LOCAL CONCERT ALERS (Fefe Dobson & Greg Simpson), One More Weekend Concert Preview, And New Videos!!

On this Friday night, let's wrap up what might be the last mega busy concert weekend until Halloween season, with a couple of linked unpl... "uncorked" concerts ahead (one a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), along with another big new show and some newly found live concert videos. With all of that now outlined, here's what you should know!

Just over a week after rocking The Dive, Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg Simpson will return to Beck's Bar for another acoustic matinee concert on SUNDAY! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via Beck's weekly schedule announcement on their Facebook page on Monday, and remember that Greg doesn't have a social media page dedicated to his "Ranting Rockstar" persona/solo act where he can announce shows in advance. SUNDAY'S concert is effectively a re-booking of a briefly advertised show that Greg was supposed to play at Beck's this past Sunday, only to be replaced by Whiskey Hippy for unannounced reasons. Did Beck's err on the date, or did Greg legitimately withdraw/have to reschedule? Regardless, you have another block of "uncorked" southern and hard rock covers in store at the former Vibe Lounge to go along with the weekly euchre tournament!

The Ranting Rockstar will be on stage SUNDAY at 3:00 PM, this is a 19+ concert, and there is no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, we'll have more from Greg this weekend in a bit, and for a preview, here he is live earlier this month!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will play their second show of the fall on Friday, September 18th, when they open for Toronto pop rock musician Fefe Dobson in a FREE concert at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! We'll have Wolf Fest details when someone firmly posts the lineup outside of "Stories". This show takes place during the third annual Vivid Art Festival (successor to the Summer Moon Festival), a yearly celebration of the arts and culture, and while full details are forthcoming, this concert is the main attraction this year. I could have swore that Fefe Dobson had played here previously, but you may recognize her for hit singles like "Bye Bye Boyfriend", "Don't Go (Girls & Boys)", and "Stuttering", and her early material frequently crossed the pop punk line, with many Avril Lavigne comparisons, for better or worse. If you watched MuchMusic frequently in the mid-late 2000s, this will be a huge throwback!

Also playing this date are Toronto pop rock duo Goodnight Sunrise, who you may recognize from last year's Poutine Feast and 2022's Northern Vibe Festival, and it'll be good to see them back in our area! Presented by Kiss 100.5 (a better fit than 104.3 The Fox when you consider her newer material), this is an ALL AGES and FREE concert at 7:00 PM in three weeks, and it should be a fun mix of pop and rock with (hopefully) agreeable temperatures, so visit the above links for more on this concert!

Next up, let's finish up this weekend's concert previews with a show that had lots of advance notice, as the aforementioned Greg Simpson will be joined by Alex & Warren for an "uncorked" concert with their southern/hard rock band Bone Yard 225 TOMORROW NIGHT at The Water Tower Pub! While all of their shows at this Great Northern Road venue are acoustic in spite of electric bands playing there often, this will cap off their summer season schedule ("end of summer" bash in Echo Bay next month acknowledged), and comes three weeks after their Algoma Tree Services gig, and almost three months after their last Water Tower Pub booking. Hopefully things go well for the guys tomorrow before Greg disembarks and heads west for his Beck's matinee on SUNDAY! If you're curious, the band who replaced Soundcheck tonight (due to them jumping to the full Jay's weekend) was North Channel Sound.

Tomorrow's show at The Water Tower Pub is at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge, and if you prefer seeing the guys in local nightclubs, this is your last (scheduled) chance for over a month, so don't bypass this one! See above for more details, and for a preview, I found three new videos of your local 225 at The Water Tower Pub in May 2024! These were shared in the comments of this photo on Bone Yard's Facebook page from earlier that day, and they were filmed by attendee Wanda Wanda. Alas, all three are short and (sadly) vertical, but they include the guys covering Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" (with Alex on vocals), Pink Floyd's "Young Lust", and as embedded below, their staple cover of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show's "The Cover Of 'Rolling Stone'", as it is the only video to exceed 46 seconds in length. Orientation and duration aside, these videos all suffer from deep/hazy blue lighting, but this isn't an isolated problem re: videos shot there.

If you have to shoot vertically, this was at least optimal to get all three guys in frame, even if Warren is very much in the background. The audio quality isn't bad from what we hear, and these are well handled covers, but you should expect nothing less from Bone Yard after over 15 years. Give Wanda's videos a watch above and below, and apologies for missing them for this long! Videos explicitly posted in/shared to comments can be tricky!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Generations & Greg Simpson) And New Videos!!

