LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Generations), A New Local Punk Band, And More!!

Today's post wraps up this busy slate of weekend concert previews (one also being a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), along with some assorted recent notes, but let's lead off with a new local band and album all at once!

We have a new local ska punk band to add to our band links, namely A.S.D.P.! Short for "Adam Smith Death Parade", they surfaced with a Bandcamp page on Wednesday, and while they're new to our formal coverage, we did allude to them in the summer when they played at the private Go Skate Day replacement concert in July (remember when it was rained out?). They were also scheduled to open for Krang at The Distraction in September before the venue closed indefinitely following the fire code stuff at the Ripcordz concert. Describing their genre as "crackrocksteady", they are fronted by Hails guitarist and Agnosticism frontman Mikhal Muto (credited as "Châ"), alongside Sault Side Squad/ex-Stoned To Deaf bassist William Jordan Wardlaw (a.k.a. "Glistening Williard") and Spaceship Opening drummer Ralph Barber (or "Just Ralph"). If you gleaned from the Bandcamp page's existence that they have music out there, you're right, as A.S.D.P. released their debut EP "Atom Bombs & Lemonade" on Wednesday!

Ralph told me on Facebook that the album has three bonus covers (of Leftover Crack's "One Dead Cop", No Cash's "Kill Yer Parents", and The Suburbanists' "Wait Around"), but they are exclusive to the paid copy of the album, which costs $7. It's a short listen (the seven originals run for just 14 minutes), but it's encouraging to already see studio material from A.S.D.P., even if its review around here won't be until mid-2026 due to our extensive new album backlog! No word on if we'll see A.S.D.P. on social media otherwise (members don't seem to be eager to get Facebook pages going for most of their current bands), but stay tuned for more updates and content from this new ska band when things go public!

Next up, let's resume this weekend's concert previews, starting with local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations' return to The Water Tower Pub for one night only TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, drummer Tony Santoro announced the gig via the band's Facebook group two weeks ago, and while I listed it in our concert calendar, the idea of adding it to a post slipped me by at the time. If there's a planned final show or two for 2025, I don't know, but if you like Generations' old school rock action, you won't want to miss TONIGHT's show in the event that this is it for the year! This will be their Water Tower Pub debut with new guitarist Joe Miller, after having guest guitarist Michael Yurich when they last played there early last month (and still no public word what the "special surprise" that night was). Whether or not they have a carol or two in mind TONIGHT, this one-nighter is at 8:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Generations live!

Also, let's wrap up this weekend's hard rock previews at Misty's Fifties, where veteran local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will set up shop once again for a matinee concert TODAY! After skipping last week in his lengthy run of Saturday matinee concerts at the Second Line West nightclub, Tym is back today for his fifth such show there in the past six weeks, and he will be back once more for 2025 next week. Hopefully Tym gets a solid pre-Christmas turnout for his hard rocking covers from his extensive setlist once again later on! While we're on the subject, it looks like Tym's planned New Year's Eve concert at The Fraternal Order of Eagles Club has been quietly cancelled, as per its removal from his Eagles Club shows' batch Facebook event page. A reason for the cancellation wasn't announced, but hopefully we see Tym back in Steelton in the new year!

As for today's Misty's matinee, it takes place at 4:00 PM as always, with a presumed 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this and next week's Misty's concerts, and for a preview, here he is live a couple years back! 

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

 

