LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Elements), Our Toystock VI Preview, And A Surprising Band Breakup?!

I had originally planned this post for tomorrow, which includes our Toystock preview and a surprising removal from our active band links, but with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT hitting the wire for TONIGHT, I've bumped it up to today. With that said, here's what you should know!

Half of local funk/ska/hard rock quartet The Elements will play a special acoustic concert set at Room 21 at 480 Albert Street West TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced this morning on the venue's Facebook page, with the band's Facebook page following suit this afternoon. A rare appearance at this intimate unplugged venue for a hard rock-leaning act, TONIGHT'S show will see Elements frontman Rob Speers and guitarist Jesse Cook unite in an unusual musical setting for them, with Rob even breaking out a guitar of his own for their sets. Room 21 have teased many familiar covers for Elements fans, and even suggested that fans may be able to "pick up a mic and sing along", so keep that in mind for TONIGHT as well! Mystery guests are also teased for TONIGHT, with Room 21 specifying that they'll include bandmates of Rob's and Jesse's from Jack Spades and Handsome Sandwich, plus at least one member of Eclipse, so come on out to see who turns up!

Note that the official Facebook event page gives Rob & Jesse's project name as "Kariokeheads Unplugged" (sic), but The Elements promoted this show publically as if it was their own. TONIGHT'S show at Room 21 (the new nightclub above the barbecue restaurant Low & Slow) has a 10:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. See the above links for more details on hat should be an intriguing concert TONIGHT, and here's The Elements liv, albeit in full, last year!

Next up, here's our preview a big concert taking place THIS SUNDAY that had lots of advance notice, as the sixth annual Toystock charity concert is fast approaching! Returning for it's third straight year at The Northern Grand Gardens, Toystock VI will once again feature a day's worth of family entertainment to help pile together lots of toy, food, and cash donations to Christmas Cheer, with the Stuff-A-Bus once again returning for the cause too! Santa and Mrs. Claus will stop in to meet the kids (of course, this is ALL AGES), and there will be numerous prize draws, plus food and drinks from the Grand Gardens will also be available. Visit the official Facebook event page for full non-musical details! As usual, Toystock will welcome 10 local music acts in 10 hours on Sunday, and for the first time, the event will welcome back six bands from prior installments, with 4 other groups debuting in the festival on Sunday, so who can you look for in a couple of days' time? As this schedule indicates, Toystock VI will be headlined at 9:00 PM by country rock quartet Bone Yard, in their record fifth appearance at this event and fourth straight as headliners, so country fans won't want to miss them!

1960s-centric classic rock quartet The Peace Vibe will co-headline for a second straight year at 8:00 PM, while inaugural Toystock performers Cherry Crush will finally bring their pop rock covers back for a 7:00 PM set on Sunday, as preceded by blues/country veterans The Algo Rhythms (themselves returnees from 2015's Toystock) and the festival debut of blues musician Paul Dellavedova's solo band at 6:00 & 5:00 PM each. The hard rock portion of the day will see classic/hard rock quartets The 3 Day Millionaires (returning from last year) and Soundcheck (debuting if you discount Mourning Wood sets) at 4:00 & 3:00 PM respectively. The 2:00 PM slot belongs to acoustic country duo The Bearded Lounge in their festival debut, with their set replacing one by sister band Mojo & guest singer Annette Bouchard for unannounced reasons. That said, all of Mojo are in Bone Yard that night, so keep them in mind! Unidentified Case's Music students will also return from last year at 1:00 PM, though I can't confirm their identities.

Toystock VI will open at 12:00 PM on Sunday with the festival debut of The Jeff & Jeff Show, a new acoustic duo featuring Country 104.3 DJ Jeff McNiece, so come early to hear what they have in store! Admission is FREE with a toy, food, or cash donation to Christmas Cheer, and this should be another great holiday concert for fans of all ages to donate to a worthy cause and check out some talented live music! Visit the above links for more details, and here's The 3 Day Millionaires live at Toystock V!

Finally for today, we have a very surprising band to remove from our active band links, they being local improv/jam/hard rock collective Gianni Gagoots. Their Facebook (and only online) page was quietly taken down for unannounced reasons at some point in the past two months, coinciding with the quiet removal of almost all of their official YouTube video uploads, including from their Northern Vibe Festival set in August, none of which being positive for their active status. Debuting last summer, the Gagoots soon became a unique fan favourite attraction at numerous local concerts with their extended instrumental jams, fake Italian stage names, sense of humour, and fan engagement at sets through the OM Sound show in September of this year, with many later concerts being self-promoted through their own Like Ten! Productions Banner. I have no idea what happened to Gianni Gagoots, but everything I've seen pointed to a fun live band that had to be seen in person for the full experience!

