LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Wolf Fest II) & The Hails Art Hub Concert Preview!!

Before we begin this weekend's concert previews, I wanted to apologize for missing an acoustic concert at Beck's Bar on Tuesday that was headlined by the revival of The T.R.I.P., the sporadically seen acoustic side project of cousins/ex-Double Down bandmates Joel & Beej Syrette! Their late-era bandmate Dan Beaupre joined them on Tuesday for this pool night-concert (regardless of what happened with Double Down, Ric was never in The T.R.I.P.). I'm assuming that this wasn't musically far off from Double Down (being unplugged aside), and I do apologize for missing it, but we'll let you know if they get social media or play more public gigs!

This weekend looks to be a busy one for hard rock fans, buoyed by some late announcements this week, so we'll look at one big one today plus two shows that did have prior notice, with remaining Saturday-Sunday gigs to follow. We'll start with a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for SATURDAY NIGHT, as Wolf Fest II goes down on SATURDAY NIGHT at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion! Apologies for the short notice, as hosts Northern Superior Brewing Co. only finally announced the lineup in a permanently accessible location on their Facebook page last week, when I couldn't slot it into a news post in time to cover it before it became the week of the event. Alas, Northern Superior had teased the event without going into great detail via "Stories", memes, and hype posts for the last few weeks, and some performers had shared the lineup in their own "Stories", but nothing finite and sourceable. I get maybe doing it like this for year #1, but why again when the basic intent is the same?

I'd be getting the word out on who's playing, what's going on, and so forth with a lot more than ten days' notice! Nevertheless, Wolf Fest II (as hyped by Jan from Jan's Not Movin'!) is Northern Superior's second annual fall concert festival to give back to the community for their support, and there will be an eclectic array of local vendors (even barbers and an arcade!), plus beer tents, food, and of course, music. Things will be headlined by Toronto-based Coldplay tribute band The Coldplay Show, and while I can't pretend to be a fan of Coldplay, it is definitely a change of pace from tribute bands that usually come here. They do sound like the real deal, so keep them in mind! A band schedule hasn't been posted, but seven local groups will be opening, including two SMS-leaning acts, namely classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 (returning from last year) and alt-rock/punk cover sextet BookcluB (whose "Story" of the poster teased the lineup for me last month).

Also playing on SATURDAY are local Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tragically Hip tribute bands Mellowship Slinky and The Luxury, while indie rock band Jupiter Marvelous (who also played last year) and jazz cover group The Hustle Brothers will also take the stage under the big tent. "The Howling" will begin at 3:00 PM on SATURDAY with The Royal Canadian Army's 49th Field Regiment pipe & drum band, similar to how a Royal Canadian Navy band kicked off Wolf Fest I. Last year's lineup had five bands, so I couldn't ballpark when set times will be, but 2025 headliners The Killer Hooks played at 8:15 PM. Like last year, admission to Wolf Fest on SATURDAY is via donation to the Alzheimer Society of Sault Ste. Marie, and I have not seen firm reference to age limits. While the Pavilion's tent is acknowledged, 9&10 News is currently calling for scattered showers and thunderstorms that day, along with a high temperature of 23°.

The low temperature on SATURDAY is forecasted at 13°. I presume Wolf Fest will go on rain or shine thanks to the tent, but I do hope that they have most of the activities under the tent too (we don't need the mechanical bull shorting out!). In spite of promotional choices that I wouldn't have made, Wolf Fest II sounds like a fun time for fans of live music, craft beer, and local businesses, so consider heading to The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on SATURDAY now that you again have the answer to the question: What is Wolf Fest? Visit the above links for more details, and here's Silent 9 live last year!

Finally for weekend concert preview post #1, we'll head to The Art Hub At Spring (at 504 Queen Street East), where local hardcore punk/crossover thrash trio Hails will take the stage TOMORROW NIGHT! This "hardcore hometown throwdown" is part of frontman Brenton "B.G." Ellis' takeover of The Art Hub this month, following the kickoff of his Audio/Visual Eviscerate art exhibition there last week (running through next Saturday), and this all mirrors a similar residency that he and Ha!ls had there in 2023. In what could arguably be the heaviest concert to ever take place at the former Big Brothers headquarters, Hails will be joined by ska punk quartet ASDP (led by former Ha!ls guitarist Mikhal Muto) and the recently resurfaced local extreme metal quintet With Gunfire (featuring new Hails guitarist Anthony Orazietti and ASDP bassist William Wardlaw). Lot of close connections here, so the camaraderie should be neat alone!

This all ages concert has an admission fee of $10 or "pay what you can", and the concert starts at 7:00 PM tomorrow. If you want some explosive original-leaning action this weekend, this is your best bet, and hopefully the relatively intimate Art Hub space can contain the three bands, as it did when Brent hosted last week's Autopilot concert! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Ha!ls live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Led By Zeppelin, Bone Yard 225, Generations, and Tarnished previews in our next weekend concert preview post! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Hails), The Full Throttle Saloon's Future, And New Live Videos!!

Here's that second promised news post for your Friday reading, and it features three linked stories that take us from a closing concert venue to one of its last concerts to videos from its opening act, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!

Less than one week after he promotes the Autopilot-headlined concert at The Art Hub At Spring, Hails frontman & visual artist Brenton Ellis will bring an all-local punk/metal concert to the intimate 504 Queen Street East art gallery on Friday, September 11th! Hails proper will headline the show in the crossover thrash trio's current lineup's Art Hub debut, while former Ha!ls guitarist Mikhal Muto's ska punk quartet ASDP will co-headline the proceedings, and extreme metal quintet (and "Sewer City breakdown kings") With Gunfire will open. Could this be the heaviest Art Hub concert ever? This concert comes as part of Brent's new working relationship with the venue, as along with his two shows, he will be hosting an art exhibit there that premieres on Wednesday, September 2nd. As part of "B.G. Ellis' Audio/Visual Eviscerate", he will be displaying artwork that he has painted since 2019, and concert posters and band merchandise will be exhibited too.

