LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Devil's Sons, The Space Wizards, And Double Down), Plus More Recent Notes!!

Let's address some more LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS in this Sunday afternoon post, along with some shorter recent updates, so here's what you should know in chronological order!

Montreal psychedelic hard rock trio The Space Wizards will make their local debut on Wednesday, September 4th when they headline at Soo Blaster! Described as "another short notice show" by promoter Mikhal Muto when plugging it on the Sault Live Music Gig Announcements Facebook group yesterday (even though I only term "short/late notice" here as within the week prior), The Space Wizards are a relatively newer band who have been making increasing waves on tour with their fittingly spacey brand of classic-inspired hard rock, and hopefully they draw a solid crowd in two+ weeks despite the work/school night scheduling! Two local bands will open here, including hard rock quintet HeadFirst (fresh off of their Hilton Beach gig last night) and a mystery group named The Spaceship Opening. I have absolutely no information on them, but if we hear anything tangible in advance of the 4th, we will let you know!

Online ticket sales have not yet begun for this show (when they do, you'll find them here), but advance tickets will run for $15, and you may be able to get them at the venue or perhaps through Mikhal/the local openers. The door charge will jump to $20 for this 19+ concert, which begins at 9:00 PM. Add another intriguing concert with a touring headliner onto the increasingly busy slate for Mikhal's burgeoning slate of promoted concerts, so visit the above links for more details on this event!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartets Double Down and Generations will be among the performers at The Tarentorus Sports Club at 56 Avery Road on Friday, September 20th for a special benefit concert! Entitled "Band Together To Rock Cancer", this event is in support of Mustang Heart guitarist Lorenzo Fabbri, who has been battling cancer throughout this year. I believe this is partially why the classic rock veterans haven't played live in 2024, even missing Rotaryfest, On this night, four bands familiar to the weekend nightclub cover circuit will join forces for the cause, with Double Down and Generations being joined by classic rock veterans RPM, while Mustang Heart will play their first show of the year as headliners, with Lorenzo's Stages bandmate Sam Spadafora and former Double Down guitarist Adam King joining them as special guests for the night

Taking place deep in the west end at the curling rink/multi-purpose hall off of Allens Side Road, tickets are $20 to attend and $15 if you can't come in person but want to support Lorenzo and family in his fight (either way, there will be a door prize). A cash bar and refreshments will also be on hand. Having lost my mother to cancer, I absolutely sympathize with what Lorenzo is going through right now, and hopefully there's a great turnout for this stacked lineup of talented veteran cover rock bands next month in his honour! Visit Mustang Heart's Facebook page for more details, and apologies again to Marci for how things were initially worded.

Also newly announced is another Mikhal Muto-promoted joint, as on Monday, September 30th, Edmonton punk/hard rock quintet The Devil's Sons will make their local debut when they headline at... The Whisky Barrel? Yes, the 113 Gore Street nightclub is going to try hosting a non-acoustic touring band next month, and Mikhal did acknowledge the venue's generosity in having this show there when plugging it on his personal Facebook page, so we'll have to see how things go! It's been too long since there was a venue on Gore that hosted bands this heavy, though in The Devil's Sons' case, they have an interesting hybrid sound that calls to mind a heavier Dropkick Murphys, so if you're up for some rollicking punk n' roll, don't bypass this show next month! While the show is not publically advertised on social media yet that I've seen, The Devil's Sons did confirm it in this poster on their Facebook page for their upcoming tour.

Local metal trio The BAG (don't miss them at Soo Blaster tonight!) will open in their Whisky Barrel debut, and hopefully their hard hitting originals and covers get things off on the right foot! This 19+ show will reportedly have FREE admission and an 8:00 PM start time, though we do await full public advertising for this show locally beyond personal Facebook accounts. It'll be interesting to see how this concert goes, so visit the above links for more on what to expect at The Whisky Barrel next month!

