the right formula. Hopefully more Sum 41 footage surfaces, but give these a look above & below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more Offspring concert fallout and more unrelated news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Soo's Got Talent Round 2) & First Round Footage!!

As promised, here's our second weekend concert preview post for this week, and it is 100% devoted to a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning an ongoing local talent competition's next installment, and fallout from the opening night! Here's what you should know!

Local rap metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty have advanced to the second round of this year's Soo's Got Talent competition, and thusly will return to The Grand Gardens Verdi Ballroom at 455 Queen Street West TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the one week-turnaround left me opting to hold our night #1 results for this weekend's previews. Last Friday's opening round saw the first cuts, with Des & M.J. Barry, Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk, Debbie Graham, Serge LeBlanc, and Leila Rabanez all not moving on to TOMORROW'S second round action, but The Apocalypse Afterparty will join the other 14 surviving acts as they continue their quest to win this city-wide contest, and 10 semifinalists will be chosen to return next Friday. Come on down to The Verdi Hall to see all of TOMORROW'S action from this talented roster of artists! Like last week, this is an ALL AGES event at 8:00 PM with a $10 cover charge for adults, $5 for kids 16 and under. With all of that said, what can we show you from last week's performances?

Unlike last year, The Soo's Got Talent has a television outlet, courtesy of ONNtv, SaultOnline's over-the-top subscription TV service, which is worth considering if you miss MCTV-era local television, and they aired night #1 of the competition on tape delay on Monday night, with future rounds scheduled for the following Monday at 6:30 PM save for a Wednesday, October 9th episode. This intentionally glitchy commercial hyped the ONNtv airings as well, but if you aren't an ONNtv subscriber, you're not left in the dark, as the 2+ hours long video was posted to SaultOnline's YouTube channel on Tuesday! Each performer is featured here and linked below, complete with judges remarks afterward, and all have singers doing a cover unless otherwise stated. In chronological order, we have Andrea Dantzer (the title track from "The Sound of Music"), Coulson Perri (Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"), Des & M.J. Barry (PowerSource's "Dear Mr. Jesus")...

...Serge LeBlanc (Metallica's "Motorbreath"), Colin Gasparelli (Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue"), The Dancing Divas (Katy Perry's "California Gurls"), Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk (an instrumental cover of The Beatles' "Come Together"), Lauren Kroll (Alanis Morrissette's "Hand In My Pocket"), Leila Rabanez (the hymn "Amazing Grace"), Juliana Regan (Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind"), Madison Blair (Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus' "Nothing Breaks Like A Heart"), Marilena Blair (Trisha Yearwood's "The Song Remembers When"), Cameron Oliver (Morgan Wallen's "Whiskey Glasses"), Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf (Rachel Platten's "Fight Song"), Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"), Debbie Graham (Jo Stafford's "Make Love To Me"), Killabeatz doing an original beatboxing performance, Adrian Sullivan (The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood"), Greg McLeod (Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars"), and lastly, The Apocalypse Afterparty playing their inactive sister band The Noochin' Lanterns' song "Drop the Gloves".

Note that advertised performances by Madi Schomogyi, Michaela Skagen, and Marcie Tremblay are not featured here for unannounced reasons, but hopefully nothing bad happened with them to force their withdrawal! Regarding the two metal performances, I will say that I think Serge would be better accentuated with a live band and a stage setup more used to metal acts, but it's neat to see him bring that style to the table! As you can see at video's end, The Apocalypse Afterparty appear to have dropped wearing masks on stage for their return, and as such, I think it's safe to finally say that X and z are indeed "songwriters" Paul Stanghetta on vocals/bass and his wife Amanda (née Brown) on drums rather than the MPC, while Paul's ex-Keep It Lit bandmate Alice Rose (in full Tune Squad gear) has joined on the second bass.

I'll remain impartial regarding the competition here, but if you love Paul's old work as a frontman in The Fury, not to mention The A.A. and Noochin' Lanterns past runs, this should be right up your alley, and the judges give interesting feedback! Don't miss all of the action TOMORROW NIGHT at The Verdi Hall, and here's all 20 of last week's acts in action! Good luck!