The exhibit's opening night (featuring live music by DJ Seith) coincides with Brent's birthday too, so next month will be big for him! This all isn't a new idea either, as he hosted an exhibition of his art there in March 2023, with a Hails concert taking place at the time as well, but if you've followed Brent's music in the past seven years, you'll know that his distinct art style is a common thread, and it'll be neat to see it all come together like this! As for the concert proper, doors open at 6:00 PM on the 11th, the show will definitely be all ages, and admission will be $10 or "pay what you can". Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, here's some surprising news, as The Full Throttle Saloon at 256 Wellington Street West closed today after a nine month run. The former Primavera Hall was rebranded under Rosa Carello's ownership in November of last year, becoming a new host for live cover bands on weekends. as well as hosting three high profile touring tribute band concerts this year, most recently Sandman on July 25th. However, as per this SooToday article by Brandon Walker, the building's owners have opted to sell (click here for details), and with Rosa now unable to lease the space, she has confirmed that "I am temporarily closed until I find a new location". As part of the final events at the Steelton locale, Rosa had hosted a customer appreciation week with drink specials since Tuesday. Time will tell what happens for The Full Throttle Saloon 2.0, but hopefully Rosa lands on her feet somewhere else, and it was good having a new-ish venue for concerts!

The fact that this news comes out less than three weeks after the Sandman concert is unfortunate, but at the same time, they hadn't plugged the show on their Facebook page at all since June despite the show going down as scheduled, so that would (to me) hint that their attention was at least diverted with the closure talks. However, before we say goodbye to 256 Wellington West outright, there are two new videos from the Crazy Babies show there in May that completely passed me by at the time! The Toronto-based Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath tribute band were the first of the three touring tribute bands to rock the Full Throttle Saloon in mid-2026, and local openers Headrush actually posted two videos of their set to their Facebook group. Both filmed by bassist John Amendola, one sees them covering Ozzy's "No More Tears", though the sidestage clip is sadly both 17 seconds long and was shot vertically.

Embedded below is their opening song on this night ("I Don't Know"), which John filmed in full and horizontally! The vocal wear on "No More Tears" was evident at that later stage of the night, but the Crazy Babies deliver the goods for fans of Ozzy's, and they look the part where it counts, even down to the Zakk Wylde bullseye guitar! Of course, this show caught a lot of flack online for its $70 price point and lack of admission at the door, but it did well enough to warrant Rosa bringing in two more tribute bands to the former Primavera while she could, and the crowd looks decent from what is visible! Give John's Crazy Babies videos a watch above & below!

Finally for today, let's stay with Headrush's Facebook group, as they have some new videos there, but not from the Crazy Babies show. This year, they've been going the Silent 9 route by taking the summer off aside from festivals and private events, and in the latter case, they have played at at least two private functions since Rotaryfest. Last week, they headed north of Desbarats for a private party of some type on Diamond Lake, and in John Amendola's batch post of media from the event, there is one brief live video of them covering Foreigner's "Hot Blooded", but it has three big issues: It's vertical, it's only 18 seconds long, and it heavily focuses on partying attendees in the crowd rather than Headrush, though you do see guitarist/keyboardist Frank Mannarino late. Still, it looks like a blast was had by all! The other acknowledged private event since was a wedding concert at The Loft at the Algoma Conservatory of Music earlier this week.

For this private booking, Headrush welcomed a special guest performer on vacation from England, namely saxophonist/keyboardist Piero Tucci. Odd not seeing Frank behind the keys, but Piero knows his way around the sax here! In another batch post from John, he included (thankfully full and horizontal) videos of them covering The Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Runnin'" and, as embedded below, Foreigner's "Urgent". Both covers are strongly done by this veteran group, with John Anderson's vocal range put to good use, and The Loft is a nice upscale downtown venue that is well suited for a wedding event like this, so give Headrush's new videos a watch above and below!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Mid-Week Concert Previews, And An Inactive Band Note!!

No rest for the wicked, as while the weekend concert previews are over, there are also a healthy amount of weekday concerts to preview over the next few days, so let's address them tonight (including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), so here's what you should know, along with a prominent band now back in our inactive links!

Firstly for this mid-week batch of previews, local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will bring his acoustic solo act back to The Mike Case Memorial Stage outside of The Trading Post on WEDNESDAY, but after that, he will debut at The Up & Down Lounge on THURSDAY NIGHT as well! Apologies for the short notice on THURSDAY'S concert, it was only announced via its Facebook event page yesterday. The Up & Down Lounge (at 24 Second Line West beside the Surplus Furniture & Mattress Warehouse) is scarcely known as a concert venue, last seen on the SMS when Silent 9 played a private event last fall, but they're experimenting with outdoor patio concerts on THURSDAYS this summer, with Dodge This' Jason Taillefer first up there for weeks #1 and #2, though as best as I can tell, musicians perform indoors. They are looking for more artists too, leaning towards acoustic acts and DJs.

Message the lounge/indoor golf simulator venue at this link for details! Preceding his Up & Down debut on THURSDAY, Tym is back at The Mike Case Stage on Wednesday, so you have two outdoor(?) chances to see his unplugged hard rock covers mid-week! Wednesday's Trading Post show is at 6:30 PM, the Up & Down show runs from 6:00-9:00 PM on THURSDAY, the latter show is 19+, and neither has an announced cover charge. 9&10 News currently has 21-24° temperatures on Wednesday with sunny skies, and if things are 100% outside, it should be even warmer the next day. Click here and visit the above links for more on Tym's back-to-back mid-week solo concerts, and for a preview, here he is live!