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:

 

• Sault Michigan hard/blues rock quartet Project 906 did indeed welcome back guest hand drummer Brian Duford for their three most recent gigs in Pickford, Cedarville, and Hessel, as per photos shared on their Facebook page after each concert. As best as I can tell, Brian has not quietly joined 906 full time, as he's not in this band photo promoting their Islander Bar show from August 10th, but the band's "#summerof906" is now over unless they have new bookings that weren't in the batch of concerts announced back in May. We'll let you know when we hear more!
• In their newest Facebook post ("Stories" aside), Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 posted a "Reel" last week of them covering Kenny Loggins' "Footloose" at a private Bass Lake event. As a "Reel", I can't embed it here, but it looks like there was a strong turnout under the tent to dance the night away! The band just played at Winnie's Hometown Festival in White River last night (you may have seen a Facebook "Story" or two from there), and they'll make their public return to the local nightclub circuit in three weeks, so look for more from them in the fall!
  
• I have moved local acoustic hard rock band Tattoos & Scars back to our inactive band links. Featuring Fort Creek bandmates Justin Grayson, Shane Biron, and Bill Brouillard, they had announced their return from a 4+ year hiatus on their Facebook page on August 8th of last year, but nothing has publically followed since. Fort Creek have been busy behind the scenes since they lost their rhythm section last fall, so it's entirely possible that Tattoos & Scars are just on the shelf until they get their sister band back up and running at early 2020s levels, but follow them on social media to see what Fort Creek are currently up to!
   

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

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Let's keep on clearing our our summer backlog in today's video-heavy post, including some concert footage from two different events, a local band's recent acoustic performance, and a related group's surprise return. With all of that said, here's what you should know!

Prolific local concert filmer Christopher Paci had his camera rolling at the Cory Marks-headlined concert at The Machine Shop on July 21st, uploading ten videos from it to his YouTube channel nine days later! Apologies in the delay in addressing these here, it's been a busy month! From the headlining North Bay country/hard rock musician, Chris filmed Cory and his band covering The Steve Miller Band's "Jet Airliner", Bryan Adams' "Here I Am", and Ozzy Osbourne's "Mama, I'm Coming Home", as well as playing three originals, namely "Blame It On The Double", "Devil's Grin", and as embedded below, "Outlaws & Outsiders". It looks like Chris had a good spot on the floor, roughly from the third row of people, so to speak. While the visuals aren't crystal clear, the audio holds up, and Cory & his band sound good while blurring genre lines, and he demonstrates some strong vocals too! Check these out above & below!

Next up, Chris' other four videos from this show come from debuting local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9's opening set, where they were filmed covering AC/DC's "Highway To Hell", Bryan Adams' "Run To You", Poison's "Nothin' But A Good Time", and as embedded below, Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!". Our most substantial looks at Silent 9 yet, these videos capture the range of the Obsession successors well, with Jess able to hit some solid notes across a few different styles. Give their videos a watch above & below, and don't miss their solo headlining debut on the public stage at The Water Tower Pub next Saturday!

Also today, here's some recent updates from local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek, who have been unusually quiet since opening for Josey Scott's Saliva in June, but they do have a new video to share! This past weekend, the guys (sans Bones and Tony) played an acoustic set at a private outdoor event, where they covered Alice In Chains' "Nutshell" for this video uploaded to their Facebook page. Justin Grayson doesn't hold vocal notes for as long as Layne Staley did, but this is otherwise a faithful cover, and it's good to see Fort Creek back at it, if minus the rhythm section! No word on why this was uploaded as a vertical video with pillarboxing despite being horizontally shot. It is worth noting that this unplugged gig seems to portend something else, as Justin and guitarist Shane Biron's old acoustic act Tattoos & Scars announced their reunion earlier this month! They had teased a reunion in August 2022 too that went nowhere publically. 

Tattoos & Scars were originally active from 2018-2019 as a side project for Justin & Shane's then-electric band Halfway Loaded, but neither group really got off the ground as a public live act like Fort Creek would. Their updated Facebook intro calls Tattoos & Scars "an acoustic trio out of Sault Ste Marie Ontario playing all different genres", implying that Fort Creek's Bill Brouillard has joined up here too, but this hasn't been firmly put in writing publically. The "Nutshell" cover is unequivocally a Fort Creek performance (note the skull), but it is good to see Tattoos & Scars back, and hopefully they can make more of an impression in the 2020s! Check everything out above & below!