Today's post is half devoted to wrapping up our look at a local musician's recent original music output, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE!

Despite the cancellation of his planned Beck's Bar matinee gig tomorrow, you can still see Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg "The Ranting Rockstar" Simpson live this weekend, as he will be rocking The Dive Gastro Pub with a solo acoustic concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Greg only announced this gig via his personal Facebook page earlier this evening, and at press time, The Dive has not corroborated this booking. As per Greg's post about the "uncorked" concert TOMORROW, this concert will be indoors in "the naughty corner" rather than on the patio, but regardless, if you like Bone Yard's acoustic concerts and enjoyed Greg's past solo dates (at The Dive or otherwise), keep TOMORROW'S concert in mind for some more entertsaining southern and hard rock covers! The Ranting Rockstar takes the stage at the former Low & Slow TOMORROW at 9:30 PM with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. See above for more details, and here's Greg live earlier this month!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to Gateway Casino for one night only (as usual there) on Saturday, September 12th! Drummer Tony Santoro newly announced this show on their Facebook group on Monday, and it marks their first show at the downtown casino since early August. Generations have been taking a few weeks off from the stage this month, aside from some fill-in gigs by Pierre and Tony, so if you've missed their, Valerie, and Joe's tried and tested batch of old school covers, go check them out next month (and this fall!) We already knew about their Reggie's Place gigs next weekend, so look for more in next week's round of weekend concert previews. The Gateway Casino show in three weeks is at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. See above for more details, and look for more from Generations on the SMS next week!

Finally for this post, let's conclude our look at Tym Morrison's recent original solo music from his YouTube channel! Six songs (with videos) were left to look at after our all-Tym post, and in this case,  all six songs/videos here reference socio-political issues and opinions that may be seen as divisive, so I won't comment on the bulk of the lyrics or views here (this isn't that kind of site). Also, remember that Tym uses some AI-generated imagery in his videos, but he wrote and sang every part of the actual songs, give or take some spoken word sections from included videos. All uploaded 2-3 weeks ago, the oldest of the six videos is for "The Harvest", referencing the joyous harvests as seen in the Bible, but the video imagery gets heavier than the song, let's say. Musically, it showcases his guitar skills well, but it's deceptively laid back and mid-tempo. Next is "Save The World", which is about his view on vaccines, and that's all I'll say there.

The song itself is livelier and a little heavier with fuller guitar riffs but it can be a tad repetitive structurally. Lyrically, the next song ("The Right Side Of History") is very much on the same track for its messaging and video content. Musically, it is the heaviest of the three songs yet with strong guitar soloing and energetic, melodic singing, so fans of his older metal material will enjoy the instrumental aspect! "Declassified" focuses on Tym's take on political corruption and declassifying government documents, and this song has an Iced Earth vibe to it at points (if that's fair) with well programmed percussion and good melodies. "The Calm Before The Storm", is about child trafficking, and it goes from there. In terms of the music, it's an intense 1980s-inspired metal song that old Hollow and Carbon Black fans will like on that basis.

The last of the six songs is "COVID-19", and you can guess what that song is about from the title. Tym's vocals come off a little like early-1990s Dave Mustaine with how he approaches the verses here, and while not his fastest or most freewheeling original, it gets the job done as a composition. Tym's songwriting and vocal abilities are definitely present across these songs, but all deal with political, social, or public health content that I really don't want to get into here, so just keep that in mind whether you'd be inclined to agree with the viewpoints or not. Give them a listen/watch above if you want, and that's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the SMS this weekend as our backlog shrinks down! Thanks everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Greg Simpson & Dos Amigos) And The ARCH Run Concert Preview!!

Today's post got somewhat rushed and altered thanks to not one, but two SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for TONIGHT, so those lead off today along with our preview of a returning charity concert on Saturday, so here's what you should know as our weekend concert previews roll on!

Local acoustic punk cover duo Dos Amigos will make their apparent debut at Thomson Farms Cider & Winery for an outdoor patio concert TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was first announced via this AI generated poster on the winery's Facebook page last night, and it appears to have been relatively late notice in conception, as it's not on the band's summer concert calendar from Instagram on July 3rd. The 4057 Third Line West winery has been hosting occasional live unplugged musicians for Thursday evening concerts this summer, and it makes sense that Dos Amigos would step in for at least one of them, as singer/guitarists Mikey Hawdon and Dustin Jones played at Thomson Farms' teddy bear picnic in June 2024 and 2025 with BookcluB (such an event did not happen last month). Despite the late notice, hopefully there's a decent turnout TONIGHT for Dos Amigos' acoustic punk covers!

