LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Even Flow, BookcluB, And Tym Morrison) & The M1 Concert Preview!!

An unusually busy Tuesday & Wednesday lie ahead in terms of hard rock/punk concerts in Sault Ontario, so today's post mostly focuses on them, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (two on SHORT NOTICE), so here's what you should know for this week and beyond!

Local punk/alternative cover sextet BookcluB have announced a new concert slate that kicks off TOMORROW NIGHT as the second band at this year's Summer Concert Series at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! Apologies for the short notice, the full band schedule was only announced on social media on Thursday. Following an Elvis Presley tribute on Saturday, BookcluB (replacing Mid Life Crysis for unannounced reasons, source here) will kick off the usual Tuesday/Thursday evening schedule for this annual City of Sault Ste. Marie-booked concert series running through mid-August, and hopefully there's a good turnout under the big tent TOMORROW for this talented group and their often unexpected covers! The photo used by the City for official promotion is old, remember that ex-Hails guitarist Carmen Muto has replaced Brandon Ruch. TOMORROW's concert is FREE and all ages from 7:00-9:00 PM, as standard in this series.

9&10 News is calling for partly cloudy skies tomorrow (tent acknowledged) with temperatures of 26-27°, so please prepare for the warm and humid conditions even at this later point. The rest of BookcluB's summer calendar was (oddly) only announced via their Instagram page, and it includes their already-known Rotaryfest Stage 1 set next Saturday, plus shows coinciding with Downtown Street Party #3 and the returning Wolf Fest, so I'll hold comment on them pending full announcements from organizers. See above for more details, and here's BookcluB live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has announced his annual return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage beside The Trading Post for another regular concert arrangement, and it actually began this past Wednesday, continuing THIS WEDNESDAY and running every Wednesday through mid-September! Apologies for missing Tym's Canada Day gig and for the short notice on show #2 THIS WEDNESDAY, I only heard about his return to the Mike Case Stage yesterday via his batch Facebook event page for this residency. Tym is a regular summer sight at the outdoor 1332 Great Northern Road stage beside the Big Moose Ice Cream Parlour, but this year, he is scheduled every Wednesday like clockwork for 2½ months, a schedule that is obviously weather permitting. As we usually do when Tym announces a glut of regularly scheduled shows at one venue at once, we'll go month by month for our calendar.

As such, his July 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th shows are all now listed, and we'll roll the August ones in later in the month. WEDNESDAY'S concert (as well as the rest of them, and last week's) runs from 6:30-8:30 PM with no age limit or cover charge. Be advised that 9&10 News is currently calling for a 60% chance of rain from 6-7:00 PM on WEDNESDAY at the tail end of likely rain from the morning onwards, so check with Tym and/or follow your preferred weather forecast if you are at all concerned (temperatures are projected to be 21°). Visit the above links for more details, apologies again for missing show #1 last week, and here's Tym live!

Before we wrap up this batch of mid-week concert previews, here's one more new show for the aforementioned Roberta Bondar Pavilion's Summer Concert Series, and in the only other scheduled show that crosses our genre radar, newer local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow will take the stage there on Tuesday, July 28th! Last seen at Downtown Street Party #1, this concert gives the Summer Concert Series an unusually grungy and alt-edged collection of covers from this talented supergroup, and if you've seen Rob, Steve, Cameron, Mike, and Derek in concert since their debut last fall, you know they have a good handle on Pearl Jam classics, including many cuts that aren't among the usual FM radio suspects! Of course, I do hope that the recent heatwave breaks well before this Tuesday evening concert at month's end, which is the fifth of eleven in the Summer Concert Series for 2026, so fingers crossed that it is cooler out!

Like with BookcluB there TOMORROW NIGHT, the Even Flow concert in three weeks is a FREE & all ages concert from 7:00-9:00 PM, and potential rain shouldn't screw things up given the tent. Visit the above links for more on Even Flow's next headlining date! 

Finally for today, we'll travel back to this week, as there's one more mid-week show to preview, albeit one that had lots of advance notice, as Calgary-based Motorhead tribute band M1 will play their second local concert on WEDNESDAY NIGHT at Beck's Bar! Fans of the British rock legends will remember seeing M1 debut here exactly 52 weeks prior to their return on Wednesday, and while this being mid-week again isn't ideal for many, at least it's not a school night for most! M1 don't exactly look like Motorhead, but they pay strong homage to Lemmy and crew with their take on their classic back catalog, so look for a fun night of gravelly vocals and fast rock & roll in their local encore! Like last year, they're easing into the metal ahead with an acoustic singer/guitarist as opener, with recent Dive Gastro Pub regular and Soo's Got Talent alum Arin Karki leading off on Wednesday.

Myself, I'd have a proper electric band to set the tone, but Arin does cover the occasional hard rock song, and hopefully he leaves a good impression beforehand! While last year's show had no cover, this year's will cost $5 at the door, which still beats what Crazy Babies cost! Arin leads off the night at 7:00 PM, and this is a 19+ concert as usual. Visit the above links for more on what should be a fun concert for Motorhead fans, and here's M1 live!