Next up, we'll head to Beck's Bar, where they will host a special Tuesday concert TOMORROW NIGHT headlined by Cornwall hardcore/metal quartet Hellrager! Last seen locally at 2023's Northern Vibe Festival (after dropping out of the last two), this will be their first show in Sault Ste. Marie proper, and will also mark the local return of former Spades GT/Caym guitarist Jay Sarrazin, who filled in on bass with the former Jack Spades at Northern Vibe in 2022. It's good to see Beard back in town, and hopefully Hellrager melt faces with their bluesy yet in-your-face attack tomorrow night! Local openers tomorrow at Beck's include local death metal quartet Eden Plague, in the former Bear Hunters' first gig since Rotaryfest earlier this month, as well as their debut at the 232 Goulais Avenue nightclub. Also joining them tomorrow is extreme metal quintet With Gunfire in their first concert set of 2026.

No idea where the former Sault Side Squad have been lately, but hopefully more of their promising original slate is unleashed tomorrow! Promoted by Eden Plague drummer (and fellow Spades alum) Johnny Belanger, tomorrow's concert runs from 6:30-10:00 PM, which is just as well given the work/school night timing. This will be a 19+ show, but surprisingly, it will have no cover charge, so if you need an extra excuse to come out, now you have it! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details on tomorrow's intriguingly heavy concert in the west end, and here's Hellrager live!

Also, let's go downtown for another free concert TOMORROW NIGHT, this time from local Pearl Jam tribute band Even Flow! Last seen at the first Downtown Street Party of 2026 last month (more on the second one soon), tomorrow evening's concert will see them gather under The Roberta Bondar Pavilion tent as the fifth of eleven bands in the City of Sault Ste. Marie's annual Summer Concert Series, which sees live covers-leaning local bands perform free concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in July and August. Even Flow are the second and last SMS-amenable band scheduled in the series for 2026, and hopefully this supergroup delivers a fun evening of grunge and alternative rock hits from the Pearl Jam catalogue for assembled fans tomorrow! Summer Concert series shows are all FREE & ALL AGES, and they run from 7:00-9:00 PM.

9&10 News is calling for sunny skies tomorrow evening with temperatures in the 20-21° range, which sounds perfectly agreeable, so visit the above links for more on Rob, Steve, Cameron, Mike, and Derek's big downtown concert, and here they are in a recent jam session!

Finally today, I have moved local midwest emo/post-hardcore trio Fuller to our inactive band links. The reunited band has not issued a public update since their headlining Stage 2 slot at Rotaryfest last year, though remember that bassist Mark Rand (who missed that concert) and drummer David Peredun both live out of town nowadays. After their successful 2002-2005 local run, Fuller surprised many by reuniting for a December 2023 concert at LopLops Lounge, later confirming plans to record their Mark-era original material in studio, with their full length album "II" released to major digital platforms in March of last year. To date, the album isn't on CD or vinyl, but their Rotaryfest set was a fitting culmination of their reunion era, Mark's absence aside. While my music tastes lie heavier, it was neat seeing a staple of my early local concert-going years back at it, and hopefully frontman Jamie Vincent revisits Fuller in some form when the time is right, as they were a welcomed attraction!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Hellrager & Krash), A New Local Band, And More News & Notes!!

Another packed news post is ready to check out for this Tuesday night, and it includes some recent shorter updates, two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this summer with a common band, and first, a new addition to our links & coverage, so here's what you should know!

We have a new-ish local band to add to our active links, and they are local alt-rock quartet The Reeves! You may recognize this band from their debut set at Toystock in November, but at the time, I wasn't sure of their general sound, aside from what their predecessor bands played. The Reeves are basically the successors to 2023-2025 alternative band The Haze (f.k.a. Skinbox), with singer/guitarist/synth player Brad Irwin (ex-Gnaeus) and guitarist Steve Edwards (ex-Pixo Control/Vol.) returning from that group. The rhythm section here is filled out by former Long Shot bandmates Adam Dawe and Jeremy Ganuelas on bass and drums, and it is good to see them back in a new project! While sound descriptions of Skinbox/The Haze pointed to them playing alternative/indie rock and Arctic Monkeys covers, the write-up on Rotaryfest's website says that The Reeves "combine elements of hard rock/blues and other genres to create their own unique vibe".

No word on if the name is an allusion to small town mayors, celebrities named Reeve/Reeves, or some other reference, but their second public concert will see them as the first scheduled band at Rotaryfest Stage 2 on Saturday, July 18th, and their set will reportedly feature "a collection of songs that will become their debut EP". No media of The Reeves is publically streamable yet, but this is a talented group on paper, and they do have descriptions pointing to a heavier sound than The Haze/Skinbox had, though be advised that Steve or Brad took down The Haze's social media pages when that band broke up. Stay tuned for more from them when things go public!

Next up, relaunched local death metal quartet Eden Plague have announced two upcoming indoor concerts that they'll be rocking out at, so besides Rotaryfest, when can you see the former Bear Hunters next? The first of the two will be on Tuesday, July 28th, when they make their debut appearance at Beck's Bar, and the headliners will be Cornwall hardcore metal band Hellrager in their first regional concert since playing at the Northern Vibe Festival in 2023! That's not for a lack of trying, as they dropped out of the last two Northern Vibes, but it will be good to see Hellrager in city limits for a change! Nice punishing sound that is reminiscent of bands like Clutch and Motorhead, and remember that guitarist Jay "Beard" Sarrazin was a member of Spades GT from 2022-2023 (playing with them at Northern Vibe 2022 as a fill-in bassist). He previously came to the Soo with his old band Caym twice in the mid-2010s.