Thomson Farms are also hyping up having appetizers on sale, as well as seven different kinds of cider, so keep that in mind if that's your thing! This concert takes place TONIGHT from 6:00-9:00 PM with a presumed 19+ age limit given the winery aspect, and no announced cover charge. As this is on the patio, 9&10 News is calling or partly cloudy to clear skies TONIGHT with 22-23° temperatures. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Dos Amigos live (albeit indoors!)

Next up, Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg Simpson will bring his "Ranting Rockstar" solo show back to The Dive Gastro Pub for a "Think It Over Thursday" concert TONIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, Greg only announced the show via his personal Facebook page yesterday (he doesn't have a public page for his solo concerts that I am aware of), and while The Dive did finally confirm the booking on their Facebook page this afternoon, that's more than many of their concert bookings have gotten in recent months. TONIGHT's concert will be indoors in "The Naughty Corner", and if you're familiar with Bone Yard's "uncorked" gigs (let alone The Bearded Lounge), expect more of the same, just with Greg alone, though note that Soundcheck's Travis Sharpe has guested with him at the former Low & Slow before, and is a credited guest for Greg's set at the Maddy's Mighty Mutts family fun day in two weeks. Be there TONIGHT to see if he shows up again!

In case you're curious, Bone Yard 225 are playing at a stag & doe on Saturday night, which is listed on their website's calendar, but with rare exceptions, I don't cover stags & does as "concerts" here (even if ticketed) due to their hyper-personal nature. They'll next play proper public concerts next weekend at Beck's Bar, but TONIGHT'S "Ranting Rockstar" show is at 9:30 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details! The only public videos of Greg's solo dates that I can find are via The Dive, which now content matches their videos' audio as being their own, so embedding videos from their Facebook page now doesn't work.

Finally for weekend concert preview post #2 is an event that thankfully had lots of advance notice, namely the third annual ARCH Run takes place on SATURDAY outside of Jay's Piston Broke Pub! After last year's ARCH Run bizarrely never had a public schedule release, we now know exactly which bands will be rocking out to support the Algoma Regional Community Hospice as bikers make their annual rally through Sault Ste. Marie. Of course, if you want to pledge donations to ARCH or ride in the rally proper, or get details on the draw for a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, click here. Numerous vendors will also be on site on this closed section of Korah Road for all of today's action! And just to clear up any confusion, this is the only ARCH motorcycle rally/concert this year, as the Dragonfly Run (which the ARCH Run splintered off from in 2024) ended last month, and click here for more on that decision from their organizers. 

Musically speaking, there will be a nightcap inside Jay's once again, this time by country rock cover band Elly McWatters & The Drifters at 9:30 PM, but outdoors, your headliners are young local hard rock quartet 5 Dollar Bribe, another high profile set or them as they continue building their local name and reputation! Country cover veterans (and 2024 ARCH Run performers) Tex Riviera & The Ride will take the stage at 7:00 PM, preceded by newer classic rock cover quartet Doo & The Boyos at 6:00 PM (if there will be a Stones At The Alter sidequest then, it's not in the advertising). New local alt-hard rock band Riverside Stasis will play their third public concert set (and penultimate gig with rhythm guitarist Liam Dinsmore) at 5:00 PM, while 1960s-themed classic rock band Whiskey Hippy are on at 4:00 PM. Prolific local drummer Chris Johns will hop on guitar for a reunion of his early 1990s local band The Korner Monsters at 3:00 PM.

If you're friends of his on Facebook, head there to see archival video of this band, and it will be interesting to hear how they go over on Saturday, or if this leads to more concerts! Chris will joined by singer/guitarist Rusty Barrel, bassist Dave Konkin, and drummer Jim Edwards, and they will be playing 1980s-1990s alt rock covers. Your openers are local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his Big Finish Band in his first proper advertised local date of 2026, and of course, most of his band will be playing at night's end with Elly & The Drifters, so they have a big day ahead! While donations and pledges are encouraged, attending the ARCH Run and the indoor nightcap is free, and the outdoor festivities are all ages. In terms of the weather, 9&10 News is currently calling for overcast to mostly cloudy skies with a high of 23°, and as of the current forecast, the rain expected on Saturday morning should be done prior to Mike's opening set. 