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

A New Local Band, A New Local Rock Music Column, And New Videos!!

Before we begin, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert in last weekend's previews, as The Wyld Stallyns apparently played at The Canadian Motor Hotel on Saturday night. Given their acoustic nature, my guess is The Upper Deck Bar & Grill, but they weren't specific in their vague post on their Facebook page that same day, and there was no online promotion from band or venue that I found otherwise. I apologize again, and we'd have covered the show had it received more notice and information, but hopefully it was a hit! Now, here's some new videos, long overdue coverage of a local journalist's music articles, and a new addition to our band links!

We have a new band to add to our active band links on the site, and they are Poison Girl, another tribute band from this year's Halloween Party concerts at The Rockstar Bar! Essentially a spin-off of local punk trio Stegadeth, that band's members (singer/guitarist Tiffany Stocco, bassist Bill "Orthae" Bennett, and drummer Johnny Belanger) joined forces with Machines Dream/ex-Gates of Winter keyboardist Brian Holmes to round out this lineup, playing a tribute set to Finnish gothic rock notables H.I.M. (the Poison Girl name comes from a H.I.M. song from their 2000 CD "Razorblade Romance".)  Unlike the Facebook page for Tiffany & Johnny's other Halloween tribute band-turned-actual project (the Distillers tribute Coral Fang), there's not much written up or teased, but continued activity is implied. After all, why would a one-off band launch a Facebook page, especially when you could technically argue that they're just Stegadeth + 1?

I was never high on H.I.M. during their run (I honestly prefer Daniel Lioneye), but at their peak, they were a big deal among goth kids and Bam Margera fans around my age, and one wonders how big Poison Girl would have been had they formed even a decade earlier. Still, this is definitely a unique tribute band, locally speaking, and I'd be curious to hear how they handle H.I.M.'s better known songs! Hopefully some public media turns up, and stay tuned for more from Poison Girl when it rolls in!

Next up, I wanted to take some time to talk about a prolific columnist for SaultOnline that we've mentioned here before, but not to the extent he deserves. If you follow that local news site regularly, you'll be familiar with writer Ernest Skinner, who has penned a series of columns there since last year like the editorial series Monet, Manet, and Mayonnaise & the Soo Greyhounds-centric Dog Treats. While Ernest had occasionally addressed music in the former (like when he covered last year's Dokken concert), he launched a full column in June devoted to rock music essays & interviews entitled Rock Talk, and he has posted 22 entries under this new title over the past 5 months. Among other artists, Ernest has interviewed the likes of ex-Queensryche singer Geoff Tate, Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, ex-Motley Crue singer John Corabi, Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, metal queen Lee Aaron, and Helix frontman Brian Vollmer, so check these and more out above!

While primarily themed around interviews, Rock Talk has included general articles include his thoughts about Castle Farms in Charlevoix, bands Accept & The Dead Daisies, the movie This Is Spinal Tap, hard rock musicians' educational backgrounds, the Hear 'n Aid charity single, upcoming concerts in Ontario & Michigan, and lately, a lot of promotion and hype for the Steel Panther concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino this Saturday (our preview is coming later this week!) After reading a bunch of Ernest's articles & interviews, I can say that he writes in a very relatable fashion and does a good job of explaining the impact and appeal of various rock music topics, and his formatting and editing of his interviews has improved quickly! For a freelance columnist, he's definitely secured some familiar names, and in a few select cases, he got some audio and video soundbites from them, so don't scroll too fast, just in case you miss anything!

In fact, here's one of John Corabi from August, as uploaded to SaultOnline's YouTube channel back in August (and in conjunction with the interview linked above.) Running for just 19 seconds, it's just a brief plug for Ernest's interview and Sault Online/ONNtv, but it's nice to see a familiar face hyping up Sault Ste. Marie like this, and here's hoping he can bring The Dead Daisies or another project up north! Give it a look below, see much more from Ernest above, and I've linked his SaultOnline page in our "Other Local Metal Links" as Rock Talk with Ernest Skinner!



