Here's a new news post to check out on this Wednesday evening, and it is devoted to two topics relating to veteran local musicians: A new live-streamed at-home concert, and a surprise reunion from a talented band who are throwing their hat into a contest ring. Here's what you should know!
Local hard rock quintet Skeyes of Seven are back! Almost three years removed from their last public update and live concert, the guys have entered the $20,000 Summer Song contest being held by Corus Radio, as well advertised on many of their active radio stations, which is open to Canadian musicians and bands looking for their big break. Prospective acts have until Tuesday to enter via a video performance (performers don't have to be in the same room in the video), and a panel of judges from Corus Radio stations will pick the top 10 performances, before ultimately determining the $20,000 winner, plus a fan-voted $2,000 prize. Full disclosure, Corus Radio does not have any stations in Northern Ontario, but their closest ones to the Soo (source here) are the London rock station FM 96 and the Barrie top 40 station Fresh Radio 93.1. As best as I can tell, Skeyes of Seven are the only local band to enter at press time.
A couple of groups familiar from past local concerts have entered, like The Fortunate Losers and The Killin' Time Band, but there are dozens of entries that you can check out on the contest's YouTube channel, and all genres are welcome, as evidenced by the contest being hyped on rock, top 40, and country stations. You would think that being in a market 6 hours removed from a Corus-served city would be a disadvantage to Skeyes of Seven, but as of this writing, their video is the 15th most viewed in the Summer Song contest, so maybe that's a good sign? As for their video proper, this was filmed remotely due to social distancing (one assumes), and it features their entire 2017 lineup (Cory, Ron, Kyle, Al, and John) before they went on hiatus. The guys entered their (new?) song "Detonate" for the contest, and it has a good heavy sound with some progressive flourishes, including very solid guitar work and nice raspy yet melodic singing from Cory!
With the pandemic raging onward, it's anyone's guess when we'll see Skeyes of Seven in a proper public concert again, but it's great to see them back performing together in any fashion, and hopefully their return isn't just for this contest! Give "Detonate" a watch below, visit the above links for much more on Corus Radio's Summer Song Contest, and Skeyes of Seven are definitely back in our active band links!
Finally for today, local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison hosted his 29th live-streamed concert on his YouTube channel last Thursday, and after show #28 was cut off after only a couple of songs due to technical difficulties, fans will be glad to know that the run-time of this one is back to his usual 2 hour length! Unfortunately, Tym is continuing to block external embedding of his live-streams on both this one and yesterday's (which will be covered on the site very soon.) After about 6 minutes of setup and the "Starting Soon" card, Tym's set from Thursday begins by covering Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'", Ed Sheeran's "Perfect", 10cc's "I'm Not In Love", Phil Collins' "One More Night", Radiohead's "Karma Police", Cheap Trick's "The Flame", Guns 'N Roses' "Patience", The Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care", Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble's "Pride & Joy", Cat Stevens' "Wild World", ...
Fun show overall with lots of familiar and somewhat deep cuts for his regular at-home concerts, and fans of Tym's original material will like the run of four songs out of six in the back half! The video was somewhat choppy early on, but it leveled out for the majority of the stream, and Tm performed strongly as usual, so fans will want to check out the whole thing below at the above links! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site in the next few days! Thanks everyone!
Before we begin today's post, one of this weekend's concerts was quietly cancelled, namely tomorrow's Deathsticks-headlined show at The New American Pub. Promoters confirmed on the Facebook event page last week that the Whitby garage punk duo can't make the trip due to work obligations, which is disappointing, but hopefully Deathsticks can come here in the future, and that we see the debuts of local openers Dark Garfunkel and Sleeping Together elsewhere! Now, here's three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one for TOMORROW) and the rest of the weekend's concert previews!
Tidal Records' previously announced songwriters competition goes down TOMORROW NIGHT at LopLops Lounge, and yes, some hard rock and punk artists are performing! Apologies for the short notice, the lineup was first publically announced last week, though it has since been updated. Though this isn't considered a "battle of the bands", 10 local musicians (largely singer/guitarists) will convene at LopLops TOMORROW to compete to have an original song recorded with Tidal Records head Dustin Jones, Lake Effect frontman Frank Deresti, and Case's Music owner Jay Case at Dustin's own Mission Control Studios, including a digital release package, and the option to have studio musicians back them up if so desired. Performers will include hard rock and punk band alumni Justin Langlois (Redundant), Ed Vowels (Lucky 13), Cory Murchison (Skeyes of Seven), Andrew Pucci (Stereo North), and Jim O'Leary (ex-Griphook), alongside Nathan Albidone (Thin Ice), Jacob Quarrell (Shit Creek Survivor), and solo artists Tyler Moreau, Jenna Bannister, and Amanda Ridley, while Greg Callaghan (Northwest) is no longer listed as competing for unannounced reasons.