Supporting ARCH and the work they do for those dealing with cancer is always a wonderful reason to come out for events like this and help out, and kudos to everyone for donating their time! While it is unfortunate that the Dragonfly Run isn't back this year, I am very glad that there is still an outdoor concert festival and motorcycle rally to raise money for ARCH, and hopefully there's a great turnout on Saturday, especially with the comfortable temperatures hopefully continuing! Visit the above links for more on ARCH Run III, and here's 5 Dollar Bribe live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned next for our Go North Music Festival and Sandman previews, and the Superior Whitefish Festival Battle of the Bands and Sunday's all-local Blaster concert are also in queue! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Separate Wayz, Stones At The Alter, And Greg Simpson), Plus The Cory Marks Concert Preview!!

Let's dive into what is an interesting weekend for hard rock fans in terms of live music! Due to the amount of shows, we'll hold our previews of of the previously announced Bone Yard 225 and Epic Rush concerts this weekend for our next post. Here's what you should know, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this weekend!

Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg Simpson will bring his "Ranting Rockstar" acoustic solo concert back to The Dive Gastro Pub for a "Think It Over Thursday" concert TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday. While there may have been an assumption that Greg's solo debut at The Dive was a stopgap measure for him to keep playing while Bone Yard were still on their spring break, the band proper is back, so perhaps we will see Greg back sans Alex & Warren for more "uncorked" gigs beyond TONIGHT! Regardless, if you like your local 225 (or the former Bearded Lounge), you'll be right at home with Greg's unplugged southern and hard rock covers, though if you want the full band back, they'll be at Beck's tomorrow (preview forthcoming). TONIGHT's show will definitely be in "The Naughty Corner", as Greg's show last month was.

Expect a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover charge at the former Low & Slow TONIGHT, so visit the above links for more details on Greg's third solo show of 2026, and here he is live at The Dive!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Separate Wayz will hit up Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced via the band's Facebook page on Monday (note that the venue has not corroborated this booking on their own Facebook page at press time). While fans last saw their sister band Soundcheck two weeks ago at Jay's and a month ago at Reggie's, these will be the first Separate Wayz-branded concerts with Nicole present since April, when they played a standalone gig at Jay's and an "epic crossover" weekend at The Esquire Club with Soundcheck. Surprisingly, I can't find record of Separate Wayz playing at Reggie's since their debut last year, so if you're an existing fan or are curious to see how Soundcheck sound with a female singer, keep TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows in mind! No word on when we'll see Soundcheck back on stage, but we'll let you know.

As usual for weekend cover action at Reggie's, TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT's concerts are at 9:30 PM with no cover charges and 19+ age limits. See the above links for more details on Separate Wayz' Reggie's debuts, and for a preview, here they are live!

Also newly announced for this weekend is the headlining debut of new local hard rock quartet Stones At The Alter, who will play a special outdoor concert on SATURDAY NIGHT outside of the aforementioned Dive Gastro Pub! Apologies again for the short notice, this show was only announced by the venue's Facebook page on Sunday, though note that the band's Facebook group has not seen any updates in over a month. The Doo & The Boyos side project will set up shop outside of the former Low & Slow on SATURDAY to take advantage of that day's Sault Ste. Marie Festival of Beer, the annual LopLops Lounge-promoted event that returns to The Downtown Plaza, which is just down the road. Note that I don't know if Beerfest will have their own music lineup at the Plaza (they did last year), but we'll let you know if something comes out late. Hopefully S@TA can fit their full setup on The Dive's patio!

Note that Curtis McKenzie had advertised playing at The Dive on Saturday himself (in an announcement that slipped us by last month), but he blamed a "double booking accident (by) the venue" for the mixup. We'll let you know when he'll be back there soon! This rare plugged-in "Patio Play" gig will be an 8:00 PM nightcap at The Dive with a 19+ age limit and no cover. 9&10 News is calling for a high of 20° on Saturday with a low of 9°, and while we're too soon to see an hourly forecast, be advised that the chance of rain on Saturday in general is about 50/50 at present. Visit the above links for more details, and we'll let you know when Stones At The Alter videos surface!

Finally for this preview post, it's TONIGHT'S main event, as North Bay country/hard rock musician Cory Marks will return to The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre for a headlining concert! While promotion calls this the "first concert ever" at the Bushplane Museum (Cory himself says as much in this promotional video), that isn't true, as multiple locals-only shows have happened there, not to mention Cory's acoustic concert last year for Hope Air Day. However, for a high scale, high production concert, this is uncharted territory for the 50 Pim Street venue, and tickets are selling well for Cory's genre hybrid sound, which we last saw in a full band, electric splendour at The Machine Shop in 2023 & 2024. He has had charting singles on US rock radio, and some very high profile guest spots, so if you like hard rock and/or country, there will be something for you! In a late confirmation, former Northwest bandmates Greg Callaghan & Mike Yakasovich will open tonight in an acoustic set.