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

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The 2025 Lake Superior State University Battle Of The Bands!!)

Six local acts will face off in the third annual Lake Superior State University Battle of the Bands on THURSDAY at the on-campus Arts Center! Apologies for the short notice, the final lineup was only revealed on the Arts Center's Facebook page this past Wednesday, though details on some of the acts were not immediately available, with posts introducing them being staggered over the past week. The second major battle in the E.U.P. this year (following the Superior Whitefish Festival one in Brimley in July), this year's LSSU Battle will feature six acts (down one from 2024) vying for battle supremacy, and we have a guaranteed first-time winner ahead, as The Sole Aggressors broke up this summer and Molly Escherich is attending the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Two performers are returning solo musicians from last year, including veteran folk singer/guitarist Kevin Blakeney, which makes him the only act to play at all three LSSU battles.

Joining him again is Kaleb Shannon, who now performs under the solo handle NDN Summer, but don't bypass either as a contender on THURSDAY, as Kaleb did win the $750 second prize at the Superior Whitefish Festival Battle (which Kevin also competed in). Will they appeal to the judges at the Arts Center this time around? Of the four bands competing on THURSDAY, the most familiar to SMS readers will be hard rock/punk band About:Blank (who performed at the Superior Whitefish Festival's Music In The Park concert, but not the battle). This will be a special two-man acoustic set, as guitarist Nathan Webber (one of Molly's victorious Other Guys from last year) will be absent himself, so frontman Parker Talentino (a solo competitor from the 2024 LSSU Battle) and drummer Kade DesArmo will press onward. Will Kade's presence push Parker into the winning position? Find out on THURSDAY!

The other three acts are brand new to me, including Socrates & The Cavemen, a new band from LSSU philosophy/humanities professor Jason Swedene, who played bass for last year's competing indie rock quartet The Undecideds alongside his son Calvin (formerly of the Sole Aggressors). In this new project, Jason is "The Cavemen" while Socrates is his other son William, but the descriptions don't outright say what they'll play beyond teasing a soul/funk influence. We'll find out on THURSDAY! New local rap duo Tunngtyed (featuring MCs Tha Baztad and G-Blunt) and new local acoustic project The Dynamic Duo (featuring singer Danielle Petingalo and guitarist Ben Huyck) round out the battle roster, which means that this year's battle has no bands with more than two advertised members, whereas there were four with 3+ members in each of the last two years. To me, this leaves the field wide open, so it's anyone's guess who will win!

And no, Tarnished/Crush frontman Alex Traynor (with or without his poofy white coat) is not playing on THURSDAY despite being on the promotional poster. If things are formatted identically to last year, the 2025 LSSU Battle will be judged by LSSU faculty and a student representative, who all are scoring on one individual criteria apiece, and acts will likely be blocked for 15 minutes apiece, giving room for 3-4 songs each. Prizes for the battles so far were $150 for first place and $50 for second place (both as gift cards), with third place and beyond not announced. Admission on THURSDAY will be $10 for general audiences and $5 for kids 10 and under, while current LSSU students, faculty, and staff will get in for free. A 7:30 PM start time is advertised, and it should be an early night once again given the formatting. While I wish the lineup was announced with a little more notice, there should be a great batch of music in store for attendees!

I'm unsure if I'll be going to this year's battle, but I went last year (here's my review), and the talent base and support for the performers was very encouraging! This year hasn't been the easiest in terms of cross-border relationships with the tariffs and whatnot, but it'd be great to see some Sault Ontarians come across to check out the Yoopers competing on THURSDAY, and best wishes to everyone as they vie for first place! Visit the above links for more on this year's battle, and stay tuned for results and fallout when/if it goes live! Thanks everyone, and good luck!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (BookcluB) & Their Brand New Facebook Page!!

Today's post is almost entirely devoted to one local band in particular, and one that I no longer have to include the "online page-less" qualifier for in write-ups! LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS lie within as well, so here's what you should know on this rainy Sunday morning!

We have a new-ish local band to add to our links, and they are BookcluB, at long last! Despite debuting on stage at Outspoken Brewing's Oktoberfest concert in 2022, it took over 20 months for the band to launch a Facebook page, so now we can link them here and they can publically promote gigs on social media! As you may know, BookcluB is the current live project from former Inner City Surfers/Rising Tide bandmates Mikey Hawdon & Dustin Jones, albeit in different roles (Mikey on vocals & guitar, Dustin on bass). Since debuting, they have been joined by drummer Allan Watson (ex-Room 206) and trumpet player Erin Antonello, while Wyld Stallyns saxophonist Josh Norling came on board by last fall to round out their horn section. Handsome Sandwich/ex-Generations guitarist Brandon Ruch is the band's newest member, joining over the winter to replace fellow Surfers/Room 206 alum Dave Bahun.

