LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Unfortunate Sun) And More Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we begin this preview post, just a heads up that I'm not covering tomorrow's ARCH Bucket List Ball in this weekend's previews. The hospice charity event at The Machine Shop (which was to feature Bookclub as musical entertainment) is no longer listed on the venue's events page, nor has it been promoted on social media remotely recently by organizers or Bookclub, so I am assuming that it was quietly cancelled. Disappointing news, but support ARCH where you can, and as we continue this weekend's hard rock concert previews, there is a Sault Michigan hospice fundraiser tomorrow that you shouldn't bypass! Here's what you should know!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unfortunate Sun will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT at The Merchants Bar, but they also have some newly confirmed dates to note on here! The Fake Chow successors revealed shows of theirs into early 2025 via this concert calendar poster on their Facebook page earlier today, and while we knew about their fall dates in Rudyard and Hessel already (including that pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday nighter at The Islander Bar), the winter show are new to us. On Saturday, December 14th, the guys are slated to return to The Merch for one night only, and they'll also return to the downtown Soo staple over the International 500 snowmobile race weekend on Friday, January 30th & Saturday, February 1st! I don't know if these shows are officially tied to the I-500 or not (their past pub crawls acknowledged), but playing gigs with all these people in town for that weekend is never a bad idea!

Long before then, Unfortunate Sun will bring their proficient hard rock cover attack to The Merch for the first time tomorrow, so keep this show in mind if you want to enjoy some solid local musicians! All four of their scheduled Merch shows have presumed 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit tomorrow's official Facebook event page and the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Unfortunate Sun live!

Next up, if you do want to see live rock music while supporting a local hospice, you should consider coming to Sault Michigan to see hard rock sextet Exit 808 live as the headliners of A Night Of Music TOMORROW NIGHT at Three One Three On Ashmun! Tomorrow's fundraiser is in support of the Hospice of the EUP, and they're just as deserving of support from the community as ARCH is on the Canadian side of the border, so don't bypass this event for the musical and charitable sides of it! Exit 808 will be headlining at the former Back Door alongside three acoustic solo musicians, namely Gabe Menard, country veteran Paul Perry, and Project 906 frontman Billy Bernier (no word on if this will basically be an unplugged 906 set or if he spreads his wings moreso). Presented by Team Century 21 (who are also supporting the Hospice of the EUP during next month's Dancing With The Stars fundraiser), A Night Of Music has a 7:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and $10 cover charge.

Note that it is still not clear which of the three distinct stages inside Three One Three will be hosting this event, but it should be a great time for fans of live local music in the E.U.P., and hopefully Exit 808 will end things with a bang and help raise lots of money for the hospice in the process! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a new Facebook video of Exit 808 live at The Rapids Lounge at the local Kewadin Casino last month! The video sees them covering Skid Row's "18 & Life" with Amy Beach on lead vocals and Dillion Semasky backing. It's very fuzzy visually, but at least it's horizontal with clear audio, and the cover isn't badly handled, so give it a watch/listen below!

We'll close this preview post with our extended preview of tomorrow's big metal concert at Soo Blaster in Sault Ontario, which will mark the rebirth of promoters Heavy North Entertainment after a seven year hiatus! For their first show back, they're bringing a very Oddfellows Hall-esque lineup to the stage, and it will be toplined by Toronto melodic death metal quintet Selias in their local debut! Readers should recognize Selias drummer Tyler "Jeeb" Reiner from multiple past local stops with Caym and the Soo's half-own Spades GT, so it will be neat to see him in town for the first time since the Josey Scott concert in August of last year, let along with a much more brutal sound! Note that ex-Spades bassist James Roy Daley also left Selias in July. Barrie blackened death metal trio Out Of Spite will also make their local concert debut as the co-headliners tomorrow night, and their in-your-face original extreme metal onslaught should make lots of fans as well!

Six diverse local bands will open tomorrow's concert, including alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (last seen opening for The Damn Truth at Soo Blaster earlier this month), hard rock quartet Half Past (in their first of two Soo Blaster dates this fall), and the Sault Ste. Marie debut of The Sault Side Squad, the online page-less supergroup that debuted at the all-local metal show in Leeburn in July. New local death metal quartet Bardo will also make their first live appearance here, succeeding frontman/promoter Tyler St. Amour's briefly revived band Them in the process. Bass-less teasers of their more technical sound have been featured on their Facebook page, but how will this union of Fountain of Betrayal and March Into Regression alumni come together in 2024? Grindcore solo project Crucify The Whore (a regular at H.N.E. shows in the 2010s) will also play a rare live concert set tomorrow night as well, so prepare yourselves!