While their acoustic exploits largely haven't crossed our radar, Greg does cover some punk in his solo dates, so hopefully the set things off on the right foot! This concert takes place in the hangar proper tonight at 7:30 PM (running until 10:00), it is all ages, and limited general admission tickets cost $40 at the door. Online sales have ended, and VIP passes (which get fans an early acoustic set from Cory at 6:30 PM among other perks) have completely sold out. Food trucks will be on site tonight too, as they are every Thursday this summer. Click here and visit the above links for more on what should be a big night for the Bushplane Museum and fans of Cory's, and here he is live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Bone Yard 225 and Epic Rush previews (and more) next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Silent Nine & Greg Simpson), The Crazy Babies Concert Preview, And More!!

Possibly due to the long weekend ahead, this weekend's hard rock concert previews are pretty quiet, but we still have SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to touch on, so here's what you should know for this weekend as well as a new live-streamed video from a local band's recent gig on the road!

Bone Yard 225 frontman Greg Simpson will return to the stage when he debuts at The Dive Gastro Pub TONIGHT before serving as the acoustic matinee performer at Beck's Bar on SUNDAY! Apologies for the short notice, both shows were only announced via the venues' respective Facebook pages yesterday and on Monday respectively. Fans haven't seen "the ranting rockstar" on a public stage since Bone Yard's acoustic St. Patrick's Day gig at Smitty's, and with your local 225's indefinite break still ongoing (our best wishes are still with Alex and family), it looks like Greg is ready to hit the stage again in the interim, with these shows likely to be similar to Bone Yard's "uncorked" acoustic gigs, albeit sans Alex and Warren. Take The Dive's AI poster claim of "live DJ / singer vibes all night" with a grain of salt, but as usual for non-summer gigs at The Dive, TONIGHT's "Think It Over Thursday" show will be indoors in "the naughty corner".

As for SUNDAY at Beck's, this does seem like it might be a replacement for a planned Bone Yard matinee gig there. Note that they're not hosting a band on Saturday. rather a blacklight dance party featuring DJ Dark Mark, so were Bone Yard supposed to play the double shot there like they have before? In any event, TONIGHT'S Dive show downtown is at 9:00 PM, SUNDAY'S Beck's show (which coincides with a euchre tournament) is at 3:00 PM, and both have 19+ age limits and no cover. Good to see Greg back at it after a couple of months away from the stage, so expect "uncorked" southern hard rock covers at both venues ahead! Visit the above links for more details, and we'll let you know if solo videos of Greg live surface publically!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will return to the public stage on SATURDAY NIGHT at DeMarco's Boots & Saddles Roadhouse! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this concert via their Facebook page on Monday, though it was quietly added to their website's concert calendar in recent weeks. After taking April off, this will be Silent 9's first show since rocking Beck's Bar two months ago, but it won't be their debut at the Boots & Saddles, as they made the drive deep into the west end for at least one private gig in January. Like in recent years, the band is taking the summer off from standard bar gigs, instead focusing on festivals and private events, so if you want to see Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve rock out in a nightclub, and you're in the area/up for the drive, keep SATURDAY'S show in mind! This is an 8:00 PM and 19+ show with no cover. See above for more details, and here's Silent 9 live!

Lastly for known hard rock concerts this weekend is the local debut of Toronto-based Ozzy Osbourne tribute band Crazy Babies on SATURDAY NIGHT at The Full Throttle Saloon! Apologies for erroneously crediting them as being the Detroit-based Ozzy ReBourne in our initial coverage, Ozzy tribute band marketing confused me a bit at the time. The first real stab at hosting a touring headiner at the former Primavera Hall, this tribute to Ozzy's solo career and Black Sabbath work has received acclaim in their travels for their faithful stage show and Rod Clarke's closely matched vocals, so definitely keep this show in mind if you love the Prince of Darkness! Local support will come by way of classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush, who are no strangers to the Full Throttle Saloon or as openers for a touring tribute band, so don't be late for their 1980s-leaning sets! They are playing sets before Crazy Babies' set and afterwards at midnight.