Nice roster of performers, including some unfamiliar faces, and it will be interesting to see who all plays what! Maybe some artists will break out new originals for their current bands, or resurrect songs we haven't heard in a long while? Each artist will apparently play two original songs and a cover song TOMORROW, with a $5 cover charge in effect for attendees of this 19+ event, which presumably has a 9:00 PM-ish start time, though I'm not sure about who all is judging or if there are runner-up prizes. Given the competitive nature, we won't feature a preview video here, but best of luck to all performers TOMORROW, and don't miss out for some diverse acoustic original music at LopLops!
Next up, and also in the realm of Tidal Records, promoter J.D. Pearce is hosting his 12th annual Halloween Party concert at The Algonquin Pub on Saturday, October 29th! Returning to The Algonquin Hotel's downstairs bar for the fourth time in five years, this year's Halloween bash will see an all-local lineup for just the second time since the Halloween Party left Coch's Corner in 2012, while the event is taking on a tribute band theme for a second straight year. The announced headliners are Hey, What About Us?!, a one-off tribute to Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, the punk band best known for covers of decidedly un-punk songs. Though their lineup isn't publically listed, promoter J.D. Pearce is their apparent frontman, marking his return as an official performer after not fully fronting a band last year. We'll let you know if their full lineup is announced! Local hard rock quartet Eclipse will join in as well on the 29th as "SSM of a Down", obviously covering System of a Down songs.
The advertised openers are funk/hard rock quartet The Elements, who will trade last year's Sublime tribute set for a general 1990s rock tribute this year under the moniker "The Plaid Martens". Solid lineup once again, and you've got to love the concept of Hey, What About Us?! doing a covers-only set of a covers-only band! A $5 cover charge is in effect for this year's 19+ concert, which will start at around 10:00 PM, and of course, bring your costumes, and expect a costume contest of some description! This should be another fun night of Halloween punk and hard rock action, so keep it in mind for in two weeks time, and visit the official Facebook event page for updates!
Lastly in new concert announcements, The Rockstar Bar will welcome back Barrie-based AC/DC tribute band Hells Bells for a headlining concert on Saturday, November 12th! Last seen at the same venue almost one year ago, this concert is basically a make-up date for Hells Bells' cancelled local date in May (Project 421 replaced them on late notice), and while I'm still not 100% sure what happened in the spring, it's great to see Hells Bells back with their brand of high voltage rock n' roll next month! AC/DC fans are sure to appreciate their faithful sounding and looking tribute to the hard rock legends, so circle this one on your calendars! Possibly because of the cancellation and delay, advance tickets are now $10 rather than $12 in May, though the admission fee will jump to $15 at the door, so get your tickets at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk to save $5! This is a 19+ event, and while an oddly early 7:00 PM start time is listed, expect it to be more like 10:00 PM. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!
We'll close today with the weekend's remaining hard rock concert preview, including the local debuts of two Sudbury hard rock bands at The Rockstar Bar TOMORROW NIGHT, including headlining rock quartet The Blackwood Sinners and alternative rock quartet Vintage Slang! Fans of bluesy hard rock should take to The Blackwood Sinners, who have had a steadily rising profile in the Sudbury area since debuting, and their effective originals should draw a solid response in their local debut tomorrow, so be sure to check them out! Vintage Slang (replacing fellow Sudbury rockers The Fortunate Losers) will provide a nice compliment to kick off this concert, having established themselves in the Sudbury rock scene in recent months by winning this year's Q92 Rock Rumble, and their diverse influences should carry them to a quality set as well tomorrow! A local band is announced on the Facebook event page, but they have not been publically confirmed, if even still planned to play. This 19+ concert has a 9:00 PM door opening time and $7 cover charge.
It's great to see more Sudbury bands playing in Sault Ste. Marie (we don't see enough bands from there making the trip west), and both bands should deliver a solid dose of hard rock for fans at The Rockstar Bar, so check the above links for more details, and here's The Blackwood Sinners live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
Before we get to our review of last night's Late & Loud reunion concert, we have a new news post to get to as we slowly clear out our news cache! For reference, I've postponed this month's YouTube Channel Profile to tomorrow to help keep the news rolling, so I would expect that and another news post then! Now, we have a bunch of updates & a new video from a rising Sault Michigan outfit and LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next weekend and this summer, so here's what you need to know!
