LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Wyld Stallyns), Surprise New Album Announcements, And More!!

Bit of a surprise new post on this Friday, but if I wanted to cover a new LOCAL CONCERT ALERT before we were a week and under until it occurred, I had to get this out today. Along with this new event, we have the surprise announcement of new albums from an inactive group, and some assorted recent updates, so here's what you should know!

Local funk/hard rock cover quintet The Wyld Stallyns will headline a special fundraiser concert for the Entomica Insectarium at their current homebase at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center on Saturday, August 21st! Surprisingly only just announced on Wednesday given the scope and unique aspects of it, this is the first Bushplane Museum concert we've covered on the site since in over two years, but being attached to the Entomica bug lab is a new one for us. Entomica do great work in educating everyone about insects, and hopefully this "Let's 'Mis-Bee-Hive', Come Out & Jive" social will help the cause and entertain a local audience at this late(?) stage of the pandemic! The Wyld Stallyns (plural) will close the night at 11:00 PM as the only hard rock-leaning band on offer, but the lineup does have a mini-Rotaryfest feel to it, plus lots of food/drink vendors and kids entertainment, but who else can you expect next Saturday?

Veteran local entertainer Tim Murphy will do a host segment at 10:30 PM, heavily implied to be doing so in drag as Ms. Beehive (get it, "misbehave"?), which fits along with many of his other live stage and hosting work, so expect some humour here! Classic rock veterans Mustang Heart (who do cover hard rock on occasion) will take the stage at 9:30 PM, while local country musician Jeffrey Wright will hit the stage at 8:30 PM. If you're not familiar with Jeffrey, he only just launched his Facebook page last month, but he is a talented multimedia artist! The opening two acts get extended 90 minute timeslots, including Rotaryfest veterans The Northern Jazz Ensemble at 6:45 PM and the confusingly named Josh Norling Jazz Ensemble (led by the prolific Blues Harvest saxophonist) kicking things off at 5:00 PM. This is an all ages event with admission by a $5 minimum donation.

And as usual with the pandemic, please respect and follow any social distancing and public health guidelines being enforced at the Bushplane Museum/Entomica to ensure everyone's safety. Now that we're finally seeing some multi-band concerts in Sault Ontario at a scale reminiscent of what we saw locally before the pandemic, hopefully the "Let's 'Mis-Bee-Hive', Come Out & Jive" social fundraiser is a hit for all parties, and stay tuned for more in our next weekend concert previews! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, including on all of the vendors!

Next up, have you been waiting for details on Mike Haggith's next solo album release and new original material? Well, here's a swerve, as his defunct local power pop/hard rock trio The Din have announced a couple of posthumous album releases for later this year! After a series of surprise teasers on Thursday (the fifth anniversary of it's release), the band announced on their Facebook page that they will be re-releasing their debut mainline album "Give In To The Din" in a deluxe edition with eighteen tracks! For reference, the original 2016 release only had nine songs, so are these all rough demos of what made the cut, or are these properly unreleased, perhaps including songs only heard in live recordings? Time will tell! The second album will be called "Technically Live", and it will comprise their full set from the "Give In To The Din" CD release party at the auditorium at The Tech (the former St. Mary's/Lakeway Collegiate site) from August 12th, 2016!

Now, the latter isn't completely unheard material, as Shaw TV filmed The Din's set that night for the premiere episode of their OnStage series, where they played the entire "Give In To The Din" album, plus two non-album tracks (Mike's solo song "Of Cars & Criminals" & their unreleased original "Differences"), but a smattering of outside covers were not included in Shaw's broadcast. Will those be present on "Technically Live", and will the audio be proper soundboard recordings, or come from Shaw's cameras? Follow The Din on Facebook to get further updates as they roll in, and it's great to see Mike, Tammy, and Brandan have some more fuel in the tank!