Now, this 19+ concert takes place at 9:00 PM on Saturday, but tickets cost $70 in advance at this link, at the saloon, or by calling them, and there will reportedly be no admission at the door. The high cost of tickets (higher than Triumph & April Wine at the Gardens!) has not gone unnoticed on social media, and while I won't pass judgment as to how the venue/headliners landed on that number, I just hope the show meets or exceeds expectations for turnout. Visit the above links for more on what should be a fun night for Ozzy and Sabbath fans, and for a preview, here are the Crazy Babies live!

Finally for today, here's a new live-streamed video from Sault Michigan hard rock trio Crush's Facebook page! This comes from their most recent gig, which saw them head downstate to open for Tribe989 at The Ann Arbor Music Festival at The Blind Pig this past Friday. Like at their show at The Merch last month, the Tarnished splinter group live-streamed it for local fans to check out, but as Facebook's current rules for live-streamed videos mean that they'll be deleted after a month, you guys have until around June 1st to see it unless Crush convert it or re-upload it as a regular video. You can tell it's a live-stream though because the 50 minute video doesn't start until 9:30 in, so skip there unless you want to observe them setting up. Their set features the guys playing "SDR&R", "Fire", "Intoxicated", "Hey You", their covers of AC/DC's "Big Balls" and Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!", ...

..."Capitol Gain", "Too Close",  the original not introduced by name that may be titled "Fuck It", and an original that wasn't in the Merch livestreams that I think is named "Call It A Night" (Alex sang lead on that one). Alas, this video was shot vertically, and attendees can block the view for parts of the set, but the audio is clear and Crush show a good sense of humour and rapport with the Metro Detroit fans! They're actually opening for Tribe989 downstate again tomorrow (in Battle Creek, click here for details), but give their Ann Arbor video a watch this month while you can!

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

Tarnished Updates, New Original Songs, And More News & Notes!!

In case there's no new post before then, I'll wish all of our readers a happy Valentine's Day! This post features some assorted updates, new original songs from some familiar hard rock artists, and some more updates from a prolific local band, so here's what you should know!

We'll kick things off with the latest (non-TikTok) updates from Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished, who revealed on their Facebook page on Sunday that they are working on a new single, with plans to release it to major music platforms next month. Former Chained Memories guitarist Ryan Nicklas (who mixed & mastered Tarnished's cover of "Run Rudolph Run") is back in studio with the guys for this new single, and given Gary's recent departure, I imagine frontman Alex Traynor will be behind the drum kit again, knowing that that the single is already being recorded. Tarnished are looking for fans to contribute to planned "gang vocals" on the track, and if you're interested, comment on their Facebook post from Wednesday for more details. Finally, a new video of Alex and bassist Josh Fair performing acoustically at Crooked Music was posted to Facebook last night!

Entitled "A Crooked Jam", this was filmed by Pick-Me-Ups alum Trevor Yake in what looks like an empty store (I don't think we missed a surprise gig), the video features Alex & Josh covering a fragment of Metallica's "Fade To Black" and all of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", across multiple camera angles. Well done renditions with much better audio than their acoustic live-streams from last year, and I like the camera-work and atmosphere shots that Trevor got in this video! Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more from Tarnished, on or off TikTok, next week!

Next up, Sault Ontario hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has two new original songs to check out! Now, I want to preface this by noting that these are not hosted on YouTube, rather Rumble, a video hosting website that has been gaining popularity in recent months among conservative-leaning content creators. From what I understand, these two new songs ("COVID-19" and "Declassified") were pulled from YouTube due to being flagged for misinformation, and they each have very strong personal viewpoints. I try and keep the SMS apolitical, so I won't go into specifics on the lyrics or the detailed video content on these songs, especially as YouTube and Blogger (this site's host service) are both Google properties. On strictly musical terms, both of these songs are very heavy and will definitely please fans of Tym's old metal work, with some strong guitar solos included in both. Give them a watch if you want at the above links!

Also today, here's a new solo original song from Skeyes Of Seven/ex-Sense Of Truth frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel! Entitled "Sorry & Forgotten", this is about rising up against "the global elite" and their control on Earth. I won't get into the lyrics, but this modern hard rock song is intense and well performed (I can easily see one of his bands playing this), and Cory makes good use of multiple camera angles! It is an odd visual seeing him sing through the pop filter though. Give Cory's new song a look below!