Joining Eden Plague as openers are local metal quintet With Gunfire (the former Sault Side Squad) in their first concert of 2026 and first since finally launching their own Facebook page. Hopefully their recent break has been fruitful towards their promising original slate! Promoted by Eden Plague drummer Johnny Belanger, this stop on Hellrager's Jurassic Punk tour will have a 19+ age limit, no cover charge(!), and an early runtime of 6:00-10:00 PM, which is just as well given that it's a work/school night. This should be a fun one for metalheads across the board, with lots of familiar faces, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

The other new Eden Plague show ahead will be at Blaster Powerhouse on Sunday, August 16th, and apologies for the almost month-long delay in this making the site. Compared to the metal show three weeks prior, this is more of a genre hybrid event as put on by promoters Underground Events SSM, and it will be headlined by Saskatoon "D-beat hardcore punk" band Krash in their local debut. If you like down and dirty hardcore punk with aggressive vocals, Krash will deliver the goods, and they should take names when they rock the former Soo Blaster in two months! Note that the Facebook event page claim that "we're getting our first Saskatchewan band in the Sault!" clearly only refers to Underground Events SSM bookings, as The Sheepdogs played here in April, among other bands from there in the past. Promoter Mikhal Muto's ska punk/"crackrocksteady" band A.S.D.P. are slotted ahead of Eden Plague in the band order here, and may be the last band if you believe the poster.

While not a hardcore punk act, it's only natural that Adam Smith Death Parade get in on this one! A 7:00 PM start time is advertised on the Facebook event page for this all ages concert, and tickets cost $10 in advance (I presume at the venue and through the local openers, as I haven't seen an online ticket sale page). The door charge will jump to $15, and given that this too is on a work/school night, Mikhal pledged that the show will end early due to that. Add another intriguing concert to the pile for your summer plans, just don't krash when driving to Blaster! Visit the above links for more details on both upcoming Eden Plague shows!

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 show name:

 

• While not yet confirmed by name within the band's slim social media presence, it looks like former One Shot guitarist Tucker Lidstone has joined the aforementioned A.S.D.P., making them a quartet. Tucker had previously performed at common folk punk-leaning events with frontman Mikhal Muto, and has been pictured in recent photos with the band, including at the Write-Ups show at The Speak Easy in May (source here). No word on if he is the guest guitarist "Keagles" from their debut album "Atom Bombs & Lemonade", but hopefully Tucker is a solid addition to their live roster! 
• Remember when a mystery act named "Benny's Acoustic Thing" was booked to open the Saturday bill at The Northern Vibe Festival last year? Well, that was supposed to be Ben "Boom" Poitras, the singer/bassist for the aforementioned Hellrager, but he and the band both dropped out of last year's festival after the heavy rainstorm severely damaged the Forest Stage overnight. It would have been interesting to hear how his acoustic thing sounded, but alas, blame Mother Nature! Thanks to former Forest Stage curator J.D. Pearce for confirming who Benny was.
• This is old news now, but it looks like the Sunday Night Vinyl Series ended on 104.3 The Fox and their sister Rogers Radio rock stations at the end of 2025, as did the conceit of on-air theme weeks (which always tied in with that week's album of choice). The 8:00 PM series featured Howard Mandshein from 92.1 CITI in Winnipeg spinning a classic rock album from front to back while discussing its backstory and legacy. While inconsistent depending on musical preferences, the Sunday Night Vinyl Series was an informative listen during The Fox's first year! I would have liked to seen newer bands/albums selected though, as well as more Canadian content.

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the SMS soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Dopethrone), A New Local Band, And The Pop Evil Concert Preview!!

Today's post is stacked with big news and notes from the past week, including a very notable LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for extreme metal fans next month, our slightly delayed preview of a big headlining concert on Sunday night, and leading off, a very delayed addition to our Sault Ontario band links, so here's what you should know on this Friday night!

Local metal quintet With Gunfire have finally launched a Facebook page, so we can finally add them to our active band links! Why it took this long, I don't know, especially as their first gig was in July 2024, but better late than never! Originally known as The Sault Side Squad (a parody of The Suicide Squad) before adopting their current name in December, With Gunfire's lineup is (as far as I am still aware) comprised of The B.A.G.'s Spencer MacGillivray on vocals, A Dire Setback/Big Finish Band guitarist Chris Nielsen, former Jack Spades/Sativa Rose guitarist Anthony Orazietti, A.S.D.P./ex-Stoned To Deaf bassist William Wardlaw, and former Soldiers Of Misfortune/Elements drummer Jonas Gasperas, who played with Anthony in Winkstinger. The original Sault Side Squad singer was ex-As It Stands frontman and rapper Justin "Nadj" Pregent, who quietly left this band by September 2025.