Finally for today, here's a new video of local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich live at the Soo Soundcheck concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre on June 10th! This was uploaded as a "Shorts" video (YouTube's version of "Reels") on the band's YouTube channel two weeks ago, though no word on why it took this long to get uploaded. The 44 second video sees the band playing their newer original song "Without You", and despite the vertical trappings of "Shorts", the video was shot across three camera angles to capture Jesse, Johnny, and the rest of the band respectively. Are there more substantial Soo Soundcheck videos from these cameras that haven't been released yet? The side-stage footage is good and clear, so despite the vertical aspect ratio and brevity, fans will get a good look at this song while it lasts, so check it out for yourselves below!

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

New Videos, Plus More Recent News & Notes!!

Sadly, news at this stage of the pandemic remains painfully slow, hence the recent 6 day spans between formal news posts, with features dotted in between to keep our "one post every three days" rule alive. I have cobbled together enough content to keep things relatively active until Thursday,  Today's post is largely comprised of videos (with some assorted topics to end things with), so here's what you need to know!

 

Let's start with new music from Dafter, Michigan hard rock musician Kenneth "SweetKenny" Sutton, and it's been a long time since we've covered him on here! Ken's once-prolific slate of solo albums and scores quietly dried up in the late 2010s, but he has kept active online, and he uploaded four new videos on his YouTube channel this year. Two relate to his old score work, while the other two are of new music of his, including this remote vocal cover of "Sway" by The Pussycat Dolls(!) with South Korean singer An "Jerry" Sohyeon. Ken jumps in late via a picture-in-picture window. Very atypical of his guitar-heavy original songs and his scores, but An is a good singer, and Ken's accompaniment doesn't take anything away! Embedded below is SweetKenny's brand new original song "What If?", which is about growing old together with someone you love. The video features free-to-use stock footage of couples, which fits the theme well enough.

The lyrics feel a little over-detailed to me, but the song is well paced and melodic, and Ken's vocals work with the song without getting too Elvisy as was common on some of his harder edged material. Hopefully SweetKenny has more music in the works, but give "What If?" a listen below!

 

Next up, here's another new original song from Sault Ontario hard rock musician Tym Morrison's YouTube channel on Thursday! Entitled "Living On Mars", this is a song that he wrote back in high school about colonizing the red planet, but he has amended the lyrics since to be about alternate theories, with lyric video and photos to match. Musically, this is a metal song that lets Tym use his lower register singing well on verses, and it has a solid classic riff with some nice soloing, so fans of his past electric metal work will want to hear this song below, and stay tuned for more!

Also today, here's the newest video from local gore/cybergrind solo project Malignant Neoplasm's Facebook page! Uploaded last month in their first post there in over a year, the video features 16 seconds of a promisingly heavy instrumental track on the computer, with no audible vocals. Tyler hints that there's new material coming soon, but will there be an attached album? Time will tell, but give it a listen below, and stay tuned for more from Malignant Neoplasm and the Blood Shed Productions camp! Yes, the video works, I don't know why the thumbnail is white.

 

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

 

• Last month, in their first written Facebook page update in well over a year, local hardcore punk quintet Destroilet revealed that they have a new run of official t-shirts coming on sale soon for $20, and to let them know the sizes you want so they can have the right ones ordered. They look good as you'd expect, and it's great to see that the guys are still quietly active during the pandemic!
• I have moved local acoustic hard rock duo Tattoos & Scars to our inactive band links, not having updated their Facebook page since sharing a video from their now-defunct main project Halfway Loaded's page on November 7th of last year. Quietly and sporadically active since the fall of 2018, Tattoos & Scars updates largely tailed off once Justin & Shane formed their current southern hard rock band Fort Creek, so follow that band for their current musical work, including our next post on Thursday!
• The annual Toystock charity concert's Facebook page revealed on November 4th that there is an "announcement coming soon" and that "we finally have something in the works." Details have not followed at press time, but with the pandemic, a normal installment of Toystock IX likely wouldn't be possible. Could this be a virtual concert with Christmas Cheer fundraiser options? Would organizers have 10 bands again (let alone in 10 hours?) Also, the event proper likely would have been on Sunday, November 29th, so will that date mean anything with the likely changes? Stay tuned to the above links for details as they roll in!
  