Rather than sticking to most members' punk backgrounds, BookcluB specialize in alternative and indie rock covers, often songs that other local bands don't play. There's enough here to cross the SMS' radar based on their complete playlist and background, and of course, they'd theoretically do a bang-up job on ska punk with Josh & Erin around! BookcluB have played numerous festivals and community events since debuting, far moreso than traditional bar gigs, including sets last year at the Fringe North and Summer Moon Festivals, a Queen Street block party last August, Mikey's pre-wedding concert at Soo Blaster featuring multiple bands of his, and two December headlining dates at LopLops, among other events. Recently seen at the Great Lakes Outdoor Show and Searchmont's Spring Bash, BookcluB's next show (weather permitting?) is at Thomson Farms today at 1:00 PM during their first ever teddy bear picnic.

Other previously announced dates from them ahead include their second straight Rotaryfest Stage 1 set at Clergue Park on Saturday, July 20th, before playing at the second annual Salty Marie Trails Fest at Hiawatha Highlands the following week. It is newly confirmed that local pop rock cover band The Dead Stops (featuring Garden of Bedlam & Sense of Truth alumni) will be opening there, so look for them at the Trails Fest too! Three dates (one oddly not referenced on the band's Facebook page yet) are new to us, including a reported set this weekend during Poutine Feast, which moves to the new Downtown Plaza this year after previously being held outside of the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site. Given the relatively late notice, I'll hold off on formally going into details at this juncture, but we'll have more for our Canada Day weekend concert previews (last year, Poutine Feast organizers only announced the full entertainment lineups on the Tuesday prior).

The next date is the one that BookcluB didn't mention (yet), as they'll return to The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Thursday, August 8th! This show takes place during the city of Sault Ste. Marie's annual Summer Concert Series under the big tent, with musicians again playing there on Tuesdays and Thursdays in July & August, though BookcluB are the only real SMS-amenable band scheduled for 2024 (click here for the full performer lineup). BookcluB played in this series last summer too, and hopefully they get a solid crowd and non-humid weather for the occasion! This Thursday nighter takes place at 7:00 PM, it's definitely all ages, and there is no cover charge. Lastly for today's BookcluB announcements, they will hit The Machine Shop on Saturday, September 28th when they play at The ARCH Bucket List Ball, a returning charity event to support the Algoma Regional Community Hospice.

The ball will feature "an abundance of alluring adventures", including dinner and refreshments, caricature portraits, a magician, tattoos, and more entertainment to support ARCH, and hopefully there's a great turnout for the cause this fall! Note that organizers have not confirmed BookcluB's involvement online, let alone possible other musicians. A 5:00 PM start time is advertised for this all ages event, but given the charity ball nature and all you get for going, tickets cost $125 (you can buy them and 10-person table seating at this link). We'll pick things back up for BookcluB with our Poutine Feast late notice preview later this week, but see above for much more on them now that they have social media! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bookclub) Plus Some New Video Uploads!!

I hope that all of our Canadian readers had a good Canada Day, however you chose to celebrate! The long weekend isn't over yet, so here's some all-Sault Ontario content to check out, including a bunch of new videos, and to lead off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Local alternative/Punk cover quintet Bookclub will take part in this year's Summer Concert Series at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion when they take to the stage under the big tent THIS TUESDAY! Apologies for the short notice, the schedule was only announced on the Roberta Bondar Park & Marina's Facebook page this past Tuesday. As Bookclub are kicking off the concert series, this was always destined to be covered on short notice here, Bookclub's lack of an online page to publically promote their own shows with acknowledged. Surprisingly, Bookclub are the only band of a hard rock/punk-leaning persuasion to play at this year's summer concert series, which sees local bands (typically covers-centric ones) rocking out at the Pavilion on TUESDAY and Thursday evenings throughout July and August. If you want to see Surfers and Room 206 alumni playing some unique covers on TUESDAY evening, head downtown!

This FREE & ALL AGES concert has a 7:00 PM start time on TUESDAY, with the show ending at 9:00 PM, and chairs will be provided to sit on if desired. The tent will obviously provide protection from the elements, but 9&10 News is calling for the warmest temperatures of the week ahead that day, so look for weather in the low-mid 20s Celsius, and the chance of rain is 10% that night, if at all, as of today. This should be a fun excuse to get some free live music if you're up for going to the Pavilion tent on a school/work night, so visit the above links for more on TUESDAY'S show and the rest of the Summer Concert Series, and here's Bookclub live!

Next up, let's stick with Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon, namely the latest cover from his Mikey & His Uke project! Surprisingly, the newest cover choice (as uploaded to the project's YouTube channel this past Tuesday) is not of a Canadian band for a Canada Day tie-in, as he opted for "Amoeba" by American hardcore punk legends The Adolescents, tying in with the fifth anniversary of bassist Steve Soto's death. As always, this is a remotely filmed cover from Mikey and a one-off supergroup, with the lineup here comprised of Voodoo Glow Skulls singer Efrem Schulz, his Death By Stereo bandmate Mike Cambra (an Adolescents alum himself) on backing vocals, prolific television cartoon composer Ego Plum on guitar, Faith No More bassist Billy Gould, Dickies drummer Adam Gomez, and Mikey himself on guitar and (initially) ukelele. Ego is originally credited while in a gorilla costume, but he performs out of it too via a separate camera.