• Welsh punk/alternative quartet James & The Cold Gun have been added as the final openers for most of Mammoth's North American tour early next year, the Kewadin Casino date in Sault Michigan on March 28th included. Fun lively sound that adds some genre diversity to the hard rock action in three months, and how often do bands from Wales play here? Get your tickets A.S.A.P. for what should be a solid concert!
• Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Quite Frankly have announced the addition of Blind River folk musician Linsaey Hartford-White (a.k.a. Linsaey L.W.) as their new frontwoman, replacing Haley Alopaeus. A reason for Haley's departure was not announced, but hopefully things were amicable, and that we see her out there again soon, as she is a talented singer! Some readers may recall seeing Linsaey open the Riffs For Rememberance memorial concert for Victoria Childs at Soo Blaster in October, and it will be interesting to see how she fits in with Quite Frankly in 2026!
• Local punk quartet Room 206 will no longer be playing at next week's 1990s punk reunion concert at Soo Blaster, as per co-promoter/P.R.O.D. guitarist Christian Foisy on the Facebook event page yesterday. Their exit was "due to unavoidable circumstances", and while Christian didn't elaborate, note that Brad does live out of town. Hopefully Room 206 resurface down the road when able! Online page-less metal quintet The Sault Side Squad will replace them on the bill as the 8:00 PM opening band, with P.R.O.D., members of The Spigots, Fist Magnet, and Ha!ls following in that order. This will still be a huge night, so visit the above links for more on next week's festivities!

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

R.I.P. Jimmy Smith

The Sault Metal Scene sends it's deepest condolences to the family and friends of former local hard rock bassist Jimmy Smith, who unexpectedly passed away on June 4th at the age of 47. Apologies for the late mention, I only just heard about this the other day. His obituary can be read on SooToday at this link, and his funeral was held this past Tuesday at The O’Sullivan Donnelly Funeral Home with Reverend Bruce McLeish presiding. Donations are asked to be sent to charities of choice, and a benefit for Jim will be held at the Breakaway Bar & Grill at 68 Dennis Street on Saturday, with doors opening at 6:00 PM, but I have no word at present on a potential live musical component. Though not a recent sight in the local music scene, Jim was known locally as the bassist in the early 1980s progressive hard rock band Thansis Colle, alongside Sault native & prominent folk solo artist Kevin Closs, guitarist Paul Tikkanen (now of the Peterborough band Azriahl), and current Flat Stanley drummer Glen Thomas. I didn't know Jimmy, but what I've heard is good in regards to his character and personality, and it's just a shame that yet another local musician is lost at such a young age.

He was definitely a skilled bassist, and he'd have to be to match up with the creative time signatures and instrumentation that Thansis Colle were known for, and that their surviving members have kept up in the following years. One track of theirs (an instrumental take of their song "This Machine") was posted onto Glen Thomas' YouTube channel in 2009, and it's a fun progressive metal track to be sure, so give it a listen below, keep his family in your thoughts, remember the benefit on Saturday, and hopefully we'll hear more of his local music work down the road! R.I.P. Jimmy!

Two New Local Metal Bands, New Tym Morrison Material, And More!!

It's time for a new news post at the SMS, including lots of notable updates, but first, just letting you guys know that I don't think there's a Rooosevelt Hotel metal night tonight, despite today being next on the recent bi-weekly schedule. Nothing official has came out about the 48th and next installment of the Thursday metal concert series, so I doubt there's anything imminent, but I've heard rumblings about a show on August 2nd, so stay tuned for updates! Now, today's post features updates to one of our monthly series, new material from a prominent musician, and leading things off, two new local metal bands, so here's what you need to know!

Our first new band is a local progressive hardcore outfit named With Blood Builds Character, and you may recognize their lineup as featuring four members of March Into Regression! This new band features Like Father Like Son frontman/sometimes concert promoter Jeremy Hannah on vocals, guitarists Ray Cowan (ex-State of Misery) and Christopher Neveau, and Social Suicide bassist Tyler St. Amour (no drummer has been announced yet), and they will play their first show under this band name as the last confirmed band at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird on August 4th! They'll take the 6:00 PM slot, but they forgot the "With" in their name on the Facebook event page. This all said, what does this new band's formation mean in terms of the status of March Into Regression? M.I.R. drummer Travis St. Amour (who, along with Josh Stephney, is not visibly in this new band) commented on the event page above that the two bands "have no affiliation", and he has been looking on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group this month for singers & guitarists to work with, so it sounds like the four members of W.B.B.C. broke off and started a more formal new band for some reason or another. That said, M.I.R.'s Facebook page hasn't been updated since July 9th, so I can't say for certain if they are completely gone, or what M.I.R.'s next steps are, but I'll keep you posted!