 

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post on Thursday, barring a massive influx of news! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Band, Offspring/Sum 41 Concert Preview, And More Updates!!

Here's a new news post for your Monday night reading, and while it mostly focuses on a major concert preview for tomorrow night, we also have some assorted recent updates, and leading off, a new addition to our local band listings. Here's what you should know!

We have a new local band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, namely a new southern/hard rock quintet named Fort Creek! Named after the local conservation area, this group stems from local acoustic hard rock duo Tattoos & Scars' search earlier this year to find musicians to join that project, though it appears that this is a separate band, given that Fort Creek have quietly had their own Facebook page since May. Time will tell if Tattoos & Scars will be the Bearded Lounge to Fort Creek's Bone Yard, but in any event, both bands feature singer/guitarist Justin Grayson and guitarist Shane Biron. Their lineup is rounded out by rhythm guitarist Matt Sibilo (ex-Redefined, Scary Uncles, et al.), former Thin Ice/Soundcheck bassist Robin "Bones" Lee, and Griphook/ex-Gsis Murphy drummer Anthony Fabiano. As it turns out, they made their live debut at an open mic night at Reggie's West last month, with pictures to boot, though we have never considered open mic nights to be true "concerts" for our purposes.

If you want to hear Fort Creek in action, this video of the guys jamming Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man" was posted on Facebook, but it only shows Justin, and it runs for under 30 seconds. Robin's YouTube channel has audio recordings of the guys covering Radiohead's "Creep" and, as embedded below, Thriving Ivory's "Angels on the Moon". We haven't gotten a massive look at their southern rock side yet, but Fort Creek have a very talented lineup with hard rock chops, and they're already further along as a live band than Halfway Loaded were. Give Fort Creek a look above & below!

Next up, here's our preview of a very special Tuesday night concert going down TOMORROW at GFL Memorial Gardens, as California punk legends The Offspring and Ajax, Ontario punk quintet Sum 41 will join forces for a night full of hit and fan favourite songs! This will be The Offspring's local concert debut, and with songs like "Come Out & Play", "Original Prankster", "Hit That", and many more in their repertoire, their upbeat punk hits should attract a great reception at the former Essar Centre tomorrow! Meanwhile, this will be the first local stop for Sum 41 in 15 years, having last came through when they headlined at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion in September 2004. As any MuchMusic watcher should know from years gone by, Sum 41's classic songs like "The Hell Song", "In Too Deep", and "Pieces" still hold up today, as do their newer songs, and it's great to see them back! This will be their first local gig with Gob's Tom Thacker on guitar or with Frank Zummo on drums.

Finally, English alternative rock trio Dinosaur Pile-Up will open in their own local debut, and with their own single "Back Foot" climbing on the rock radio charts and getting airplay on Stingray Loud, they should set the tone well with the grunge-inspired original attack before the punk sets in! An Invictus Entertainment Group production presented by Rock 101, this ALL AGES & 7:00 PM concert still has floor and bowl seats available at this link, at the in-person box office, and at (705) 759-5251, though the price remains $90 for most seats and $67 for the upper back bowl, minus service fees and taxes. The steep cost will scare off some fans, but hopefully this show is a huge hit to encourage more punk and alternative bands to come to the Gardens! With all of the hit songs and Rock 101 standbys from both bands, I know this will be a great concert, so visit the official Facebook event page for complete details, and here's The Offspring live!



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

• Back on July 31st, a 20 year old punk/metalcore guitarist named Brett Macchio posted on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group regarding a search for players (presumably a bassist and/or drummer) for a local band that he's working on. At the time, Brett had found a singer, and he has a handful of live experience from a high school band, plus some songwriting work since then. I'm not familiar musically with Brett, but if you want more information, message him at this link or above!
• Local Distillers tribute quartet Coral Fang will join frontwoman Tiffany Stocco's Volbeat tribute band The Guitar Gangsters for their Sudbury road trip on November 29th! This will be their first out of town gig, their first anywhere since Go Skate Day in June, and just their fifth show total. It's great to see that one of Tiffany's pre-existing cover bands will survive despite her move out of town, but will we ever see Poison Girl again? See above for more on the Sudbury concert at The Asylum!
• I have moved local hard rock quintet Halfway Loaded to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity, coupled with members Justin Grayson & Shane Biron launching the aforementioned Fort Creek as their apparent primary band. Active since 2016, this promising quintet never advanced beyond open mic nights and private gigs, but follow Fort Creek to see what Justin & Shane have in store, and best of luck to Ryan, Jesse, and Dylan in the future!