Local funk/metal trio The Strange Coyotes will apparently be heading north to play at Slopefest 2014, a freestyle skiing & snowboarding/music festival at the Searchmont Resort on Saturday, March 1st (one week from tomorrow!) An official confirmation of the full performer lineup has yet to be made beyond the Facebook event page confirming that local indie/punk quintet Northwest will be playing (along with "support"), but Strange Coyotes drummer Mike Haggith confirmed the band's participation on the event page on Thursday. The music stage will be outdoors at the base of the mountain, and while the outdoor winter setting is similar to The Marquee at Bon Soo, I assume there will be a lot more people for Slopefest, which has open registration for interested skiiers and snowboarders to compete for $300 in first prize cash in their events! For all non-musical details, check the above links, and while I assume this is all ages, I have not heard of a spectator entry fee (though the listed event timeframe is 10:00 AM-4:00 PM.)
I'm very curious to hear the full lineup, but Northwest have the veteran skill to provide a solid punk set, and The Strange Coyotes have been making steady fans since their fall launch, so keep your eyes peeled for Slopefest updates, as this could be a very exciting event for sports and music fans if all goes well!
Next up, and rounding out yesterday's new hard rock show announcements from Kewadin Casino's concert calendar, Kinross hard/classic rock trio Banned will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan branch for an additional weekend on Friday, August 22nd & Saturday, August 23rd! Coming over 4 months after their next Soo Kewadin dates, these add to Alex, Jim, and Don's surely busy slate of regional concerts in 2014, which should reassure fans who haven't heard of any pre-April dates on the horizon! Their diverse and often heavy covers & originals will be on display that weekend at 9:00 PM each night, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charges. For more details, check the above links! It's nice to get lots of advance word for these upcoming Banned concerts, and hopefully they're a blast, so stay tuned for updates from their camp as they roll in!
Lastly for this post, here's a long awaited new video from Sault Michigan hard rockers The Highest of Fives! Posted to guitarist/drummer Devin Anderson's YouTube channel last week, it's a music video for their original "The U.P. Song" (as composed by members Travis Theel & Marcel Grengs), and Devin has asked me to include this press release on the SMS, so read on below for official direct word from the band on this new song & video:
Hello, friends. Travis Theel, Mitch Goetz, Marcel Grengs, and Devin
Anderson are proud to present their newest original material from their
debut album, BANG. This song is a tribute to our roots here in Northern
Michigan.
Travis, Mitch, Marcel, and Devin are currently the
main lineup of The Highest of Fives, but there are many more members. In
the coming months, you'll see the group collaborating with various
members including stars of the upcoming BANG film: Crusty Puck, Jack
Slater, and Mike Pascoe. So think of The Highest of Fives not as a band
but as more of a production collective.
In addition to "The U.P. Song," another single from BANG called"Take My Time"will be released to iTunes on Valentines Day.
Thanks to Devin for the above information! In terms of the video, it's self-described as "a farcical interpretation of our homeland", and it includes numerous amusing clips of the group members in such activities as frisbee golf, and while the audio sync isn't perfect, it has a likable quality and easy going nature! Assuming we'll be reviewing "Bang!" upon it's release, I won't comment too much on the song itself, but it has more of a rock base than some of Travis' earlier solo songs, though it remains to be seen how many of the clips in the video will be expanded on for the teased "Bang!" short film. It's also interesting to see that The Highest of Fives are identifying themselves more as a collective, but the fluidity of membership should be interesting for diversity, and hopefully we hear Mike and Jack on some new songs too (and remember that Crusty Puck is an alter ego of Marcel's.) As for the teased "Take My Time" iTunes release, the Valentine's Day plans don't appear to have went through, but you can stream the song above, and give "The U.P." song a look below! It's well done, hopefully they keep up the good work!
That's all for now, but stay tuned later today for our review of last night's Late & Loud reunion show! Thanks everyone!
Alright, it's time to continue this weekend's Halloween concert previews, and all but one will be cleared out on the metal/hard rock side of things after today! I'm gonna wait to preview Late & Loud's show on Monday, as it's kinda early to do it yet, so for today, we have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, a longer preview of a major Halloween tradition's return tomorrow night, and to fill things out, some big news from Woods of Ypres, so here's what you need to know!
After an off weekend, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will return to Service Grill Pizza TOMORROW NIGHT for a night of acoustic hard rock hits! While his Caveman Morrison bandmates rock Coch's Corner with Redundant (more on that in a second), Tym will have lots of metal and hard rock covers in store for his fans at The Service Grill tomorrow night, as he often has this year! Apologies for the short notice on this show, it was just announced yesterday. If you want some good pizza and beer, or if you just want some lighter entertainment for the Halloween weekend, Tym will be sure to fill your needs tomorrow night, so keep his show in mind! There's no announced cover charge, he'll be on at 8:00 PM, and though I don't believe there's a cover charge, be wary just in case. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like fun to me, so hopefully lots of people turn out tomorrow night to rock out with Tym Morrison! For a preview, here's him and former Half Past frontman Luke LeBlanc covering Extreme's "More Than Words" a few years back!