With Blood Builds Character do have promise judging by the Jeremy-sung songs that they did when I saw March Into Regression, and hopefully they can last locally and inject some creative heavy metal into some upcoming concerts! Stay tuned for updates on both With Blood Builds Character and March Into Regression as it all rolls in, as well as the Laird show next month!

Today's other new band to add to the SMS listings is the Sault Michigan metal project Denaturant! Currently, the band only has one member, that being former Hammerspace guitarist Justin Smith, but he's currently on the hunt for additional musicians to complete a full lineup that would "take a specific journey through music." Denaturant was actually launched last July, but Justin has only recently returned to actively updating the band's Facebook & Reverbnation pages towards a proper launch. Plans are for Denaturant to play all original music and to bring back "the raw energy and skill that it deserves", but more musicians are needed to further those goals, so message Justin at this location if you wanna try out! Aside from a video of a brief original sample from last fall, there's no previews yet of Denaturant's sound, but that video has promise, and I liked Justin's work with Hammerspace, so hopefully he can get this new band even further off the ground and bring some more active original metal to Sault Michigan! Check them out at the above links, and both Denaturant and With Blood Builds Character are now in our active band links on the SMS!

Next up, here's some news from local metal musician Tym Morrison! Though best known recently for his solo acoustic cover gigs and his sets with his band Caveman Morrison, long time fans are bound to remember his original music as well, which led to the release of his debut album "Solo Project" in the mid-2000s. Samples of 9 songs for a planned "next album" have been streamable on his official website for some time now, but in recent months, all we've heard from Tym in terms of solo material has been newer compositions, mostly of a softer or comedic nature. However, he's been posting a bunch of new solo original recordings onto his YouTube channel over the last couple of days, including new versions of the planned album tracks "Dungeons & Dragons" & "Lay It On The Line", new takes of his songs "Someday", "The After Life", and the 9/11 tribute song from his website, and two newly posted originals entitled "His Sacrifice" and "Termination of Exystance", so click each link to check them out! Apparently, Tym is working again on his second CD according to recent posts on his personal Facebook page, and if these new songs are any indication of what to expect, I think things are in good hands!

Under the premise that these will be on an album coming out, I'll hold detailed thoughts for a future review, but these songs do cover a wide range of topics and sounds, and if you like heavy metal, most of these will fill that void! I'll share "Dungeons & Dragons" below (featuring some very good singing on Tym's part), but check the above links for more, and stay tuned for updates on Tym's second CD and future original compositions!



And finally for today, here's the rest of the recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series posts to make them more current and accurate! On the Algoma University Battle profile, I added a trivia note on Creedon & The Animal Detectives drummer Terrence Gomes' future battle appearance as Changing Waves' bassist at the Battle For The Blood last month, while the Sault College/Scotties Tournament Battle's profile saw updates to reflect first place winners Blackwater's inactive status, third place act Sykotyk Rampage's current album count, and the current solo projects for Blackwater frontman Cody McMillan & Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan. Finally for this batch of updates, the Downtown Showdown profile now refers to third place winners The Tenagens' recent reemergence in the local scene and guest Bring The Fallen bassist Mike Kyle's almost-return to a battle when his current band Shit Liver were listed to play at the Battle For The Blood at one point. Things aren't completely up to date with these profiles though, as these were part of edits I made so long ago that there's stuff I missed (i.e. With Blood Builds Character's formation), so stay tuned in the near future for more updates and fact changes to this and our other monthly feature series at the SMS!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for previews of this weekend's Rotaryfest Second Stage TONIGHT! Thanks everyone!

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Jar. & Thrawsunblat

It's that time once again, where we take our monthly look at two metal/hard rock bands that, though never based locally, have featured at least one Saultite in their lineup in the past or present! Both bands are still active in varying states, are from opposite ends of the country, and feature some music that's definitely worth checking out, so let's begin this month's out of town profiles! And, as is usual, if there's something incorrect, missing, or lacking info/details, please tell me! (UPDATED: November 26th, 2014)
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Jar. (Vancouver, British Columbia)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics)

Garth Allen (vocals)
Chris "Weasel" Gorst (guitar)
Russ Bergquist (bass)
Rob Wade (drums)

Bryan Fratesi (guitar)
Chris Smith (bass)
Tom MacDonald (bass)
Tðrry Coµrte (bass)
Chris Hubert (???)

