Before we get this weekend's concert previews up on the site, I realize that I am behind on some fallout from Friday night's June Jam at The Rockstar Bar, so let's start today's SMS posting with what you should know on that regard! As they did at March's Archelon concert at the same venue, Re:Born guitarist Blair Burch and his son Cory could be seen during this concert filming each band, with videos from the night being posted onto the band's Facebook page on Saturday, so if you want a different take of the night's action, you are covered again! We'll start with the headliners, Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years, who were actually filmed playing the same song that I filmed for the site, "Love At First Mosh". You can even see me filming in the video, but I concede that Re:Born's video is much higher quality. A.T.W.Y. put on a solid set of upbeat punk rock this past weekend, and this is an even better look at their original attack, so give it a look below!
Next up, Re:Born's channel also has videos of the local opening bands, including this clip of local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback playing their song "Everlasting Despair" on Friday. Loose and energetic rendition of this well established live staple, and the guys are definitely on the upward track as a three-piece, so give their new video a look also!
Fellow local punk trio Stegadeth were also filmed for Re:Born's channel on Friday night, as they covered Nirvana's "Breed" to cap off their set. Bill's vocals are often hard to make out, but the T-Rex Manning successors have this cover well in hand, and kudos to Johnny for his high energy behind the kit! Solid quality as usual, so check Stegadeth's clip out below!
Finally, we get to Re:Born themselves, as the power rock quintet are the subject of two videos (it's their channel, after all), including this video of their covers of Edguy's "Lavatory Love Machine" & Kissing Dynamite's "Sex Is War", both with guest singer Elly McWatters. Embedded below though is their other video, as Cory filmed them playing their Project 421-carry over "Running Away" that night, and it's a nice showcase of their hard hitting sound and improving chemistry! Robert still relies heavily on lyrics on his tablet, but this is a solid look at his vocal abilities in particular, so give Re:Born's own videos a look above and below as well!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site later today! Thanks everyone!
After a long day of video uploading errors and personal commitments, here's our review of Friday night's June Jam concert at The Rockstar Bar! Live705 had a good setup for their first local concert of 2018, including merchandise from half of the lineup and tickets for next month's Rivers of Nihil concert, but attendance was medium, surprising given the Friday night placement. Fan responses were positive though, and by the end of the night, there was a decent crowd on the floor for the headliners!
Your openers on Friday were local heavy rock quintet Re:Born in just their second live concert appearance, though for their first song and a half, they performed as a quartet, as bassist Fred Dunn was running late. Once he was tuned in and set up, the guys were in full gear again! This set was the most different yet from their predecessors Project 421, with only that band's originals surviving in their set, which featured covers of everyone from Megadeth to Judas Priest to Thin Lizzy. The guys definitely improved on their debut earlier this year, with singer Robert Nevitt performing in a more natural style, and what banter existed between him and Blair Burch sounded promising! He and Frank were solid as usual on guitar, and Brandan Glew's drum work was on point! Notably, Re:Born welcomed guest backing singer Elly McWatters for their Edguy and Kissing Dyanamite covers, similar in vein to her advertised guest spot with The Band Camp Rejects early last year.
Elly fit in fine for these songs, which have to be new for any band to play live in Sault Ontario, and it was a neat moment to see an attending fan celebrate her 70th birthday by coming the dance on the floor during this part of the set! Re:Born are moving up nicely, if Friday's performance was any indication, and I'm curious to hear how their set sounds next time!
Next up on Friday was local punk trio Stegadeth (replacing Skeyes of Seven), who were channeling their inner Corey Hart with sunglasses on everyone to start, though only drummer Johnny Belanger maintained them from bell to bell. The guys knocked out an entertaining set of scattered originals (including a new one named "Tragedy" about American gun violence), with covers of The Presidents of the United States of America, Bad Religion, and The Rebel Spell also on hand for attending fans. Muffled vocals were the biggest drawback of their otherwise entertaining set, as I could barely make out words during Stegadeth's set, and bassist Bill Bennett was completely inaudible at one point, but the rest was entertaining! Tiffany Stocco and Bill were solid on guitar and bass, and Johnny was his usual proficient & energetic self on drums! Hopefully Stegadeth pick up where they left off the next time out!
Third up was local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback in their second local concert of the year, who had an entertaining set of their well established original material on Friday night! Though the guys surprisingly made no blatant mentions of their debut album recording sessions, their performances of songs like "Kicking & Screaming", "Wasting Away", and "Faded" spoke loudly of their talents and their building confidence as a trio. Chris Nielsen has acclimated very fast to lead vocal duties, and while I think Matt Quinn toned down his backing vocals from the last time I saw A.D.S. live, he's a good match! Nick Kainula's drumming was steady and focused, and the overall energy and enthusiasm was clear on Friday, with their songs coming through very well from start to finish! Hopefully A Dire Setback keep on this upward trajectory, and hopefully their Timmins show went well last night!