Brand new content is slim on With Gunfire's Facebook page, but two new "Shorts" videos were shared from Jonas' YouTube channel, including this slideshow with silent live footage set to their studio original "M.F.C." (ignore the AI-generated image claiming a title of "A Hate Supreme"), but embedded below is a performance at the Fist Magnet/Spigots reunion concert at Soo Blaster in December that they opened and debuted their new name at. Some of the vertical videos here were uploaded as plain videos, so I don't know why this is a "Short", but the song here is promisingly thrashy despite some fans being in the road of the camera. Give it a watch below, and stay tuned for more new content from Jonas' channel!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Montreal "slutch metal" trio Dopethrone will return to Sault Ste. Marie for a headlining concert at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Monday, May 25th! Readers may recall seeing this long running doom metal outfit at the former New American Pub on Victoria Day in 2019, and while the same holiday is a week prior this year, it is great to see Dopethrone back after just over 7 years away, and they should keep things down and dirty (yet still brutal) at the former Roosevelt Hotel! Also joining Dopethrone on tour is Vancouver gothic/doom metal quintet Tribunal, a majority-female and cello-infused band that should turn heads with their brutal and atmospheric sound in their local debut, so don't bypass them! While most of this tour is a co-headlining jaunt with Portland black metal project Mizmor, they are not advertised for the Soo date.

The local openers are extremely notable on their own, even without the touring bands, starting with the surprise reunion of local/St. Catharines grindcore trio Shit Liver, whose last concert of their original run was the Dopethrone show at The New A! Concert advertising specifies that they are only playing a 15 minute set, so I'm reading this as a one-off reunion and not the start of anything major (remember, the now-short haired Josh Penno is largely focusing on The Golden Scoundrels nowadays), but this is a fitting way to see Shit Liver (at least) one more time! The other opening band is named Eden Plague, who are the renamed and relaunched local death metal band The Bear Hunters! A reason was not publically announced for the name change, but a fresh start after a year+ hiatus is as good a reason as any. Guitarist Mitch Sirie previously used the Eden Plague name for a short-lived black metal project in 2010 & 2011, distinct from his other solo work.

Of course, Mitch is no stranger to being in bands who had late period name changes (i.e. Stillbroke/Borderline Divine and The Suicide Kings/Beaumont Avenue). No word on if there will be any other changes to the band in sound or lineup, let alone if their 2023 "final album" plans are still around, but we'll let you know when we hear more from The Bear Hunters Eden Plague! A rare promotional effort by the aforementioned Josh Penno, this Memorial Day concert is a 19+ affair at 7:30 PM, and $20 advance tickets are on sale at Jay's and The Rad Zone (the door charge jumps to $25). A nice throwback death/doom metal show will be well worth seeing next month, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Finally for today's post, here's our preview of this weekend's main event, as Muskegon, Michigan hard rock quintet Pop Evil will return to our area for a headlining concert at The Machine Shop in Sault Ontario on SUNDAY NIGHT! Buzz for this show hasn't been as high as I had assumed, but this is notable because Pop Evil have a lot of Billboard rock chart success in the US, get frequent airplay on Rock 101, and have played in Sault Michigan seven times in the past decade & a half, most recently at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino just over three years ago. With hit songs like "Footsteps", "Skeletons", and "Waking Lions" in their back pocket, it will be interesting to see Pop Evil on the Canadian side of the border, and hopefully there's a strong turnout for their catchy original rock! Your openers on Sunday are Waterloo hard rock quartet Sierra Pilot (a former band of ex-Spades GT guitarist Jay Sarrazin).

Expect a diverse but explosive set of rocking originals from them in their local debut in three nights' time! This stop on Pop Evil's What Remains Tour is an all ages event at 8:00 PM, and tickets run for $45.20 (plus processing fees) at this link, at the door, or at the in-person box office at Station Mall. If you're curious, the ticket price is comparable to Pop Evil's 2023 show in Sault Michigan after you convert this ticket cost from CAD to USD. Hopefully this show (the third hard rock headlining event at The Machine Shop in less than two months) is a success, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Pop Evil live at Kewadin Casino the last time out!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!

The Quite Frankly Concert Preview, Night Ranger Videos, And New Studio Recordings!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this Friday night, and along with finishing this weekend's hard rock concert previews, we have an upcoming EP release, a new studio track from a rising local metal band, and videos from a big local concert from last fall, so let's get things rolling!

We'll start by wrapping up this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, as reunited local classic/hard rock cover band Quite Frankly will debut at The Water Tower Pub TOMORROW NIGHT! One day removed from TONIGHT's Dodge This show at the same venue,  this will be their first show since rocking Beck's Bar in November and just their second public gig since their relaunch last summer.  It's worth noting that the Beck's gig last month actually featured new lead vocalist Linsaey L.W., not the departed Haley Alopaeus, so I apologize for the erroneous credit when we covered their Beck's video (embedded below) on here. Video quality on that assemblage of clips really varied, and the band didn't formally announce that Linsaey came on board until after that show had came and went, for what it's worth. Hopefully show #2 for the new Quite Frankly goes well tomorrow night, and that there's a solid turnout for their first gig of the new year!

As usual for The Water Tower Pub, tomorrow's show is an 8:00 PM affair with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit. If you haven't seen the revived Quite Frankly yet, get ready for a crowd-pleasing array of hard and classic rock covers tomorrow! Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here they are at Beck's last fall!

Next up, let's head across to Sault Michigan for some recent updates, starting with local metal solo project X's & Y's, who are releasing a new EP/single next month! It and its title track are named "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars", and it sees project leader Jason Mills dipping into doom metal, drone, and horror territory on its four tracks. You can hear the title track in versions with and without vocals on their Bandcamp page, and while this is technically their first song with lead vocals, they did use spoken word on 2024's "The Obsidian Dream". Along with that song's two variants, tracks named "Hands Of Cydonia" and "Crater" will be included on the final product, which will presumably make its way to streaming services along with CD copies on its scheduled release date of February 13th. Jason even uses a tremoloa (a vintage zither used in part to replicate the Hawaiian steel guitar) here!