Other scenes are pictured as well that don't necessarily feature the credited musicians, including someone on keyboard and a cameo by someone that Adolescents fans will instantly know. Strong cover with intense vocals from Efren and a nice unique array of visuals (vertical camera-work for Ego acknowledged), and note that Mikey is back performing in another industrial area for his clips, which has been a theme as of late. Good stuff, so check out Mikey & His Uke's newest cover below!

Also today, here's a new video from local psychedelic hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley's YouTube channel! Their first sign of public activity of any kind since last fall, this is a music video for their song "The Village", presumably from their long-gestating debut album (the 2021 date at the end of the video despite this being 2023 would be proof of that!). The video features assorted live clips of the band (not directly synced up with the song though), as well as assorted stock footage/newsreel clips of what appears to be a small European village from the 20th century, with post-production effects to add old television grain and whatnot. Assuming that this is a positive sign towards the album getting released at some point, I'll hold comment on the song pending our album review, but the video isn't badly done at all, if often washed out for the colour band footage. Check out The Uncanny Valley's new music video for yourself below!

Let's close today by acknowledging some videos from the i.o-headlined concert at The Drawing Club on Bruce Street last month, courtesy of promoters Dryer Fire's Facebook page, and by videos, I mean "Reels". While their page has posted a couple of scatted live performance "Reels" dating back to last summer, a company rep filmed all three acts at the i.o show on June 5th as such, meaning that they are all vertical & short by design, unplayable in background tabs, and unembeddable on external websites. Not ideal for SMS purposes, but alas, I'll have to make due, and at least here, the vertical camera angle means less when the show only had solo performers! i.o's "Reel" is of project leader Max Patterson in the midst of a chaotic drum solo (note where his tambourine is located) while local/Toronto outsider folk musician Shae Tull's "Reel" is filmed from further away, and gives more of a view of The Drawing Club's interior space.

Vanity First/Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto's emo/folk punk solo project Agnosticism's "Reel" was filmed at a side-stage vantage point, but it is the closest of the three to the artist, and it captures his passionate, slow-building song well! This would translate to a full band nicely if he took Agnosticism back down that road! Entertaining watches, if still way too limiting compared to just normal video uploads (or even YouTube "Shorts"), so visit the above links to watch them, and stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Generations & Double Down), Plus The First Half Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

A busy concert weekend is upon us, so let's dive right into the first half of this weekend's previews! Due to the amount, I'll hold Sault Michigan previews, plus Bone Yard and Vanity First, for our next post that hopefully drops early tomorrow, so don't worry, they are coming! Now, let's begin with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will return to Reggie's Place for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the shows were only announced on the venue's Facebook page on Tuesday, though personal Facebook posts featuring official band imagery have also been floating around this week. TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows come just one week removed from Double Down's debut appearances at Jay's Piston Broke Pub, marking their first bookings in back-to-back weeks, but these will be their first gigs at the downtown Reggie's in just over a month. Hopefully Double Down's old school brand of classic and hard rock covers goes over swimmingly TOMORROW & SATURDAY! These are 9:00 PM events with no cover charges and 19+ age limits. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new video from their Facebook page!

Live-streamed at Jay's on Saturday for attendee Beej Syrette's personal Facebook page and subsequently shared by the band publically, this has Joel, Adam, Brad, and Ric tackling Lonnie & Ed Young's "Chevrolet", albeit a later rock cover of it. Everyone sounds good on this blues rock number, and it's a good pick to showcase their musical heft, but it's a shame that Beej filmed this vertically, moreso because it really highlights how few fans were on the floor close to the stage at this point of the night. Let's hope it was more packed off camera, but check it out below, and don't miss Double Down at Reggie's TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT!

Next up, fellow new local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will hit the aforementioned Jay's Piston Broke Pub for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only announced these shows on their Facebook group on Monday. The Jus' Chillin successors actually debuted at Jay's on April 7th, but had not played there since, so if you've missed them at the former Reggie's West, don't miss out TOMORROW & SATURDAY! Generations last took the public stage at The Esquire Club at the end of May, but they have played at least one private gig since, and of course, Valerie sang with Soundcheck for their Obsession tribute show this past Saturday. TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT'S concerts are at 9:30 PM with no advertised cover charges and 19+ age limits. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Generations live earlier this year!