 

 

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

 

• Veteran local musician Greg Simpson revealed on his promotional company (Choose) Maxx Entertainment's Facebook page on January 27th that he's closing the page "sometime in the next few weeks", and encouraged everyone to follow his personal Facebook page for continuing business needs in event promotion & graphic design. Greg's personal page indicated that it was "time for a change up", as "this pandemic has forced me to shut down the corporation & move on as sole proprietor." Hopefully we'll still hear more from Greg in the future! As of this writing, the Maxx page is still online, so "the next few weeks" clearly means more than two.
• In their first Facebook page update in nine months, local acoustic punk solo project Slumshine shared a picture of a box full of blank cassette tapes, and noted that "SllMSHN" is coming soon. The two lowercase Ls seem to imply that these will be used to record a sequel to their 2019 debut album "SLMSHN" (note the one L), which was only released physically on cassette. It's great to see Brent is still working on new Slumshine material, so stay tuned for updates!
• I have moved Heavy Lies The Crown guitarist Ted Olson's solo project to our inactive Sault Michigan band links due to a year's inactivity. The St. Ignace product only sporadically updated this page after it's May 2018 inception, and despite hyping it as his "new artist page" in January 2020, only three videos followed that month before updates quietly ceased. Of course, pandemic woes and his work with Heavy Lies The Crown may have slowed Ted's personal page's activity, but stay tuned for more updates as H.L.T.C. progress towards their new album!

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post of some kind by Monday! Thanks everyone!

Northern Superior's Latest Songs & A Six-Pack Concert, Show Cancellations, And More!!

On this 55th straight day of SMS posts, we have new videos to check out from some familiar veteran faces, but let's lead off with some more updates to our concert calendar, albeit negative ones as usual. We'll start in Michigan, where Kewadin Casino announced on their Facebook page yesterday that their branches will all remain closed through the end of the month, with June 1st tentatively slated to be their re-opening date. As such, this wipes out the final May concerts we listed in the E.U.P., namely the May 29th weekend shows from Peril in the Soo and Highway 63 in St. Ignace. In Sault Ontario, nothing that we currently have listed has been visibly cancelled by the bands or promoters on social media, but I am reluctantly delisting the Anti-Queens concert at The Rockstar Bar on May 23rd, as everything around it this month has been called off, and many of The Anti-Queens later concert dates are getting postponed or cancelled elsewhere.

For full disclosure, the local show has not been publically cancelled by the band, promoter, or venue, but the likelihood of this concert and no others in May taking place seems slim-to-none, and there are definitely more cancellations and postponements ahead. If I happen to be wrong, I will redact this, but these are funny times that we're living in right now.

Next up, Northern Superior Brewing Co.'s sixth weekly "Songs & A Six-Pack" live-stream concert took place last night, and this week's host was Bone Yard frontman and (Choose) Maxx Entertainment head Greg Simpson! For the record, last week's show was headlined by country musician Brendan Hodgson, so genre fans will definitely want to check that one out at this link. Simultaneously, Greg's performance is the de facto sequel to his "Songs From The Smoke Room" live-stream last month, with it's planned follow-up on April 8th cancelled on short notice due to his father-in-law being in the hospital, which he acknowledged in last night's video, but thankfully, he is doing better now. Of course, it's great to see Greg back in the smoke room for more covers, albeit with Northern Superior advertising and plugs thrown in! Like last month, this set is more reflective of Greg's past work in classic/hard rock bands.

The 82 minute video starts with his slowed down acoustic cover of Kiss' "Rock & Roll All Nite", before moving to renditions of Kris Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee", Black Label Society's "Spoke In The Wheel", Kid Rock's "All Summer Long", Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", The Tragically Hip's "Fiddler's Green", Cinderella's "Shelter Me", Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", Ray LaMontagne's "Jolene", The Band's "The Weight", Jamey Johnson's "High Cost of Living", The Barenaked Ladies' "The Old Apartment", Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain", The Five Man Electric Band's "Signs", and Guns N' Roses' "Used To Love Her". If you get deja vu from Greg's live-stream last month, then I cannot blame you whatsoever, as only two songs from that set ("Wheat Kings" & "I Took A Pill In Ibiza") were not reprised last night, and only the last five covers were brand new.

That all said, this is still an entertaining concert set, and Greg injects a lot of these songs with good energy and optimism, complete with more entertaining banter with his wife Kerry, helping out off-camera once again. Hopefully there's more on the horizon from Greg, but give his "Songs & A Six-Pack From The Smoke Room" a watch below!