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

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Tattoos and Scars & 3 Day Millionaires

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we continue our monthly spotlighting of YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and punk artists and/or concerts! As usual, this month's channels were randomly selected, and due to the first only having two distinct kinds of videos, I picked one more channel randomly with only one distinct video type to round things out with. We have a solid subsection of hard rock covers to focus on this month from two bands not seen as of late, so here's what you should know!
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Tattoos and Scars (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3SK_ofDsQH408Qfsy0fy5Q/)

Owner: Halfway Loaded/Tattoos & Scars guitarist Shane Biron

Channel Timeline: Launched on December 23rd, 2015; Videos posted from that day through May 2017

Channel Summary: This is (was?) the official YouTube channel for local hard rock band Halfway Loaded, and it features 8 videos of their in-studio jam sessions, six in a sit-down casual format and two in more of a full band presentation. Despite being launched under Halfway Loaded's name, and only featuring videos of that band, it has since been renamed to Tattoos & Scars, reflecting their acoustic side project duo that has seen more recent activity.

Why You Should Watch: As Halfway Loaded have only played private gigs and open mic nights to date, this is one of the few extant public sources to check out fuller versions of this band on video, and there is promising stuff here from this talented group that deserve a more active and prominent shot! While the "Tattoos and Scars" channel name is a misnomer at present, you can check out videos of Shane & Justin in an acoustic setting via pre-launch videos on Halfway Loaded's Facebook page.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

Simple man-Lynard Skynard/shinedown (cover): Six of Halfway Loaded's videos (all but one from late 2015-early 2016) feature Shane, singer Justin Grayson, and rhythm guitarist Ryan Mazzapica jamming hard rock covers in a laid back acoustic setting. These include renditions of Thriving Ivory's  "Angels on the Moon", Slipknot's "Snuff", Theory of a Deadman's "Santa Monica", Seether's "Broken", and Saving Abel's "The Sex Is Good", but featured here is their first & most popular video, a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man", in what was allegedly just their second time playing together. Despite an unideal camera placement (admittedly improved on later videos), this southern rock ballad is well handled across the board, and their comfort and talent was expanded on in the covers linked above!



Monster truck - Dont tell me how to live (cover): The other two videos from March 2017 are of Halfway Loaded covering Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome" and, as embedded below, Monster Truck's "Don't Tell Me How To Live". In these videos, Halfway Loaded are represented by Justin & Shane alongside ex-bassist Jesse Gottwald and former Mustang Sally drummer Dylan Newman, with Ryan absent on both. The covers are faithful, solid, and nicely fleshed out, but Ryan's absence is noted, and the camera placement isn't great again, with Justin's back to the camera, Dylan largely obscured, and lighting sometimes being a detriment to the view. Hopefully Highway Loaded resurface in the near future, there's something here!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Day Millionaires (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj2loBcCI2TPi317M3QffkA/)

Owner: A member of 2016-2018 local classic/hard rock cover quartet The 3 Day Millionaires, specific identity unclear

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 3rd, 2017; All videos posted that same day

Channel Summary: The 3 Day Millionaires' channel solely features videos from a Rockstar Bar concert of theirs from November 2016, featuring singer/bassist Steve Dowding (Boxcar Junction), guitarists Jeremey Salatuk (Wishbone) & the recently debuted Bill Brouillard (Sneaky Pete), and drummer Scott McLurg (Turner Up.) The videos feature The Millionaires covering Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box", Don Henley's "Boys of Summer", Radiohead's "Creep", Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game", and in one lengthy 3-song video, Candlebox's "Far Behind", Oasis' "Cigarettes & Alcohol", and The Romantics' "Talking In Your Sleep" (with Scott on vocals.) Featured here is their most popular video, a cover of The Flys' "Got You Where I Want You". These are well performed covers from a good stationary angle, if suffering a bit in vocal clarity, so fans of The 3 Day Millionares 2+ year run should be right at home with these clips, and hopefully they resurface down the road!
 