We'll next look at two shows that did have advance notice before this week, including local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck hitting Shooters Downstairs Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! As alluded above, these will be Soundcheck's first gigs since rocking The Esquire Club last week, notably including three former Obsession singers as guests on Saturday, but they have not played at Shooters in over a month. Hopefully the core four-piece lineup delivers a strong night of hard rocking covers for fans at the Dennis Street nightclub tomorrow! A one-nighter due to or resulting in a video dance party on Saturday night, tomorrow's festivities are at 9:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Soundcheck live (yes, I am aware of the Obsession gig videos from Saturday, look for those on the site soon!)

Finally for today's previews, let's stay downtown for the only concert during this year's third annual Summer Moon Festival that crosses over with the SMS, as online page-less local alt-hard rock cover quintet Bookclub will perform TOMORROW NIGHT as part of the Street Yourself Street Party! The Summer Moon Festival is a downtown arts and culture festival at multiple locations with loads of family-friendly entertainment and specialist events for different artistic topics, so click here to see what all is planned! The Street Yourself Street Party specifically takes place on a closed section of Queen Street East from Gore to Tancred, and beyond the music, attendees can take part in a "glow in the dark foam party" and a meet & greet with artists who painted murals for the festival, while a mini-collector's convention and concessions from Ernie's Coffee House are also planned. Fresh off of their Festival of Beer set, Bookclub will be tomorrow's opening band at 8:15 PM, with roots rockers The Hustle Brothers headlining at 10:00 PM.

This is a FREE and ALL AGES event, and as our first true outdoor concert of the summer season for the SMS, I am happy to report that 9&10 News' weather forecast is calling for mostly clear conditions with a temperature of 7-14°. Hopefully Bookclub's diverse array of punk-tinged covers prove to be a fun way to kick off the street party before The Hustle Brothers get down, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Bookclub live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bookclub), The Queen Tribute Concert Preview, And New Videos!!

Packed news post on this Saturday night over the Victoria Day long weekend, including new videos and related updates, the last preview for this weekend's hard rock/punk slate, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month! Here's what you should know!

Online page-less local alternative/punk cover quintet Bookclub will return to the stage on Friday, June 16th for an outdoor set at the corner of Queen Street East and Gore Street as part of the third annual Summer Moon Festival! If you're unaware of this event, the S.M.F. is an annual arts festival that grew from outdoor murals amid pandemic restrictions in 2021 to a full scale festival with arts and music events at multiple downtown locations over the Father's Day weekend next month, so definitely visit the official website for complete details on the Summer Moon Festival itinerary this year! Live music debuted at this festival last year, and while the vast majority of the artists don't fit our active coverage, Bookclub will provide a rock respite during the Street Yourselves Street Party on the 16th alongside a meet & greet session with muralists who painted in the area, a mini-comic/collector's convention, and vendors from restaurants in the area of the street party proper.

Bookclub will be joined by local roots rock veterans The Hustle Brothers for the street party, and in a mild surprise, The Wyld Stallyns will not play at the Summer Moon Festival at all, which (I believe) is a first for a Bookclub gig. As far as the Street Yourselves Street Party goes, this is an all ages event at 8:00 PM with no cover charge, and bars in the vicinity of the stage will be open. Weather permitting, this should be fun for outdoor concertgoers, so visit the above links for more detail!

Next up, we'll wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews by heading east to the Sault Community Theatre Centre, where Australian tribute band Queen: It's A Kinda Magic will return for another high profile local concert TOMORROW NIGHT! As Queen fans may recall, this tribute played here in May of last year to a strong turnout, despite being postponed twice across an almost two year span due to the pandemic. Assuming that there isn't another deadly pandemic breaking out this weekend, this Sunday's concert should hold, and if you saw Queen: It's A Kinda Magic last year, you'll know that their faithful looking and sounding stage show will deliver the goods compared to what you know of Freddie, Brian, John, and Roger's heyday, particularly their 1986 world tour! While selling well like last year, tickets are still available from the fourth row and back (side sections) and the eleventh row and back (centre section).

Tickets for this all ages & 7:00 PM concert are available at this link or at the S.C.T.C. box office at Station Mall for $72 (adults), $43 (kids 12 and under), and $67 apiece in a group of 6+ adults, price points all being $10 higher than last year. Hopefully things go just as well for this bohemian rhapsody of rock classics from Queen: It's A Kinda Magic tomorrow night, so visit the above links for more on their returne, and here they are live!

Staying in the realm of new videos, I was unable to attend the Dayglo Abortions/Random Killing concert at Soo Blaster last night due to a trip, but we can get a glimpse of the headlining Victoria, B.C. hardcore punk band's set via the video below! Uploaded to promoters Live705's Facebook page earlier today, this 6 minute clip captures three songs from The Dayglos' set, though there's not much in the way of breaks between them, so note that when checking this out. It features most of "Two Dogs Fucking", "My Girl", and "Dog Farts", and don't shoot the messenger, I didn't title these songs! While unfortunately shot vertically, and including an odd aside where the filmer left the bar proper during "Dog Farts" (did he take the suggestion if he wanted to work or not?!), the video comes through nicely and was shot with good stable views of the stage and even some of the fans! I like the video projection behind the drumkit too.