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:

• In their first Facebook page posting in 17 months, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet 415E shared a photo on July 20th of a drumkit & speakers with the caption "Time to jam". Them returning to activity at this stage of the pandemic makes sense, but guitarist Chris Hubbard & bassist Brett Blackwood debuted their very similar new band Rhythm & Brews at The Rapids Lounge earlier that same month, and that band hasn't posted online since July 3rd. Have Rhythm & Brews thrown in the towel already & reverted to the 415E name, or will both bands continue forward? Time will tell, but 415E are back in our active band links!
• Following my decision to drop the planned Defunct Local Band Profile on them earlier this week, I have removed mid-2000s all-female hard rock trio Apocrytha from our inactive band links due to a complete and utter lack of surviving public information on their official online accounts (re: just their MySpace page, whose photos all no longer work). Follow members' later bands like The Freshwater Sirens and The Danger Cats to hear what the ladies have been up to!
• Almost a year & a half after his prior search on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group, local guitarist, singer, and drummer Jayrald Micky is looking to join something and is "dying to jam and get back out there". He did note that he has stage experience, but I'm not familiar with public band work of his. Message him at this link or via his group post from Wednesday for more details!

 

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Soundcheck & Tym Morrison), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to note that the planned Tarnished concert on Saturday at the Hulbert House Bed & Breakfast in Hulbert Township, Michigan was quietly cancelled for unannounced reasons at some point in the past month, as per the Facebook event page. Tarnished still list it on their calendar, but both the venue & planned touring headliners Gunnar & The Grizzly Boys have not promoted it in recent weeks. Very disappointing given the scale, but Tarnished will be back in Hulbert alone next weekend! Now, here's what you should know for active weekend concert previews (including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS), plus a new video!

Sault Ontario hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will play his third straight Friday night concert at The Mike Case Memorial Stage at The Trading Post TOMORROW NIGHT, before returning to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for a matinee show THIS SUNDAY! Apologies for the short notice on both gigs, they were only announced on Tuesday via their respective Facebook event pages (linked here & here), though in the case of TOMORROW'S Trading Post gig, you may have inferred that it would take place given that Tym played there the previous two weeks (and three of the past four). Of course, Tym is no stranger to weekly engagements at the same venue, as last seen via his brief run at the Motley Market last summer (not to mention his lengthy Gliss arrangement pre-pandemic), so if he's back at The Mike Case Memorial Stage on Friday the 20th, we will begin calling his dates as being on a weekly schedule until otherwise stated, listing new ones month by month.

As for SUNDAY'S downtown Reggie's matinee, this will be Tym's first show there in three weeks, and fans of his acoustic hard and classic rock covers should be right at home at either venue in the days ahead! TOMORROW'S show is at 7:00 PM for 2 hours with no age limit, SUNDAY'S is 19+ at 3:00 PM for 4 hours, neither has an announced cover charge, and please respect and honour any social distancing recommendations at either show, especially the likely indoor gig at Reggie's. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!

Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's West on Korah Road for traditional concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, following tonight's third installment of their new open mic night series there! Again, apologies for the short notice, they too only announced these concerts via their Facebook event page on Tuesday. Not counting their new open mic night series, TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S shows will be their first run-of-the-mill shows there since April, so if you want an unfettered blast of classic and hard rock covers from this talented foursome, you know where to be! And yes, they'll likely hit the stage tonight as well when they host The Reggievelt's open mic night for a third straight week (remember, Mojo took their talents downtown to the original Reggie's), so if you want to see Soundcheck with/alongside unknown local performers, keep this in mind!!

Remember, we do not cover open mic nights as traditional concerts on the SMS due to high amount of unknown variables (who's performing, genres, how often the host band even plays, etc). In any event, Friday & Saturday's concerts have 9:00 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no announced cover charges (the open mic tonight starts earlier at 8:00 PM), but again, please respect and follow any social distancing and mask guidelines at Reggie's West to ensure everyone's health and safety, especially with case counts rising. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!

Moving to previously announced concerts, let's head downtown to The Rockstar Bar, which is now a two weeks into their return to live shows after an almost year-long wait, as local southern hard rock cover quintet Fort Creek will play there for the first time THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Last seen at Reggie's West two weeks ago, this will be an exciting chance for Fort Creek to play a sadly all-too-rare concert outside of a Reggie's-branded nightclub, and it's great to see The Rockstar Bar hosting live bands again now that they have gotten to this point in the pandemic! As recently usual for Fort Creek, they will be doing a merchandise giveaway at some point during this concert, so keep that in mind. It looks like The Rockstar Bar are planning to host bands in the normal 10:00 PM start time running until 2:00 AM, which is good to see, and this is a 19+ event with no cover, but again, please respect the venue's social distancing and capacity guidelines. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Fort Creek live!