And finally, your headliners on Friday were Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years in their local debut, and they had a fun set laid out for local fans, including the only sustained crowd on the floor that night! Playing songs from their new CD "High Blood Pressure" like "626" and "Secrets & Lies", to even a cover of The Killers' "Mr. Brightside", A.T.W.Y. had a lively, energetic brand of punk that was easy to sing along with (once you knew the words), and they knew how to engage with and banter with the crowd effectively! Vocals weren't always clear through the speakers from where I was, but Nathan Radey and Darcy Larouche have good chemistry on guitar, Eric Fortin effectively provided the low end on bass, and Steph Gaudet looked and sounded the part with his drumming on Friday! I wish there was a larger crowd, but All The Wasted Years had a hard hitting, melodic set of punk originals for gathered patrons, and here's hoping they roll back west soon!
Overall, this was a solid way to help celebrate turning 29 the previous day, and all four bands delivered solid sets, whether you wanted the punk main course or a classic metal appetizer! You can check out our photos from last night at this link or on our Facebook page, and while there are more videos to come in an upcoming post, here's our footage from Friday night, including Re:Born & Elly covering Kissing Dynamite's "Sex Is War", Stegadeth playing their original "Kingdom of Ashes", A Dire Setback playing "Catastrophe", and All The Wasted Years playing "Love At First Mosh"!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!
Hey everyone, just a heads up that due to personal commitments today (specifically, my 29th birthday), this weekend concert preview post is an auto-post entirely written yesterday afternoon. A such, if there's any more late notice show announcements, I won't be able to get to them until Friday. With that said, there's a solid weekend of music in store to help kick off the month of June, so here's what you should know, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, partially on SHORT NOTICE! (Due to the amount of shows this weekend, our preview of Sunday's Dumpster Mummy concert will be in our next news post, coming on Friday or Saturday.)
Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will return to Room 21 for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT as part of their Finger Food Friday festivities! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via it's Facebook event page last night. Two weeks removed from their Upper Deck Bar & Grill debut, the Elements side project will return to their favourite venue for the continuation of Room 21's new Finger Food Friday series, where appetizers will again be on hand for willing patrons to enjoy along with the live musical entertainment. Rob, Christina, and Jesse should have another fun night of hard and funk rock covers in store at the Low & Slow sister bar TOMORROW, so don't miss out on the unplugged action then! Expect a 10:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and a 19+ age limit TOMORROW NIGHT, so visit the above links for more details, and here's The Wyld Stallyns live earlier this year!
Next up, and with June about to begin, let's add Tym Morrison's latest array of acoustic hard rock solo concerts to our concert listings, including Gliss Steak & Seafood shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY, and then on June 8th-9th, 15th-16th, 22nd-23rd, and 29th-30th! Again, apologies for the short notice on this weekend's shows, remember that we take his Gliss bookings one month at a time due to their long term nature. Elsewhere this month, we knew of Tym's upcoming Mark's Breakfast Plus shows from June 11th-13th already, but there are two Thursday nighters to note in advance of his expected return to thrice-a-week Gliss gigs next month, as Tym will return to The Water Tower Pub for a rare solo show there on June 14th (as per this venue schedule), while he will play a special "Back to the 80s" concert on Thursday, June 21st at.... Burger Don?! Yes, the restaurant at 7 Great Northern Road (formerly Gigi's Bistro) does host live solo musicians on occasion, and this will be Tym's debut there!
With a 1980s rock-centric setlist expected for this themed concert, hopefully Tym has a great set at Burger Don in three weeks time, and might a successful night lead to more gigs there? Tym Morrison's Gliss shows (TOMORROW & SATURDAY included) are 6:00 PM matinees, while the Burger Don show on the 21st is at 8:00 PM, and the 19+ Water Tower Pub show on the 14th is at 9:30 PM. None of these dates have announced cover charges, but remember, both Gliss and Burger Don are sit-down restaurants, not traditional nightclubs. Visit the Gliss concerts' Facebook event page and the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!
Moving to previously announced concerts, we'll touch on the long awaited return of Live705 to local concert promotion after a 9+ month hiatus, as they're bringing Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years to The Rockstar Bar TOMORROW NIGHT for their local concert debut! Touring in support of their new album "High Blood Pressure", A.T.W.Y.'s upbeat and familiar punk rock style should be a fine fit in the Soo on Friday, so genre fans should be right at home when they take the stage to kick off the month! Local support will include Live705's flagship punk band A Dire Setback in just their second show of 2018 and third as a trio, while in a late confirmation, fellow local punk trio Stegadeth will take the stage tomorrow as well, replacing the already departed Skeyes of Seven. Solid choice that helps add to this show's punk-heavy nature, and they should have a fun set! Local heavy rock quintet Re:Born will play just their second live concert set as openers on Friday night, so prepare for an old school heavy attack before punk rock takes over!
Note that both All The Wasted Years & A Dire Setback will be heading back to Timmins on Saturday for the headliners' official CD release party, so good luck to both bands out east this weekend! As for the local show tomorrow, it is a 19+ affair with a $10 cover charge and an advertised 9:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's All The Wasted Years live a couple of years back!