Murray's vocals can be hard to hear, complicating my work identifying the songs, but fans of The Dayglo Abortions will take to this video below, and we'll let you know if any more footage from last night turns up!

We'll close with some updates from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT, starting with the reveal that they are shooting their first ever music video! The former Jack Spades didn't make one for their local output, but despite their bigger platform in the GTA, they did call home to get this video done, specifically bringing in ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno's Spacebag Productions for the shoot! He's also filming a video for guitarist Daniel Horton's other current band The Fast Life while in town. Lots of teaser images from the set have been shared on the band's Facebook page, indicating that they're playing in a (well lit) barn, with a plotline involving an axe wielding maniac (played by bassist James Roy Daley) stalking a female victim. Based on the video plot, it seems likely that the song in question will be "Final Girl". It'll be interesting to see how the final product looks, presumably before June 2nd!

Before wrapping things up, the band released one more advance single from their forthcoming album "Sewer City Radio" to their YouTube Music channel on Thursday! The song in question is "XS" (as in "excess"), which is the track featuring Fast Life frontman Andrew Moorehouse on a guest verse. I'll hold comment on the song pending our eventual album review, but the band said that it is a "lil (sic) something different for us", so judge for yourself below, and stay tuned for more from Spades GT!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Uncanny Valley & The Wyld Stallyns), New Videos, And More!!

Before we get into today's post, I just wanted to briefly acknowledge that today is the 15th anniversary of The Sault Metal Scene's launch in 2007! No big speech or changes or anything like that, things have been too busy for regular posts this summer for me to work on anything special, but I just wanted to thank all of the vast majority of our readers and supporters for the support and readership over the past decade & a half, and fingers crossed that nothing changes for the negative (for the scene at large or myself) any time soon! Now, today's post is devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS and related updates for an upcoming downtown concert series, so without further ado, here's what you should know!

After a two year break for very obvious reasons, the City of Sault Ste. Marie's Recreation & Culture Division has brought back their Summer Concert Series at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, so what should you know about this? With one exception, all shows in the series will take place on a Tuesday or Thursday at 7:00 PM under the big tent (as such, weather cancellations are very unlikely), all are FREE & ALL AGES, and a nice mixture of established and newer names, some with original material, will be hitting the Pavilion between tonight and Thursday, August 18th! The poster will obviously give you names of artists coming during the series, an act to be announced next Tuesday aside, but before we get into the hard rock shows, just a clarification: The show on Thursday, July 28th is headlined by Forty Creek, the veteran local country cover band, not Fort Creek, the southern hard rock quintet. I forgot that their names were almost identical!

The two shows that definitely fit into our metal/hard rock/punk-centric coverage take place in August (in the same week, no less!), and we'll start on Tuesday, August 9th, when local funk/hard rock quartet The Wyld Stallyns return to the Pavilion! Just seen there (if partially, more in a minute) on Canada Day, this should be a fun and stress free way to spend a couple of hours with this talented four-some, whose varied and often heavy covers should set the right tone under the tent next month! This is a good time to bring up that The Stallyns' Canada Day show (if not their Poutine Feast gig too) was sort of a merger with Handsome Sandwich, as Rob, Christina, and Jesse joined forces with bassist Mitch Sirie and drummer Johnny Belanger for the set (Jesse is in both bands). No word on why Jonas missed out, but nice to see a full plugged in set again, and it is interesting seeing three former Jack Spades alums rock out nowadays with a very different set!

There is a video from Canada Day of The Wyld Sandwych (how's that for a merger name?) on personal Facebook accounts, but unless it's posted/shared publically, I'll refrain from linking to it here. No matter who is joining the Speers, you can enjoy The Wyld Stallyns on August 9th at 7:00 PM, and this is a free & all ages concert. Visit the above links for more details! Meanwhile, just two days later on August 11th, local classic hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley will make their debut at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion for a Thursday evening gig of their own! A busy month of July for this rising young band has already seen them rock Soo Blaster, with Rotaryfest and Go North Music Festival sets ahead, but how will they do in a solo headlining date next month? The Valley's old school, psychedelic-influenced brand of hard rock (including originals and covers) should appeal to a wide audience!

Again, this show is a free & all ages affair with a 7:00 PM start time (only tonight's opening show by Mustang Heart deviates from the pattern, as it begins at 8:00 PM). Visit the above links for much more on these and the other shows at The Pavilion this summer, but we're not quite done!

I wanted to also bring up a new-ish local rock band named Westridge who are playing at The Pavilion on Tuesday, August 2nd. I only first heard about this band via the series schedule, and while I wouldn't say they play enough heavier/punk songs to cross our threshold for full coverage, they do have a few covers of note! Launched in 2020 but only making their Facebook page in January, their lineup is comprised of Luke Provenzano, Kieran Fitzpatrick, Mike Meraglia & former Quite Frankly drummer Adam Pettenuzzo. I'm not familiar with most of the members of Westridge, but they are talented in the videos I've seen, and have improved since their 2020 video slate. Among their more SMS-amenable covers are Jimi Hendrix's "Fire", The Foo Fighters' "Everlong", and Bowling For Soup's "1985", but be advised that Facebook videos are typically incomplete. Embedded below is their YouTube cover of Live's "Lightning Crashes".