Finally, while Tarnished aren't playing on Saturday anymore(?), we still have a Sault Michigan-area story to wrap things up with, as St. Ignace progressive metal quintet Heavy Lies The Crown released their second proper music video to their YouTube channel on Monday! Unlike for "Knuckle Butter", this video is for a brand new song named "Voices", which will theoretically be on their forthcoming studio album, but the video description does say "Comment below if you guys want more! Make us work harder for more". Just looking for engagement, or is the album still a work in progress for songwriting? Filmed in a room full of rock walls (which remind me of Zim's) and dark red lighting with the band often in silhouette, the video has a striking look to be sure, but I'll hold comment on the song proper for now, pending our review of H.L.T.C.'s new album. Give it a watch below!

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

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: 2wo Man Baand & The Creepy Little Coffee People

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, continuing our monthly looks at local metal. hard rock, and punk bands from the past with surviving online pages, in order to spotlight their runs for current readers! I had originally planned to lead off this month's double profile with all-female Sault Ontario hard rock trio Apocrytha, but in looking at their MySpace page, it's downgraded even further from when I last logged it for our band links, and not even the pictures load there anymore! As such, I opted to replace them with the next closest un-featured alphabetical band in our defunct links that didn't have massive surviving information to warrant a solo profile. Now, here's what you should know on two randomly selected acoustic hard rock bands from both sides of the border!

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2wo Man Baand (the spelling of their name is correct)

Genre: Improv/Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (they were co-listed as being from Stephen's hometown of Windsor, but were visibly based out of the Soo)

Members:

Elliott "Grudge/Oiyett" Corston-Pine, vocals/guitar
Stephen "Speed" Quackenbush, guitar/vocals

Info/Analysis:  Active locally circa 2006-2007, the 2wo Man Baand were influenced by classic rock groups, but said that "we don't sound like anyone nor does anyone sound like us". Elliott & Stephen pledged to make one or two all-original albums a year, but only one 2006 song survives publically today via Elliott's YouTube channel, which sees the baand playing a promising hard rock instrumental named "Sky High", though it was a departure from their more comedic songs with vocals that were once on MySpace like "Ripped Off Old Man" & "Duh Rock Star". The 2wo Man Baand were ahead of their time considering how much attention metal duos got locally in the 2010s, and hopefully Elliott & Stephen are still musically active!

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The Creepy Little Coffee People

Genre: Acoustic Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: 

Bob Helsten (Integrated System of Machines), vocals
Art Dietz (Integrated System of Machines), guitar
Troy Earls (Retro Troop), guitar
Tony Rogers (Clownsack, Shift), djembe

Audio/Video: None exists publically online, but an original song named "I Know" was uploaded to YouTube in March 2016, and while it is sadly now private, I did compliment it's heavy structure and driving nature despite the acoustic trappings. In their original run, they did release a demo EP, though it has likely been out of print for two decades. For members' later bands, I would recommend tracking down media from Tony Rogers' old band Electric Motor Fish, where he also played the djembe.

Info/Analysis: Featuring future I.S.O.M. and Clownsack bandmates, The Creepy Little Coffee People were originally active in the early 2000s, and had a reasonably successful run, playing multiple area concerts & even opening for some name touring bands, but most of this information predates social media. Their original lineup reunited in December 2015, and they did play at The Merchant's Bar in March 2016, but nothing followed the upload of "I Know", and they are believed to have dissolved for good by year's end. The C.L.C.P.'s laid back unplugged sound served them well and gave them an audience, and it's a shame their mid-2010s reunion didn't last longer!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month, we're heading to Sault Ontario for a single band profile, as our randomly selected band will be mid-late 2010s hard rock quartet Eclipse! Look for that on or around September 10th, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Wyld Stallyns), A New Video, And Much More!!