Finally, here's some videos from local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver's Facebook page that we haven't yet covered on the SMS! Apologies for the delay in the first two, but they are admittedly brief and sans music of theirs. Both shot while on their "Hitting the Fan" release tour in April, one video is just 10 seconds of road footage in British Columbia from their vehicle, while the other is a 5 second video of "Bigfoot" being sighted (though he looks suspiciously familiar when the camera zooms in!) Embedded below is their newest video from this past Saturday, when they were en route to Toronto for their last advertised concert of the year. Another short video (17 seconds), this is filmed by guitarist Josh Penno from the passenger seat, and it features drummer Matt Baic finishing a sandwich before the band encounters roadkill. Circle of life, I suppose, but it's nice to see a new official video posting of any kind on their page! Give these a look above & below!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck) & Tea Party Concert Fallout!!

Before our weekend concert previews go on the site (not to mention some recently announced new concerts coming up in August), we have lots of fallout from a recent major concert to get to at last, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will make their Canadian Nightclub debut with a solo concert there on Friday, August 4th! Apparently a rare solo concert from a local cover band at The Canadian (is the venue getting back into booking weekend cover acts again?), this won't be entirely new territory for the guys, as predecessors Mourning Wood played a Toystock fundraiser there, but this will be a first for the former Nameus. No word yet on if we'll see Soundcheck out there in the interim (remember, shows that they announce are often on short notice), but fresh off of their Rotaryfest debut, hopefully Soundcheck deliver a fun night of 1980s themed covers and select country numbers in two weeks time! A $4 cover charge is in effect for this 19+ concert, which is listed to start at 9:30 PM, and aside from food/drink specials that night, I can't confirm if there's any extra frills related to the booking. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's some fallout and videos from Sunday night's free Tea Party concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! SooToday's Donna Hopper was on hand for the ONTour concert series stop, snapping 39 colour photos from the event for this article that also briefly summarized the event. Donna's excellent (but scrambled-in-order) pictures include 8 of The Tea Party's headlining set, 9 of Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, 5 of Andrew Hyatt, 2 of McLean, and 15 of fans and attendees. That does seem like a lot, but it's clear from the happy fan response and ONTour paraphernalia that everyone had a good time with the free downtown entertainment on Sunday! SaultOnline's Lynne Brown was also in attendance for her own article on the concert, and she took 11 photos herself, including 5 of The Tea Party, 4 of U.S.S., and 2 of fans (including a well-timed shot of fans waving their arms in sync.) Give all of these photos and show summaries a look above for more on Sunday's action!

In terms of videos from the show, we'll start with a nine minute video of The Tea Party's set, courtesy of YouTube user Mike Deresti's channel right after the show. Mike's footage includes the Windsor hard rock veterans playing their biggest hit song "Heaven Coming Down" (as preceded by frontman Jeff Martin's anecdote about filming it's music video), and yes, they did inject U2's "With Or Without You" into the rendition! The video looks and sounds great, with a nice angle of the stage and video wall(!), and The Tea Party still sound like how they did at their peak, so give Mike's video a look below!



Today's other known videos come from the aforementioned local news websites, including multiple videos from a SaultOnline-affiliated YouTube channel named "ShadesofNorth CanUsa". If you glanced at or didn't read the above article, four abbreviated videos were linked there, including two of U.S.S.' opening set (which definitely got younger attendees moving up front) and two of The Tea Party's set. Their videos include clips of their songs "Psychopomp" and, as embedded below, one of their heavier hits, "Temptation". The side stage videos have some audio distortion, but a nice and unique angle of the band, so give them a look above and below as well!



Finally, SooToday also filmed the last two bands for their own YouTube channel, though in their case, it's a summative 69 second clip with no specific focus  on either band. Confirming that there was an on-stage MC to introduce acts, the video features some great quality, but all-too-short clips, including The Tea Party playing their song "The Bazaar" at video's end, and U.S.S. interacting with the crowd on the floor, which had to have been a thrill for fans! I wish there was more to this video, but give it a look below for more solid footage from Sunday's ONTour event!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews in the coming days! Thanks everyone!