No word on what CD copies will cost, especially as this is a shorter EP, but X's & Y's first two albums cost $10 USD. Alas, our backlog of new album releases to review is massive, so I can't promise a review of "Face The Moon, Forgive The Stars" until August, but it's great to see a new EP soon to be on sale, especially from a talented Yooper project like X's & Y's! Stay tuned for more from them when it rolls in! 

Also today, here's some newly discovered videos from the Night Ranger concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the local Kewadin Casino in October! These were filmed by attendee Nick Cepecawer in the first uploads on his YouTube channel, though he also filmed at Foreigner's show in Sault Ontario the following month. We didn't cover the Foreigner show here because I wouldn't say they're a "hard rock" band, but he got solid videos from that night! Nick did not film openers Nelson in November, but he did get eight videos of the headlining San Francisco hair metal quintet, including videos of Night Ranger playing "Sentimental Street", "Goodbye" in two chunks (here & here), part of "When You Close Your Eyes", the drum solo (that the whole band takes part in... literally!), "Sister Christian", and as embedded below, "(You Can Still) Rock In America" (which he accidentally uploaded twice).

While more distant from the stage than we tend to see for Kewadin concert videos of this stature, Nick was relatively central and used his zoom where needed, and the audio generally holds up! His videos help accentuate more how Night Ranger spreads the wealth for members taking lead vocal turns, and the drum solo is a fun diversion while it lasts! If you're a loyal Hair Scare listener, you'll enjoy these videos above and below!

We'll close today with a studio original recording from online page-less Sault Ontario metal band With Gunfire! Along with the previously-covered live videos on drummer Jonas Gasperas' new YouTube channel, the former Sault Side Squad are the stars of this upload, which lets us hear their song "M.F.C." (short for "Motherfucking Consequence") in clear studio quality, complete with gunshot sound effects added in post. It's amazing that this beat anything from Spencer's other band The BAG's upcoming album "Succubus" out! I don't know if this is a sign that With Gunfire are working on a proper album or not (I had seen a personal Facebook posting implying that it was recorded for a compilation of some kind), but the song has promise and takes from a lot of metal subgenres, including chugging groove metal riffs and diverse vocal styles, including gruff straight-forward singing and some harsh growling.

The guitar solo is quite good too! I don't know if Lamb Of God were an influence on the songwriting, but the pacing of some of the verses is reminiscent of "Redneck", especially if you speed the track up in the settings. It will be interesting to see what With Gunfire have cooked up with 2026 in full swing, so give "M.F.C." a listen below! 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Headrush & Generations), Plus New Media From The Gambit & With Gunfire!!

Plans to put up this month's Defunct Local Band Profile have been slightly delayed, as LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS have crossed my radar, one on SHORT NOTICE! To round things out, we have new songs from a band who's more active than I realized, and more new live videos from a band we just talked about yesterday, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will rock The Full Throttle Saloon on Wellington Street West for the first time TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was first announced on the venue's Facebook page on Monday. Their second show of 2026 and third with new guitarist Joe Miller will see Generations making their way to the former Primavera Hall, so it will be good to see this veteran quartet make their way to a new locale, and hopefully things go well for them, the venue, and fans! Of course, if you're still unfamiliar with the amenities and other offerings at The Full Throttle Saloon, the venue's own promotional image will happily fill you in. TONIGHT's concert has a 9:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more on Generations' show TONIGHT, and here they are live!

Next up, let's stay at The Full Throttle Saloon, as fellow local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush will return there in three weeks' time, on Saturday, January 31st! As you may recall, the Johns, Wes, Gino, and Frank debuted at the new-ish Steelton nightclub last week, and the show was well recieved with a strong attendance, even if bassist John Amendola's teased photos from the gig never made their way to their Facebook group. Headrush don't play live as regularly as other local cover bands do, so things must have went well for them to get booked twice in January 2026 alone, and hopefully they end this month with a bang! The venue's Facebook page did get a video last week of Headrush, but I'll hold that for our preview of the new date. Like with Generations TONIGHT, Headrush at month's end are on at 9:30 PM with no cover and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details!

Also today, here's a mild surprise, as local punk supergroup The Gambit are still active and have launched a Bandcamp page featuring four studio original songs! We hadn't heard of anything from the former Sick Sons since they played at Rotaryfest Stage 2 in 2024, but unbeknownst to me, those new songs were posted in May and December of last year! Had I known that, they wouldn't have been moved to our inactive band links last summer (they're back in the active listings again), but they only belatedly acknowledged one of the songs on their Facebook page last month. As fans who have seen The Gambit live since their 2019 debut know, they have included original songs in their sporadic live dates, and the four on Bandcamp are named "Lonelier Tomorrow" (a tribute song to the late Guy Thiffault), "Border, Border" (inspired by the Canada/US border), "Fault Line" (about finding love in tumultuous times), and "Click-Bait" (which is self-explanatory).

The songs are posted individually as singles and not as a collective EP, but if you want to buy them as mp3s, they cost $1 apiece. There's a nice diverse array of punk-leaning styles here, including multiple lead vocalists, and while not as ripping and fast paced as Lucas, Steve, Christian, Dave, and Clint's 1990s and 2000s bands could get, genre fans will find a lot to like! "Lonelier Tomorrow" is obviously the most reserved of the four, given its memorial nature, and it naturally goes over well in concert! It's great to see that The Gambit are alive & well, and hopefully they have a busier 2026!

We'll close today with one more new live video from newly renamed (and still online page-less) local metal quintet With Gunfire, courtesy of drummer Jonas Gasperas' YouTube channel! When we touched on their videos from last month's Fist Magnet reunion concert at Soo Blaster, I did notice that Jonas had uploaded two more clips of them playing their original "Well Of The Dead" at different concerts. One of the videos was actually from last month's Broke & Hungry charity concert for Christmas Cheer at Beck's Bar, and if you're curious, the teased live-stream of the concert is now considered to be a private video. If Twitchy did indeed stream the event on YouTube on December 17th, then it was truly only to be seen remotely that night, alas. I'd love to recap it here if he did and publicized the video! The other video is embedded below, as it's longer and horizontally shot, but from what concert does it come from?