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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around June 26th when we spotlight one randomly selected channel for a change, namely The Canadian, the slightly incorrectly named channel launched by Live705 featuring some 2016 videos from early concerts of theirs!  Look for that then, and for more news and this month's CD review on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Hard Rock Concert Previews, Plus New Videos!!

After a slight delay to allow for late notice show announcements that haven't came (yet), here's this weekend's hard rock concert previews in what seems to be a quiet weekend! Might be just as well given the weather, but to round things out, we do have some new Facebook videos to share. Without any further adieu, here's what you should know!

We'l start with prolific hard rock solo artist Tym Morrison's busy slate, as his ongoing weekly concert arrangement with Gliss Restaurant on Spring Street continues with matinee shows TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, bookending his return to The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on Trunk Toad TONIGHT! Despite the ongoing blizzard warning, the shows are presumably on as scheduled, with his regular Gliss shows sure to entertain supper-time patrons over these two evenings, but if you want a more traditionally timed concert, be at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill tonight, in his second of his run of nine Friday night gigs at this venue through June. If you love unplugged hard and classic rock covers, you know where to be this weekend! The two Gliss shows are 6:00 PM events with no cover charge or age limits, but the Roadhouse show is at 10:00 PM with no cover and a 19+ age limit. See the Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, this weekend's other currently known and publically advertised hard rock concert in the area will take place at The Rockstar Bar, where local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will perform TOMORROW NIGHT! A week removed from sister band The Elements' late notice headlining gig at the same venue, this concert is advertised as The Wyld Stallyns' "debut at The Rockstar Bar", despite Rob & Jesse playing there a year ago before settling on their final name and adding Christina to the fold. Either way, it's been a long while to see this entertaining and fan-involvement-friendly group on this stage, and look for more diverse cover action tomorrow night! Presented by (Choose) Maxx Entertainment, a 10:00 PM start time is in effect for this 19+ concert, which has no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's the future Wyld Stallyns live at The Rockstar Bar last year!

We'll close today with new videos, starting with the first new Facebook videos from prolific local alt-folk/metal musician Chase Wigmore since he publically announced plans to segment his future material between Awokest (for death/extreme metal) and under his own name (for everything else.) Chase posed these solo jam clips to his Facebook page on January 29th, and one is entitled "Garlic Bread", as he spends the video's first minute by eating the title item (and drinking some wine) before playing a piano composition. Interesting framing device, but his piano skills are clear as day! Embedded below is his other new video, an instrumental guitar cover of the blues standard "How Blue Can You Get", as popularized by B.B. King. The low & washed out video quality on either video isn't optimal, but Chase handles the blues very nicely, and fans should definitely give his new solo videos a look!



Finally, here's the first new video from new local acoustic hard rock duo Tattoos & Scars, over three months after their debut! Not sure what took so long, but now we can finally get a fresh look at the Halfway Loaded side project without having to guess how similar that band's old videos might be. This 85 second clip features Justin Grayson and Shane Biron covering Poison's "Every Rose Has It's Thorn", which the guys describe as a "quick jam sesh (sic)" and their "first time playing and singing" in this project. The video oddly cuts off while they're still playing, but it sounds good while it lasts, and Poison fans should enjoy it! Give Tattoos & Scars' first video a look below!



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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Weekend Concert Previews, A New Band, And More!!

In the last concert weekend before the 2018 holiday season truly begins, things are relatively quiet, but we do have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, an apology for a missed show, a new live video, and some assorted shorter items to fill things out! However, let's kick things off with a new local unplugged rock band featuring a couple of familiar faces!

We have a new local hard rock duo to add to our active local metal band links, and they are Tattoos & Scars, a new acoustic side project from members of Halfway Loaded! As announced in a post on that band's Facebook page on Halloween, singer Justin Grayson & guitarist Shane Biron have formed this new project while Halfway Loaded proper continue their ongoing dormant period due to personal life and work commitments. Tattoos & Scars proper are described on their new Facebook page as an "acoustic act... covering everything from classic rock to whatever we feel like playing." Old and new videos were teased to be uploaded there, and while that has yet to pan out, we do have clues as to how Justin and Shane sound together. One of their pictures features them dressed up as two of their big musical influences ("All Hope Is Gone"-era Corey Taylor and Zakk Wylde), while you can see Justin & Shane cover Thriving Ivory, Slipknot, Oasis, and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs on Halfway Loaded's Facebook page.