Official website: http://www.jarcanada.com
Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/jarcanada
Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jarcanada
Official Reverbnation page: http://reverbnation.com/artist_924696
Official Angelfire page: http://angelfire.com/fl5/flybanger/
Official SoundCloud page: http://soundcloud.com/jar-10

Local Info: The only Saultite in any incarnation of Jar. (to my knowledge) was original bassist Chris Smith, and if you've been in and around the local scene in the past few years, Chris should be quite familiar! He's best known recently as the former bassist for local rock band Wishbone, who he played on two albums with during his runs with them! On the heavier side of things locally, Chris was also the drummer for local hard rock trio Browbeat in the mid-late 2000s, playing with them numerous times at many different concerts before leaving in early 2010. But before all that, Chris lived out west, making his mark in the Vancouver scene as Jar.'s first bassist until leaving the band at some point between 1997 and 1998.

Band Bio: Jar. were formed in the summer of 1995 by singer Garth Allen & drummer Rob Wade, who are the only original Jar. members left in the band. The band (then including Chris Smith) recorded their debut EP "Harsh & Discord" in 1997, and after he left the band, he was replaced by (believe it or not) Hedley bassist Tom MacDonald! Amidst frequent touring, the band recorded one LP under the Jar. name, 1998's "Knott Skull", before signing with Columbia Records in 1999, and changing their name to Flybanger (after a song on "Harsh & Discord") in 2000. As Flybanger, they released an EP in 2000 and a full length album, "Headtrip To Nowhere", in 2001, along with getting a song on the official soundtrack for the movie Dracula 2000, and opening for bands like Judas Priest, Tool, and Clutch. After leaving Columbia Records, Flybanger released a self-titled EP in 2003 under the name Jarr, and briefly went under the name Settlement before breaking up in 2004.

Garth and Rob kept busy in Vancouver bands Kill Rhythm & The Thick Of It, before reuniting Jar. in May 2010 with some of their current bandmates. Jar. returned to the stage for the first time since the reunion in September 2011, and have since kept busy with various recent concerts and a self-titled CD release in April 2013, so watch out for Jar. in the coming months!

Jar./Flybanger really caught me off guard with how cool they sounded! They have a punk energy but keep things heavy too! They're actually sort of hard to describe, they're definitely metal, but they don't really fit into a subgenre. Radio-accessible, but still heavy & containing a clear melody! Garth Allen provides tough yet melodic singing, along with nice creative riffing from Bryan Fratesi & consistently good drumming from Rob Wade! Chris Smith shown the same great bass skills we've came to hear from Wishbone on the "Harsh & Discord" material, and Tom McDonald surprises me on bass on the later CDs both on talent & because I can't believe that he's in Hedley! What happened? However, Jar. didn't take many risks into different sounds that much. Solos aren't a frequent sight, and they used similar styles in many songs. Plus, much of their Flybanger discography is recycled from older Jar. albums. Their first two CDs, especially "Harsh & Discord", have more experimentation & bite than the newer Flybanger songs, which sound too polished. But overall, I really like Jar., no matter what name they used, and they're one catchy hard rock band that you should check out

Jar.'s new album (featuring some old material re-recordings) can be bought online at this location, so give it a spin! None of Jar./Flybanger's albums are readily available nowadays to my knowledge, so your best bet to buying them is to check around online. Wikipedia has their full discography for reference, and you can find a few of their CDs on some sites. "Headtrip To Nowhere" is available VERY cheap on Amazon, and iTunes has their Flybanger-era material as well! However, if you know where to look, the vast majority of their back catalog is freely available online, including YouTube. Just search for the album names and Flybanger, most of their stuff is there to check out (plus live and music videos), notably at the "Jarbanger" YouTube channel! I'm going to show you guys Jar.'s music video for the song they eventually changed their name to, "Flybanger", and yes, Chris is on bass in the video! See what you think!