Based on the logos on the screen, this 100% came from the Napoleon-headlined concert at Soo Blaster that the then-Sault Side Squad played in September, and yes, new singer Spencer MacGillivray was in the band by this point. For visual quality (from orientation to how fans on the floor were placed), this is our best look yet at With Gunfire, who can definitely tear it up with varied extreme metal influences. Imagine them with a larger pit! The Broke & Hungry video isn't bad sounding, but it's more distant and vertical. Give both and more from With Gunfire a watch above & below!

That's all for now, but our next Defunct Local Band Profile is definitely coming next! Thanks everyone! 

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Project 906), The Headf1rst Concert Preview, And More Recent Updates!!

Tonight's post wraps up this weekend's hard rock concert previews (including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), but new videos from a newly renamed band and some assorted recent updates round things out. Here's what you should know on this Friday night!

Sault Michigan hard/blues rock quintet Project 906 will begin their year with a one-night-only concert TOMORROW NIGHT at The Merchant's Bar! Apologies for the short notice, the band quietly announced this show on their Facebook page on New Year's Day, which slipped us by late last week. After taking the last couple months of 2025 off, this will be 906's first concert since their Halloween gig in Rudyard, and while they played often prior, the guys haven't played a public gig in the Soo since the Musicians Unite fundraiser in March, and they last rocked The Merch in July of 2024. It's been a while regardless, so it's good to see Billy, Joe, Dustin, Jason, and Brian back at it at a familiar local venue, and hopefully they deliver for assembled fans as expected TOMORROW NIGHT! This show has an 8:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover charge. See above for more details, and here's Project 906 live!

Next up, we'll wrap up this weekend's known hard rock concert previews, as Sault Ontario hard rock quintet HeadF1rst will play their... first concert of 2026 TOMORROW NIGHT at Beck's Bar! Last seen just over a month ago at Shooters, west fans won't have seen this talented quintet at the former Vibe Lounge since June of last year, and hopefully they have a good turnout for their hard rocking covers and originals to kick off another new year! This show has a 9:00 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no announced cover charge as usual for Beck's. Tomorrow's matinee performer at 3:00 PM is newer local acoustic duo Whiskey Hippy, who have their own separate 4 hour timeslot and are not "opening" for HeadF1rst, but you can hang around to see bothif you want. Visit the above links for more details, and here's HeadF1rst live!

Also, let's finally look at videos of the band formerly known as The Sault Side Squad when they opened the Fist Magnet/Spigots reunion concert at Soo Blaster last month! On the night of December 27th, the online page-less metal band revealed that they had officially changed their name to With Gunfire. No idea if they gave a reason for the name change at that show, but their original name (a play on "Suicide Squad") did seem to get a mixed reception. While Kevin Campbell didn't arrive in time to film With Gunfire's set for his YouTube channel, drummer Jonas Gasperas did upload four videos shot by attendees to his new YouTube channel! All are of original songs named "Beatdown", "Nuisance", "Well Of The Dead", and embedded below, "M.F.C.". Alas, all four were shot vertically, but these are our first proper videos of this band that aren't technically unlisted.

These also give us our first look at the former Sault Side Squad with The BAG's Spencer MacGillivray on lead vocals in lieu of Justin Pregent, and if you're familiar with heavier BAG originals, you'll approve of what Spencer brings to the table here, with some harsher vocals and yelling mixed in. A newer local metal band with this stacked lineup of familiar faces should be getting more attention (they debuted in 2024, they really should get social media pages going), but they have a very heavy sound that straddles a few genre influences, and Anthony and Chris have strong guitar work throughout, so With Gunfire's first truly public videos a watch above and below! We'll have more from them soon!

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

 

• I have moved local hard rock trio Bullet Train to our inactive band links. The band last posted a public update regarding their activity on their Facebook page on Christmas Eve 2024, where they promised that they would "be seeing you in the new year", but their only post in 2025 was in memoriam to the late Ozzy Osbourne. This union of Sense of Truth and Fort Creek alumni released three current events-driven original songs in 2024, but plans to release two EPs never went publically far. Hopefully we hear more from Cory, Bones, and Tony when the time is right!
• While not announced publically on social media prior, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down's show at The Water Tower Pub on Saturday was without bassist Dan Beaupre, but he was out of town in this case, rather than the ailment that knocked him out of most of their late 2025 concerts. Mid Life Crysis bassist Lori Reinholtz (their primary fill-in when Dan was out of action) returned on the low end for this one-nighter. I hope the concert was a hit on all fronts, and that Dan's trip went well!
• Rogers Radio closed their physical office at 642 Great Northern Road in October, with a "for lease" sign currently in the window of the building. This is part of a consolidation into remote operations from radio employee's homes or alternate locations for certain smaller markets, including the Soo and Timmins, as per this article from Broadcast Dialogue. No local jobs at either 104.3 The Fox or Kiss 100.5 were affected, though note that local mid-day DJ Dan Koo previously left the former Q104 in August, with North Bay's Mitch Belanger replacing him on our dial. Not ideal, but at least the stations are alive and well, and today is actually 104.3 The Fox's first anniversary as a rock station!

 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile next! Thanks everyone!

Riffs For Remembrance Concert Review!!