Finally, here's a newly shared video of Greg's old classic/hard rock cover band That's Chester, albeit before he joined the group! This comes from Rotaryfest's main stage at Clergue Park in July 2006, and was uploaded onto drummer Ric Datson's YouTube channel on Tuesday. This features That's Chester with their original frontman Richard Fullerton (now of the Ottawa-based Led Zeppelin tribute band Mothership), and the video opens with an amusing intro by MC/local radio DJ James Warner-Smith where the guys get introduced as the "next" band in an increasingly silly list of musicians, and we even hear their early stage names too (all have "Chester" in them). Musically speaking, you can see Ritch, Eugene, Gabe, Aubrey, and Ric cover a number of different songs, though these were edited into a clip montage in post-production, so no full songs are presented. Fans will hear Sammy Hagar, The Tragically Hip, and AC/DC songs, among others.

I wish the song fragments were at least longer, and the editing quality gives me the impression that this isn't a brand new video, but it's nice to hear the original That's Chester lineup at their height before Richard left! Everyone sounds good, so fans of theirs would be well served to give this video a watch, and visit Ric's YouTube channel for more archive video uploads of his!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

More Facebook Videos From Solo Musicians & Familiar Bands!!

As we continue keeping the SMS updated regularly during the pandemic, here's another post devoted just to videos, starting with another live-streamed concert from Thursday, courtesy of Bone Yard/Bearded Lounge frontman Greg Simpson! This was streamed on his promotion company (Choose) Maxx Entertainment's Facebook page, and was shot in Greg's smoke room, nicely decked out in drum heads and posters from his prior events. Despite his current bands focusing on country covers, his acoustic set on Thursday was much more in line with his classic/hard rock work with Stiffer's Mom and That's Chester, so if you miss those bands, this video will have extra resonance. In performance order, Greg covered Kris Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee", Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Nite", Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", Black Label Society's "Spoke In The Wheel", Kid Rock's "All Summer Long", ...

...The Tragically Hip's "Fiddler's Green", Cinderella's "Shelter Me", Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", The 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", The Hip's "Wheat Kings", Ray LaMontagne's "Jolene", The Band's "The Weight", and Mike Posner's "I Took A Pill In Ibiza". This live-stream seemed to go over well, as Greg is planning an encore for this Thursday night, and the video proper is a fun watch with lot of familiar and well done covers! Greg's rough-edged, to-the-point delivery and strong musical knowledge helps, and he has good rapport with his wife Kerry (off camera), so fans of Greg's prolific band work will definitely want to see this request-heavy set below!



Next up, here's a second acoustic solo performance by Northwest frontman Wayne Watkins, as uploaded to the band's Facebook page this morning, and it's a cover of "Sunshine Blues" by folk musician Bahamas. This song has extra personal meaning for Wayne, as he would rock his newborn daughters to sleep with it. As such, it's a departure from what you'd expect from Northwest, but this whole pandemic is a departure, let's be honest. Wayne puts solid emotion into this well played cover, so give it a look below!



Also today, here's a short new video from southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek's Facebook page last week, and while they'd be prepping for their formal concert debut on Friday in a sane world, we instead get a slow & ominous look at their studio, complete with eerie background music. The title even alludes to isolation making it feel like "a Walking Dead movie set." You do get an interesting look at their space here, and I hope they can get back to work there at some point soon, but give it a look below!

Finally for today, I might as well cover two short videos that I've been sitting on for way too long now, and with local hard rock & punk content naturally slowing down, this will help in that regard. Back in the summer of 2017, local alt-punk/genre-hating trio Handsome Sandwich posted two short non-musical videos on their Facebook page for humorous/teaser purposes, and I intentionally held off on covering them because I figured they would put up something more substantial, and I'd tie those two in with it then. Almost three years later, they have followed those videos with just three Facebook posts and zero new videos, and the 2 clips I mentioned have been sitting in my draft folders ever since, so let's finally give them their due. The June 2017 video is a 4 second clip of drummer Johnny Belanger showing how he practices drumming (spoiler: by rapidly whacking a cut of meat with a meat tenderizer.) Amusing sight gag, but it's over quick.

The other video from July 2017 runs for just 8 seconds, and it features Johnny dramatically whispering to the camera that "something is happening" while Jesse & James inspect gear in the background. Given the optics, was anything happening back then? Well, they did open for Vaultry at The Canadian the next night, but the video would seem to hint more towards a studio project. In any event, Handsome Sandwich updates became very sporadic for much of the late 2010s, including not posting on Facebook at all last year, so who knows how far the guys got into "something". Give these videos a look, at last, above & below, and stay tuned for updates!



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