Finally, ex-Winkstinger guitarist Jason Ladouceur's long-gestating rap metal project Without Compromise are slated to open tomorrow night. I am way past overdue to talk about the former Less Than Zero more on the SMS, but it'll be interesting to see how Jason (and crew?) sound live! Tickets for this ALL AGES show run for $15, and can be bought via most of the local bands, at Soo Blaster, The Rad Zone, Rest In Pieces Tattoo Studio nearby, or online at this link, and presumably at the door. Given that there are eight bands playing tomorrow, doors open at 5:00 PM. If you miss the 2010s death metal Oddfellows Hall shows, you will not want to miss this one, so visit the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Selias live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned tomorrow for the Dany Laj/Handsome Sandwich concert preview, that new concert coming to the Soo next year, and more! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Selias & Wax Mannequin!!)

Now that we have escaped four posts of weekend concert previews and gotten this month's Defunct Local Band Profile up on schedule, let's start playing catch-up for the items that lapsed during the past few days and beyond, and we'll start with two big LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you should know on this Sunday afternoon!

Eighteen days after their well received local return at "Adrian's House", Hamilton "weird folk art punk" solo project Wax Mannequin will return to the Soo on their way back home when they headline at The Whisky Barrel on Sunday, August 25th! It's been a while since we've heard about a concert at the Gore Street nightclub, let alone one with a touring band, but stay tuned for an even bigger outlier there in an upcoming post! Chris Adeney's creative and genre-fluid originals got a solid reception in their relocated return date this past Wednesday, and now setting up shop at a proper downtown venue again, hopefully there's a good crowd to see Wax Mannequin in action once again in two weeks, in spite of also being on a work/school night! Yes, promoters Piecing It Together Shows did post photos from the show on Wednesday on Facebook, albeit solely as "Stories", so they are impossible to share here.

What I saw pointed to a well laid out locale in this downtown backyard with string lighting, but alas, "Stories" can only be viewed once or twice before vanishing forever, and I really have never seen the point of the conceit. Wax Mannequin's return has a 19+ age limit, no cover (thought tips are welcome), and an 8:00 PM start time. It's not unheard of, but certainly not common, to see out-of-town musicians play the Soo going both directions on tour, so if you enjoyed Wax Mannequin on Wednesday or are sad that you missed out, take advantage of the encore! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this concert!

Next up, a big extreme metal show was announced last week that was announced as we was beginning that busy stretch of weekend concert previews, so what should you know here? On Saturday, September 28th, Toronto melodic death metal quintet Selias will make their local concert debut when they headline at Soo Blaster! A relatively new band, Selias (named for guitarist Steve Elias) do feature two familiar faces, as Spades GT bassist & drummer James Roy Daley & Tyler Reiner are in their ranks, so if you've missed them locally since the Josey Scott show last summer, keep this in mind! Granted, Selias are much heavier with harsh vocals and an assortment of extreme metal influences, and they'll definitely get the pit opened up next month! Note that Spades guitarist Daniel Horton guested on bass for a recent Selias gig in Toronto too, and yes, we will have more on recent Spades GT news soon.

Joining Selias on tour are Barrie blackened death metal trio Out Of Spite in their own local debut, and while also relatively new to the GTA metal scene, their intense and distorted brand of in-your-face death metal should be welcomed by local metalheads with open arms! A healthy & diverse roster of local openers includes alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (in their second Soo Blaster show in under two weeks), hard rock quartet Half Past (in their Soo Blaster debut and their first multi-band concert since Hempfest in 2011), new & online page-less hardcore quintet The Sault Side Squad (as seen in Leeburn last month), and grindcore solo project Crucify The Whore, who have only been seen sparingly at public concerts post-pandemic, so it'll be good for old Blood Shed diehards to see Tyler back at a formal public stage! Also returning next month are local death metal/punk band Them in their first public concert set in over seven years!

Singer/guitarist Tyler St. Amour (who is promoting this concert in his first full booking since relaunching his agency Heavy North Entertainment) had announced last month that Them had reunited with a four-piece lineup and "a list of brutal original works", but they have yet to reveal who is joining Tyler in the new lineup. For reference, current HeadFirst drummer Anthony Boudreau was a constant during their original 2014-2017 run, and while they did have stints as a four-piece band, they were best known at the time as a duo. It's great to see Tyler back as a promoter and musician after seven years away, so stay tuned for more on Them 2.0, and they're back in our active band links! The other band playing next month is Without Compromise, the rap metal project formerly known as Less Than Zero, In The Sun, and Failure To Remain, as continuously led by former Winkstinger guitarist Jason Ladouceur.

It's been way too long since we've talked about Jason's current project on the SMS, so look for more on them on the site soon, as he has been quite busy, but it will be neat to see him back on a concert stage, though in what form? This ALL AGES show has doors opening at 5:00 PM, and admission will be $15, though they are on sale for $10 online on Eventbrite right now, so click here to buy yours in advance! No word on if the price would be hiked at the door. If you have missed a very Oddfellowsy night of extreme metal and local talent, this show should fill the void very nicely, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!