Courtesy of Luke's YouTube channel, this is the full song, and it's well handled! Westridge have a good ear for melodic and wide ranging rock covers, and they should be a crowd pleaser at the Pavilion next month in their own right! If any more hard rock or punk covers from them surface, I'll let you know, but give their Live cover a look below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for another news post on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

The Return Of Skeyes Of Seven, Plus A New Live-Streamed Concert!!

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", ...

...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".

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!

R.I.P. Summer Stevens (1989-2019)

The Sault Metal Scene sends it's deepest condolences to the family and friends of original Danger Cats frontwoman Summer Stevens, who passed away at Sault Area Hospital on Wednesday at the age of 30, as per this obituary on SooToday. Summer is survived by her mother, four brothers, two sisters, and her other extended family. A passionate fan of music and singing, Summer will be best known to SMS readers for her stint in the inaugural lineup of the all-female hard rock/punk band The Danger Cats, where she took on the stage name Summer Snow-Leopard. She would sing lead for most of their late 2013 gigs, notably including K-Man & The 45s' headlining date at the former Roosevelt Hotel that October, before amicably leaving the group in February 2014 for health reasons. Outside of the band, Summer parlayed her singing abilties into high profile performances at her Grade 12 graduation, a Soo Greyhounds game, and at numerous local karaoke nights in the 2010s.

A come & go service at her family's Rankin home was held yesterday, while services (entrusted to the Arthur Funeral Home) will take place tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM with Elder Willard Pine officiating, and the family has asked for memorial contributions to Diabetes Canada in lieu of flowers. I didn't know Summer personally, but I know she was a kind and friendly person with real musical gifts, and losing a loved one on Christmas Day is unfathomably sad. There aren't a lot of videos online from her brief run with The Danger Cats, but here she is in (I believe) her last show with them, covering a Ramones classic at LopLops that December. R.I.P. Summer!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck, Project 906, And The Wyld Stallyns), And More Concert Previews!!

As promised, we have our Scarkazm previews in today's post, but before we get too ahead of ourselves, we have a few LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to tackle, and one is on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know this morning!

Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Project 906 will return to Bird's Eye Outfitters for their third show of the year TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via the band's Facebook page yesterday, but fans shouldn't be too surprised about this gig. TONIGHT is the first of five open days that Project 906 announced a booking search for earlier this month, and while we await confirmation on if the other four dates (next Friday included) will get 906 shows somewhere, it's great to see one knocked off! We haven't seen Project 906 rock the Ashmun Street outdoors store/venue since their New Year's Eve party, so if you've missed their hard rocking cover selection on a Sault Ste. Marie stage, don't miss all of the action TONIGHT! An early-ish 7:00 PM start time is in effect, I'd assume this is still 21+, and there's no cover charge. See above for more details, and here's Project 906 live last year!



Next up, let's head back to Sault Ontario for a couple of new dates later this summer, as a few familiar faces will rock The Roberta Bondar Pavilion in August as part of the city's annual Summer Concert Series! An annual tradition under the tent downtown, the Summer Concert Series does not usually lend itself well to hard rock bands (RPM arguably came the closest in recent years), but a couple of SMS-covered bands will hit the stage there in a couple of months, starting with acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns on Thursday, August 1st! Their first announced show outside of The Whiskey Barrel since the spring, The Pavilion is not uncharted ground for the Elements side project, as you may have seen Christina, Rob, and Jesse there last summer during the Art In The Park/Fringe North Festival events. Their diverse and often heavy covers should attract a good crowd at the beginning of August, so don't miss out on The Wyld Stallyns then!

As is standard for the Summer Concert Series (Encore next month excepted), this is an ALL AGES and FREE 7:00 PM event, and visit the City of Sault Ste. Marie Facebook page for more details. Among a talented lineup of familiar local performers like L!me, The Algo Rhythms, the reunited Wishbone, and many more, hard rock fans can look forward to a rare outdoor set by classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck under the big tent on Tuesday, August 27th as well! That's not a typo, all events in this series are either on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Another gig not previously advertised on Soundcheck's 2019 concert calendar, this comes just days after a scheduled weekend at The Esquire Club. With their old school and often heavy covers, this should be a fine platform for Terry, Travis, Paul(?), and Glen to entertain the locals, so keep this show in mind if you can come down on a Tuesday!

Like with The Wyld Stallyns on the 1st, Soundcheck's Summer Concert Series show is at 7:00 PM with no age limit or admission fee. Looks like a fun summer of live music is ahead downtown, and with a slightly heavier kick in August to boot, so see above for full details!