Also this weekend, let's head south to Kinross, Michigan, where hometown classic/hard rock trio Banned will play their first of three special concerts at the Jack Passmore Grandstand at Kinross Speedpark during this summer's racing season THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Specifically, Banned will be serving as the musical entertainment for Saturday's post-practice festivities, with the full season schedule commencing on Sunday, so whether you're in this for the fast driving action or Banned's hard rocking covers, entertainment is likely for Saturday! They'll be back at Kinross Speedpark in three weeks after practice for the Triple Crown event later this month, so keep that return in mind also. Saturday's show has a 9:00 PM start time with no age limit or cover charge (though the races proper have paid admission), while the race practice itself is from 12:00-4:00 PM. See the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Banned live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes by this weekend! Thanks everyone!
Here's a new news post for your Tuesday afternoon, including some new video postings and some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for in over a month's time! Read on below for what you should know!
Reports of July's Rivers of Nihil concert being Live705's promotional return are premature, as they will end their almost 10 month concert hiatus on Friday, June 1st for a Rockstar Bar concert that they are calling The June Jam! This show will feature one touring headliner, they being Timmins punk quartet All The Wasted Years in their local concert debut, and their accessible, familiar punk originals should be up many fans' alley when they hit the soo in just over a month's time! Is it wrong to detect a Surfers resemblance in some of their songs? Despite their involvement, local hard rock quintet Skeyes of Seven are actually advertised as the headliners on the event poster, in their first concert set of 2018 and just their second since their return from hiatus last fall. It's great to have this union of Sense of Truth, Half Past, and As It Stands alumni back, so don't bypass them either! The other local openers are Live705's flagship punk trio A Dire Setback in their second concert of the year, and new local power rock quintet Re:Born in just their second live concert set to date.
Stacked lineup featuring a number of bands we haven't seen much of on stage in recent months, so don't miss out on all of this action! Also, note that A Dire Setback are heading to Timmins the following day for All The Wasted Years' CD release party, with Coach Bombay (from last year's local Vaultry show) also on the bill. This should be a big concert on it's own, so hopefully that show's a blast too! As for the Soo show on June 1st, there is a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, though a cover charge or ticket fee has not been announced at press time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on The June Jam as they roll in!
Next up, here's another new concert the following week on Friday, June 8th, as local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades and "no-genre"/alt-punk trio Handsome Sandwich will make their Room 21 debuts in support of British Columbia alternative folk musician Jesse Stewart! If you're not familiar with Jesse, he's a singer and mandolin player who's attracted a cult following with his energetic, impassioned YouTube videos, and even won a Trailer Park Boys contest in 2014 to appear in the season 9 finale (look for "The Liquor Snurf" episode on Netflix.) It's easy to see why Jesse is picking up steam, his performances are lively and have a punk essence to them, and it'll be interesting to see how he's received locally in June! Jack Spades will be making their first local concert appearance since opening for Archelon in March (in a rare Room 21 set by a band of more than 3 members), while this will be Handsome Sandwich's first announced concert set of 2018.
Solid lineup overall, and hopefully this show helps encourage Room 21 to bring more electric concerts in as the year progresses! This 19+ concert above Low & Slow has a 10:00 PM start time, with $15 tickets going on sale this Friday at Room 21. Promoter/Jack Spades frontman J.D. Pearce has indicated that tickets are "extremely limited", with only 40 tickets guaranteed to be on sale, likely owing to Room 21's smaller size, though I can't confirm if the local openers will have tickets on hand. This should be an intriguing concert for punk and alternative fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and remember that tickets go on sale on Friday!
Moving to some new videos, here's 10 minutes of local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver's set during their "Hitting the Fan" release tour kickoff show at The Rednecks Saloon on April 6th! This was filmed by attendee Christopher Paci for his excellent YouTube channel, though he unfortunately did not film openers Stegadeth & Id Iota. The video features Shit Liver playing multiple songs across 10+ minutes of brutality, which are predictably hard to identify by track name, but their live ferocity is on full display! The lighting's not overly bright, and I'm surprised that it's not more packed on the floor, but Shit Liver sound as heavy as ever, so give their new video a look below, and stay tuned for our review of their new album soon!
Finally, here's some new videos from Sault Michigan music/record store Crooked Music's Facebook page! One is just a sale video for the Ashmun Street business' 20% of sale last week, showcasing store stock. The sale's passed, but it's a nice idea of what all Zac & Christy have in store for purchase! The former Grooves Music also posted this video in January (apologies for the delay) that operates in place of their cover photo on Facebook, courtesy of local photographer Jay London's company London Media. Not too many Facebook pages that we deal with on the SMS have a cover video of this kind on their page, but it outlines their products and services well for new visitors, so give it a look if you're browsing! That very same video also has an extended commercial version with sound (I presume that's Zac Crook playing guitar), which is the optimal view of this ad. Give it a look below, and head to Crooked Music for your musical listening and performance needs!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and features in the coming week! Thanks everyone!