Best case scenario is that the page was automatically de-activated like what happened with Destroilet's page earlier this year, but the lack of shows since early September and the video deletions don't paint a positive picture anyway. Hopefully we see Matt, Liam, Josh, Frank, and Bergio out there again in the future, and don't miss Liam's blues/country band The Barn Board Trio! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Last Month's Poll Results & Our Newest Poll!!

It's now time to close down our monthly poll at the SMS from last month, and launch our newest poll at the SMS! As you may remember, we posed this question to you guys last month: What should be done to get more original live metal & hard rock bands in the Sault Michigan area? We only received 9 votes, which is low, but Sault Michigan-centered polls historically have been, so I wasn't expecting the world here. The results do give an interesting spread though, so here's the final tally!

Book more multi-band concerts/festivals (2 votes, 22¼%)

Encourage more artists to write & record original material (2 votes, 22¼%)

Nothing, we're past it's peak (2 votes, 22¼%)

No opinion/I don't follow Sault Michigan bands (2 votes, 22¼%)

It's cyclical, things will improve on their own in time (1 vote, 11%)

Start more musician lesson camps for youths (0 votes)

Form new live bands (0 votes)

Reunite defunct and inactive bands (0 votes)

What do you guys think? It's hard to derive a full conclusion from the results given that only 9 votes were cast, let alone with a four way tie for first with 2 votes each, but if you generalized it, 5 of the 9 cast votes offered a hopeful opinion as to what could be done in the Sault Michigan area, compared to 4 pessimistic or indifferent votes. It is of note that no one voted for just forming new or reuniting old bands, thinking instead of booking more shows or encouraging artists that we do have to write and record more. It is a little discouraging too that two voters said nothing could be done, and while there's no one magic button to getting Sault Michigan's hard rock scene back to even late 2000s levels, I know there's talent in the E.U.P. that should be out there even occasionally in band work, and I hope that things pick up across! With Ten Kings' breakup, we now only have 12 Sault Michigan area bands listed in our active links, hopefully it doesn't fall much further.

Thanks to everyone for voting! As for this month's poll, I wanted to look at a style of music that we've seen a bit more from on the hard rock and metal side of things in recent years, that being acoustic concerts. For the genres we cover, unplugged sets aren't obvious fits, but occasionally, you do see heavier or punk bands unplug their instruments and take things down a notch. Sykotyk Rampage did so for their Zombie Walk sets this year, The Pixo Control's Michael Mikus is playing a solo acoustic set at Dish Espresso Cafe this weekend (more on that in our weekend previews), Tym Morrison has succeeded his Caveman Morrison run with weekly acoustic solo gigs, and bands ranging from Gates of Winter to Redundant have went acoustic for a night in the past. Not to mention, Local2's webseries Bare has seen local (and out of town) bands strip things down for special performances, and we have seen local hard rock bands who only played acoustic material as well (like Sault Michigan's Condemned & Wild Fate.)

I'm not saying there's a trend or wave of acoustic hard rock shows hitting the Soo, but we're seeing more of them than we have in the past, so I wanted to pose this question to you guys: Should more local metal, hard rock, and punk bands play acoustic concerts? I've picked five choices that will hopefully yield an interesting result come next month, so here's your choices!

Sure, it'd be a change of pace and/or more marketable!: Given the genres in question, there are aspects of metal and punk that lend themselves well to a more reserved and intimate setting like an unplugged concert, and many genre fans do enjoy softer acoustic material, so maybe you want to see your favourite local band follow suit? Or, maybe you think going this route would allow a band to appeal to a wider audience and gain new fans?

It depends on the band, not every one would fit: Do you like the concept of more acoustic hard rock concerts, but not for every band? As an example, the guys from Shit Liver have recently formed the folk/bluegrass side project Dirtfight out of St. Catharines, but would Shit Liver themselves playing an acoustic set be something you'd want to see? Would a certain extreme metal genre be ill suited to an unplugged gig where hard rock or punk wouldn't be? Vote here if you like the idea in some cases!

Only for special occasions: Should heavier or punk bands reserve unplugged gigs for special events? For example, maybe a band should only break out the acoustic guitars for a charity or tribute event, an explicitly-defined acoustic-only show (like the annual X-Mess concert), or the occasional show at an acoustic-only venue (like The Harp or the modern day Coch's Corner.) Are you of the mind that a metal or punk band should only go unplugged once in a while for a special reason?

No, I prefer my metal & punk to be electric: If you don't want your favourite metal, punk, and/or hard rock bands to dive into the acoustic pool, here's the choice for you! Maybe you don't like such bands to go soft, maybe you equate it with "selling out", maybe you prefer your acoustic bands to be in other genres, or maybe you just want your music loud and heavy. In any case, cast your vote here if you apply to the above opinions!

Indifferent/no opinion: If you have no real feelings on if bands should play acoustically more often, or just like your bands no matter what they play, vote for this choice!

VOTE TODAY!! You guys have until December 18th to cast your votes, and it will be interesting to hear the final results, so do so in the month to come, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!