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Thrawsunblat (Fredericton, New Brunswick)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics)

Joel Violette (vocals, guitar, and bass)
Brendan Hayter (bass)
Rae Amitay (drums)
Jeff Mott (fiddle)
David Gold (drums)

Official MySpace page: http://myspace.com/thrawsunblat
Official CBC Radio 3 page: http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/thrawsunblat
Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/thrawsunblat
Official Last.FM page: http://www.last.fm/music/thrawsunblat
Official Bandcamp page: http://thrawsunblat.bandcamp.com/
Official Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/thrawsunblat

Local Info: Ever the prolific musician, Thrawsunblat was one of the numerous projects to feature the drumming talents of Sault Ste. Marie native and Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold, joining his past work in Gates of Winter, Necramyth, Will of the Ancients, The Northern Ontario Black Metal Preservation Society, Proposition 86, Mister Bones, and L'Anguisette. Of course, you'll know that David's played here with Woods of Ypres numerous times, included the entire Gates of Winter lineup in the band for a brief period, and immortalized (for better or worse) the Soo in the "Woods III" song "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground"! Sadly, David passed away in December 2011, but his talents are still clear as day, and hopefully he continues to leave an impact!

Band Bio: Launched in early 2009, Thrawsunblat is the black metal project masterminded by Fredericton musician Joel Violette, who enlisted David Gold to supply drumming for the band. You'll also recognize Joel as Woods of Ypres' last lead guitarist, joining Woods in early 2010. Describing their sound as "raw folk & melodic black metal", Thrawsunblat recorded their first eight song demo in the spring and summer of 2009, entitled "Canada 2010", but further activity was minimal until after David's death, with Joel enlisting Woods of Ypres bandmates Brendan Hayter & Rae Amitay to round out their new lineup in early 2012. Though still a studio-only project, the guys released their second album  "Thrawsunblat II: Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings" in March 2013 partially thanks to a successful recent fundraising effort, following it with some EPs adapting older songs in new genres, and sessions for their third CD in 2014. Buy their albums at this link!

When I first listened to Thrawsunblat, they reminded me a bit of Woods of Ypres' first album in all but clean vocals, and they still give me that vibe, if they employed a folk metal edge, and I don't mind it at all! Joel Violette has considerably talent to play most of the instruments in this project, employing harsh black metal singing, and noticeably good guitar and bass playing, though oddly, I think Joel mixed them too low. His singing and David's drumming came through too high in the original recordings. The guitar work is heavy, but has good folksy melodic patches and solos, and the bass is solid, but again, both sound lower than they should. Joel's clean singing is alright, it gets the job done, especially on the lower register. David's drumming was also very solid and underrated, but their current lineup gives vibes of what could have been for Woods of Ypres in 2012, with their own edge and flavour. If you love folk metal, and black metal, you'll no doubt like Thrawsunblat, so check them out!

You can buy all of Thrawsunblat's albums at their Bandcamp page (plus their main two on iTunes), with streaming copies of most tracks available at the above links, so give everything a listen and pick some up! Click the above links to check out Thrawsunblat, and in case you're interested, the lyrics for each song are on their MySpace page. As this is a studio-only project, there's no live videos to share, but YouTube user Lordstormcrow did upload the opening song from their first demo, "Black Sky" onto YouTube, so check it out below, and if you like what you hear, download the whole demo above!


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Hope you enjoyed this month's profiles! Next month, we've got a couple more notable out of town bands featuring Saultites, so here's who we're profiling in August: Hellhitch, the Toronto metal band fronted by Saultite Mike Lawrence, and Muskegon hard rock band Kilacel, featuring Saultites (and current local band members) Chris Webster and Chris Leask! Look out for that at some point in August, I won't name a date yet cause I wanna work out a more spaced out schedule for special feature posts so they aren't all clumped together at the end of a given month.

That's all for now, stay tuned later TONIGHT for a new news post with some more exciting local metal news, including some new shows! Stay tuned!