We'll close today's post with the last publically announced hard rock concerts for this weekend in the Soo area, as Traverse City, Michigan metal trio Scarkazm will return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino for shows TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! These gigs come about a month after Scarkazm last rocked Sault Ste. Marie, but these will be Adam, Dave, and Jeff's first collective shows at The Northern Pines Lounge since the St. Patrick's Day weekend. With Scarkazm's hard rocking brand of covers and possible originals, fans know they're in for a good time in this latest trip north of the Mackinac Bridge, so don't miss out on these shows if you're in the St. Ignace area this weekend! As usual for Scarkazm's Kewadin Casino bookings, tonight & tomorrow's concerts are 9:00 PM affairs with no announced cover charges and 21+ age limits. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, and here's Scarkazm live!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more big and overdue news on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Grinded Live In Your Ears & Division Of Sanity), Haggith's New Bassist, And More!!

Though I'm out of town until tomorrow, there's still news and notes to cover at the SMS! Today, we have new drum cover videos, the reveal of Haggith's big surprise, and first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for TOMORROW and next week, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Michigan hard rock trio Division of Sanity will apparently be among the live entertainment at TOMORROW'S 42nd annual Sault Summer Arts Festival! Apologies for the short notice, we only just heard about their involvement this weekend. Presented by the Sault Area Arts Council, this annual family event features sales and exhibitions of the work of regional artists and craftmakers, along with free children's activities, food vendors, and other live entertainment, so for full details on non-musical events tomorrow, click here! Note however that festival-specific sites haven't plugged the band roster, so I'm unsure of the other musical performers, but Caine & Myke played this event last year too. They'll fit well with their unique rock originals, keep this event in mind for some Tuesday music action! Being held on the grounds of City Hall at 225 East Portage Avenue, this is a FREE AND ALL AGES event, with bands playing between 12:00 & 8:00 PM (though I'm unsure when D.O.S. are playing.)

For more details, visit the above links! This should be a solid showcase for Division of Sanity, so consider a trip down to city hall for the arts and for the music tomorrow! For a preview, here's Division of Sanity at LemmaFest!



Next up, a newly announced concert goes down in exactly one week, as Blood Shed Productions are hosting a second annual "Grinded Live In Your Ears" concert at 110 Pentagon Boulevard, and unlike most of their house party events, this one is publically advertised and attendable! As you may remember, the label (in association with local promoter Tyler St. Amour) hosted a show of this name last August, in what would mark the formal live concert debut of many of Blood Shed's then-roster of artists, and we're seeing similar things this year, though only flagship grind project Crucify The Whore are returning from last year. The likely headliners are Blood Shed owner Tyler Gibson's goregrind duo Rotopsy at 10:00 PM, with C.T.W. preceding them at 9:00 PM, and label-signed rapper Phat Boii opening at 6:00 PM, but in a surprise, an apparent Brutaly Fatal set is listed at 8:00 PM. Now, you may remember that there were two Brutaly Fatals led by Austin McCrae (the original solo death metal version that became Re-Born, and the later doom metal band that became The Revolution), so what does this mean?

While it's great to see what looks like a return to good terms with Blood Shed, does this indicate a return of the original Brutaly Fatal next week, or did they mean The Revolution? Hopefully we get confirmation soon! This ALL AGES event has an announced 5:00 PM door opening time, and there's no announced cover. Click here for more details! It's hard to believe that Blood Shed Productions have been around for close to two years, and hopefully this show is a success as they push on through the rest of the year! Stay tuned for updates when & if they come in!

Also, remember how local grunge & alternative quartet Haggith were teasing "a big surprise" for their set at the Late & Loud farewell concert at The Rockstar Bar on Friday night? Well, it looks like we now know what it was, as the band has added Redundant/Caveman Morrison bassist James White to their lineup, replacing Caleb Cachagee. Making his debut with the band on Friday, the news was otherwise announced on Saturday via their Facebook page. A reason for Caleb's exit has yet to be announced, but fans may remember that there were brief discussions of a bassist switch last fall before their initial breakup, so the same issues may have recurred. Hopefully things are amicable though, and best of luck to Caleb for sure! This is definitely a surprise announcement, but fans will know how talented James is from his past and recent band work, so hopefully this bolsters Haggith well for the future! No word yet though on if he'll be featured on their new albums, whose recording sessions and songwriting have already begun. Keep an eye out for updates as we hear them!

Finally for today, here's two new videos from ex-As It Stands drummer John Mignacca! Uploaded to his YouTube channel on Friday, these covers are closer to his local band material than his recent techno/EDM solo work, and they include a loose play-along with Skynet's "Heartburn" and (as embedded below) a straighter cover of A Day To Remember's "If It Means Alot To You". Though he remarked in the description that he hasn't drummed in three weeks before filming, it's hard to notice, and he and the electric kit sound good here! Check out his new videos above and below, and give his recent solo music a look at this link!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and features as the week progresses! Thanks everyone!