In the scattered videos that I've seen of Halfway Loaded, I've detected solid promise, whether it's the above Shane & Justin acoustic clips or with other band members, and the guys are a nice complimentary pair on the above covers! It'll be interesting to see if Tattoos & Scars prove to be more active than Halfway Loaded have been in the past year, but follow along at the above links, and stay tuned for more when it rolls in!

Next up, let's dive into this weekend's quiet hard rock concert weekend, starting with another busy weekend for ex-Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison, who will return to Gliss Restautant for matinee concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY, which sandwich a newly announced return to Room 21 TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on the latter concert, it was only announced via it's official Facebook event page on Monday. The Gliss gigs will mark Tym's third weekend since the resumption of his long-term arrangement at the downtown restaurant following it's move from Bay to Spring Street, so if you haven't seen the more intimate, hotel-independent location yet, this could be your chance to do so! As for TOMORROW'S Room 21 return, this will be Tym's first show there in two months, though I cannot confirm if there will be a Fishbowl or Finger Food Friday theme for this one. If you want a more typical nighttime setting for Tym's varied and often heavy cover selection, consider a trip above Low & Slow TOMORROW NIGHT!

Both of this weekend's Gliss shows are 6:00 PM matinees with no stated age limits or cover charges (but mind the locale), while TOMORROW'S Room 21 gig is a traditional 10:00 PM affair with no cover, but a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!



Also this weekend, here's a previously announced show taking place THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will hit the stage for one night only! Last seen over the Halloween weekend, this will be the Mourning Wood successors' first stop at The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs nightclub since the summer, and will ostensibly serve as a preview of their Toystock set next Sunday. Fans of this veteran hard rock band should find a lot to like with their accessible blend of classic hits, so don't miss out on all of the action on Saturday! This is a 9:00 PM event with a 19+ age limit and no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new live video of Soundcheck in action from... Saturday, November 3rd at The Esquire Club!? Yes, it appears that they did in fact play there two weeks ago, despite the show(s?) receiving no online advertising from the band or venue.

Assuming this was a public booking, I profusely apologize for not covering it on the SMS two weeks ago, but if the band or venue had plugged it in advance, we wouldn't have missed it! We can at least see how one song went that Saturday, as this video (shared from drummer Glen Thomas' personal Facebook page onto their own page on the 5th) features the band, with Paul Belair back on bass, covering Alanis Morissette's "Ironic". Interesting song choice that they effectively add a classic rock sheen to, and while the grainy purple lighting doesn't help, Soundcheck sound on their game with this rendition! Give their Alanis cover a look below!



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:

• The aforementioned Halfway Loaded have quietly parted ways with bassist Jesse Gottwald, as per his removal from their Facebook page's advertised lineup. A reason for Jesse's departure wasn't announced, but his personal Facebook page implies that he moved to Southern Ontario for work reasons earlier this year. Best of luck to Jesse in the future, and hopefully he surfaces in a new project down the road! A new bassist has not yet been announced, but they've only posted on their Facebook page once since January.
• While still advertised on the Facebook event page as "Jeff & Friends", the Toystock set from Country 104.3 DJ Jeff McNiece next Sunday is apparently now considered to be from his band The Jeff & Jeff Show, who played at last year's Toystock as well. Our source is Jeff & Jeff's Facebook page, and this now means that 7 of this year's 10 bands are returnees from past Toystock installments. Just a bit of clarification for next weekend's roster at the Northern Grand Gardens, and look for our preview next week!
• In their first Facebook post since their singer change, Re:Born guitarist Blair Burch announced this morning that fellow guitarist Frank McGillivray will be largely absent from the band until April due to out of town work commitments. He will not be replaced, with the power rockers jamming as a quartet and working on both new material & live sets in the interim, and with Frank contributing where able. This is a disappointing bump in the road, but hopefully things progress how they're meant to over the winter, and that the full new lineup is back with a vengeance in the spring!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates this weekend! Thanks everyone!