Now to the other Saturday nighter for your Halloween weekend activities, and it's the 6th annual Coch's Corner Halloween Party TOMORROW NIGHT! Presented by Johnny Pints & Coch's Corner, this yearly tradition has rocked the Days Inn bar since 2006, and the spirit of the Halloween season will be in full force tomorrow night with decorations, the right ambiance, a costume contest, and so forth for you Halloween revelers. And yes, there's music to be had, with your headliners being local horror punk/metal quintet Frightlight! Just days after opening for The Misfits in Toronto, these local mainstays will rock the stage with their trademark horror-injected originals for a third straight year, so don't miss them! Also, this will be their first ever local concert with new drummer Chris "FreakNStein" Thompson (Half Past), so welcome him to the band in style tomorrow night! As for openers, one of the bands will be local punk trio Redundant, who'll have a series of exciting punk covers to rock fans with tomorrow night! Note that Redundant have replaced the previously announced 'T. Rex Manning" on the bill, as per this Facebook event page. No reason was announced for the change, but given that I couldn't find a single thing on T. Rex Manning", maybe they're one & the same as Redundant? If I find out, I'll let you guys know!
The other opening band is named The 151s, but aside from a likely Bacardi reference in the name, I know nothing about them. I wanna say that they're one & the same as The Mothermakers from last year, who seem to only play at Coch's Corner Halloween parties under different names and genres, but I don't know for sure. If I find anything, I'll let you guys know! With this special Halloween theme and all that's going on, there will be a cover charge of $5 tomorrow night, which isn't typical, but it's well worth it! You must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at 9:00 PM. Check the above links for more details! I guarantee I'll be at this year's Halloween party, and how could I miss it after how good last year's was! It's slightly more punk-centric than last year's, but there's tons of good music to go around, so hopefully I'll see you guys there to rock the Halloween weekend the right way! Hope to see you guys there, and for a preview, here's Frightlight playing their song "World War Z" at last year's Coch's Corner Halloween Party!
Alright, with the next couple of concerts previewed, I'll close with a really cool find for you guys today, and it's a brand new Woods of Ypres song! This was uploaded onto their label Earache Records' YouTube channel yesterday, and it's called "Career Suicide (Is Not Suicide)" from the forthcoming "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light"! This is an advance mix of the track, and it's the first audio sample of the album we've heard in advance of it's planned release on January 30th (that's new too!), but how does it sound? I'm holding my complete thoughts until I review "W5" in early 2012, but I will say this: It's slightly different in sound than you may expect. Not as gloomy and doomy as much of "The Green Album" was, but David Gold's voice goes places it hasn't before, and Joel Violette's guitar solo sounds great! For the record, it's higher in the mix than Bryan Belleau's usually were on "W4", which is promising! I'll say nothing more for now, but if you're craving some new Woods of Ypres material, give "Career Suicide (Is Not Suicide)" a listen below, and stay tuned for more "W5" updates as they roll in!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news this weekend, along with our next CD review (we're probably going really old school this month), possibly a review of a concert tonight, a definite review of the Coch's Corner Halloween Party, our Late & Loud concert preview, and much more! Thanks everyone!
A couple of groups familiar from past local concerts have entered, like The Fortunate Losers and The Killin' Time Band, but there are dozens of entries that you can check out on the contest's YouTube channel, and all genres are welcome, as evidenced by the contest being hyped on rock, top 40, and country stations. You would think that being in a market 6 hours removed from a Corus-served city would be a disadvantage to Skeyes of Seven, but as of this writing, their video is the 15th most viewed in the Summer Song contest, so maybe that's a good sign? As for their video proper, this was filmed remotely due to social distancing (one assumes), and it features their entire 2017 lineup (Cory, Ron, Kyle, Al, and John) before they went on hiatus. The guys entered their (new?) song "Detonate" for the contest, and it has a good heavy sound with some progressive flourishes, including very solid guitar work and nice raspy yet melodic singing from Cory!
...The Flys' "Got You (Where I Want You)", Nazareth's "Sunshine", and Collective Soul's "Shine" (reprised from last Tuesday), before playing two original songs. The first one is not titled and I'm not confident in guessing it's name, but I have heard Tym play it before, while the other is "Nadine RIP My Friend", which Tym wrote and released online in 2013 in honour of his late friend Nadine Dowding (hear the original version here). Afterwards, Tym covers John Fogerty's "The Old Man Down The Road" and Richard Marx's "Hold On To The Nights", before tackling two more original song, namely his older cut "The Reason Why" and his more recent live staple "Say That You Care". The covers return to end the show, including renditions of Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver", Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb", Extreme's "Hole Hearted", Mr. Big's "To Be With You", and The Beatles' "Blackbird".