Saturday night saw a special benefit concert at Soo Blaster named Riffs For Remembrance: A Memorial For Tori, held in honour of local music fan Victoria Childs, who suddenly passed away last month as just 34 years old. Victoria was my ex-girlfriend and a good friend of mine for far longer than that (we met at Oddfellows Hall punk shows in 2005), so I knew I had to come out for the occasion, one that she would have been so grateful to have had take place! I know there were some fears that this would become a de facto wake full of grieving and not celebrating, but rest assured, this was a concert. Admission ended up being free, but organizers took donations to the psychosocial/mental illness rehab program Hope House - Club 84, and Paul confirmed that a $250 donation was made, which is wonderful! Attendance wasn't bad early but things did thin out by night's end, possibly because many attendees and musicians brought young family.

At least the Blue Jays game ended early (and happily) to avoid being a distraction on the big screens, and Victoria did love going to Soo Blaster, so the locale was a great choice! The diverse performer lineup deserves credit for donating their time for the cause, and possibly thanks to the all ages nature with kids present, the show ended by 11:00 PM with artists only playing for about 20 minutes apiece. The day began with Blind River folk singer/guitarist Linsaey L.W., who I was completely unfamiliar with before being announced for Riffs For Remembrance, and she did a good job with her all-original set! Linsaey has a strong professional but melodic voice that she put to good use on songs like "My Biggest Fan", and while she was a little stiff (her entire set was performed while sitting down), she showed her talents well to the biggest audience of the day, and hopefully she keeps on her upward momentum!

Local acoustic folk musician Gimiiwan Ikwe (a family friend who I saw at last year's Pridefest Loud & Proud Family Fun Day) took the stage next, and they knocked out a series of covers of the likes of Tom Petty, Jason Mraz, The Animals alongside originals like "Gentle Days" and "Ambe". A few of the covers felt a little rushed to cram them into a solo/ukelele form factor, but Gimiiwan had a pleasant and melodic set that Victoria would have appreciated (they were friends), so kudos to Gimiiwan for coming for the show last night, and for bringing their family! Always nice to see Animal out and about! The solo trifecta capped off with veteran local country musician Leslie Cook, who was a bit of a sonic wildcard between the folk prior and the rock ahead, but Victoria did like country music, so she would have liked this! Leslie employed backing tracks to fill out his live sound beyond the acoustic guitar, a'la Tym Morrison's solo concerts.

While I was familiar with Leslie from his ample prior local gigs, he's never really crossed our radar beyond schedule notes, but he impressed fans with his skill set and familiar covers! He tackled the likes of Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Garth Brooks, and The Zac Brown Band during his set, and jokingly thanked everyone for not throwing tomatoes at him, so there was a sense of humour! I say this with the utmost respect, but Leslie's singing voice kinda reminded me of Geddy Lee from Rush, so if you ever wanted to picture Geddy covering country songs, go see Leslie live. Thanks to Leslie for agreeing to play here, and do check him out if you like classic country! The show moved into bands with the debuting Bards Waith Beards, who were indeed a new project from HeadF1rst/ex-Them drummer Anthony Boudreau, but you'd be remiss if you thought this was just a shorthanded HeadF1rst set, just with the beard-less Liam and Claire absent.

Anthony sang lead on most songs for Bards With Beards' set, but bassist Red Jettison did the honours on the opening and closing songs, and he and guitarist Rainey Rancourt provided backing vocals throughout. Red actually told me post-set that he and Rainey aren't intended to be full members of Bards With Beards and they're actually just temporary players who didn't get a lot of rehearsal time in, so we'll have to see what bearded bards come on board for the future. Classic/hard rock would be how I'd characterize the covers-only set, which saw the guys tackle a range from Neil Young & Jimi Hendrix to Radiohead & Sublime, and some really unexpected cuts, like Cab Calloway, Omar & The Howlers, and even the Newfoundland folk song "The Night Paddy Murphy Died". The guys had a loose and fun set for the most part (even if "Creep" is overplayed), and Anthony acquitted himself well to the simultaneous vocal/drum role!

Your headliners on Saturday night were local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, whose frontman Paul Stanghetta and drummer Amanda Stanghetta (his wife) put this show on in Victoria's memory, with Paul also doubling as the MC. All props to them for taking the initiative to host this event and donate proceeds to a wonderful cause! Co-bassist Mikhal Muto is a cousin of Victoria's and he did speak about her briefly between songs as well. While The A.A. have original songs, their set was (as best as I could tell) all covers from a diverse array of bands like MGMT, Foster The People, and Metric, all rocked up with no guitar and two bassists in a very high energy and punk-infused fashion. The Stanghettas and Mikhal don't play live super often, but they delivered a fun and in-your-face set to end the night. Victoria would have approved, as she saw Smeltzer and The Fury multiple times back in the day!

Overall, this was a fun night of live music that would appeal to many tastes, and I know Victoria would have been right there with everyone if at all possible! I would have made use of the screen behind the stage to show pictures of her between sets, but I cut Paul and Amanda a lot of slack here, as this was their first time promoting a concert themselves, and the fact that they wanted to help honour her memory is huge. Victoria's mom, sister, and many friends and extended family came out and had a good time, so I'm glad that things were done respectfully in a way that she and they would approve of! You can see my photos of the musicians at this link or at our Facebook page, and as for my videos, here's Linsaey L.W. playing "Tie These Strings", Gimiiwan Ikwe covering Pat The Bunny's "Song For A Chicken Named Jenny", Leslie Cook covering Merle Haggard's "Working Man Blues", ...

...Bards With Beards covering The Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)", and The Apocalypse Afterparty covering Say Anything's "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too"!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week. Thanks everyone, and R.I.P. Victoria, we all miss you so much!