Here's a new news post for your Saturday evening, and it includes some assorted recent updates, a new solo performance video, and leading off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and related news about said band's new look for a new year! Here's what you should know

Local cover hard rock band The Wyld Stallyns will rock Reggie's Place TONIGHT, after previously playing there last night! I profusely apologize for the short notice, we only heard about these dates yesterday via singer/guitarist Rob Speers' own advertising on Facebook, though I did completely miss the venue's Facebook page plugging the dates on Tuesday. I did plug both on our Facebook page yesterday to try and get some of the word out, but I didn't have quite enough topics to rush a post last night, hence why I am half late to the party today. Again, my apologies, I'd have plugged both on Thursday had I seen Reggie's own post about them! These dates are The Wyld Stallyns' first since Rotaryfest last month, and first at an indoor venue since they kicked off The Rockstar Bar's brief return of live concerts in August 2020. However, if you missed them at Rotaryfest, The Stallyns will look a little different.

 

For one, the group has quietly transformed from an acoustic band into an electric one, perhaps to make up for their plugged-in sister band The Elements' continued inactivity over the past 18 months. Going electric means they'll need a bassist, and The Wyld Stallyns debuted former Gully Yodelers bassist Ben Garcia as their fifth member at Rotaryfest. Bit of a surprise not seeing James White (the only Elements member not in The Stallyns) on bass, but don't miss him with Dealing Without when they finally make their live debut! Ben wasn't on The Gully Yodelers' "Innocence & Allegory" CD, but he was on their song from "Local Steel", and he is a talented bassist who should fill this role well with The Wyld Stallyns, so don't miss his third show with them TONIGHT! This show (and yesterday's) are/were 9:00 PM events with 19+ age limits and no cover charge, as usual for recent Reggie's concerts.

 

And as recently usual, please respect and honour any social distancing and mask mandates at the downtown Reggie's to ensure the safety of yourself and everyone else in attendance. Despite the late notice, hopefully The Wyld Stallyns had a great show last night, and hopefully Christina, Rob, Jesse, Ben, and Jonas have more of the same TONIGHT! Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Stallyns live and unplugged!

 

Next up, here's a new video of former Garden of Bedlam singer Erik "Buzz" Boissineau covering The Foo Fighters' "Times Like These", as uploaded to his YouTube channel last night! An acoustic vocal/guitar cover as usual for his recent videos, this is strongly performed as you'd expect given Buzz's vocal abilities and talent level, and it fits in line with The Foos' own acoustic version of this song! Give it a watch 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 or venue name:

 

• Prolific local extreme metal/folk punk musician Chase Wigmore has released twelve back catalog albums of his onto his Bandcamp page! Nothing is brand new, but these include prior albums under his own name plus Awokest, The Black Lodge Masters, and The Coyote Speedfreaks, and Chase did hint on his Facebook page last week that he was uploading "all of my albums" there. Does this mean that his increasingly large number of free-to-YouTube albums are going on sale at some point? Stay tuned!
• It looks like The Rednecks Saloon (formerly The Nicolet Tavern) closed at some point last year, despite their social media accounts never announcing it online. The 304 Albert Street West nightclub hasn't updated their social media accounts since 2017, we last reported on a show there when Chase Wigmore held a single release concert in September 2019, and Google lists the bar as "permanently closed". If true, it is sad to lose a familiar downtown venue like this, and Rednecks did host some strong concerts after it's 2013 rebranding. Hopefully the old staff is doing well nowadays!
• Young local garage/hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley are the only heavier local band on the schedule for this year's virtual Fringe North International Theatre Festival over the August 19th weekend! It's being held on YouTube due to pandemic-related travel restrictions, given the event's heavy usage of buskers and performers from out of town. Click here to see the current performer lineup, and there are a few other identifiable local names. Even virtually, this should be strong exposure for The Uncanny Valley, so stay tuned for updates on how to watch their set!
  

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tarnished & Tym Morrison) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

A good old fashioned weekend concert preview post is now live on the SMS, and it includes some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT  ALERTS on both sides of the border, one recently familiar, and one with a bigger scale, all told. As well, we have some news on a prolific local cover band's new weekly role that will be familiar for long-time fans, so here's what you should know!

 

Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will play his third solo headlining concert at The Mike Case Memorial Stage at The Trading Post TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show via it's Facebook event page on Sunday, though this date did have two more days' word than last week's show there. Given how quickly Tym's dates at The Trading Post's outdoor concert stage have piled up (this will be his third show there in four weeks), he's clearly making a good impression, and it's great to see Tym finding a new locale to play concerts are frequently in this late stage of the pandemic! Like Tym's two shows at 1332 Great Northern Road last month, TOMORROW'S date is a 2 hour set at 7:00 PM with no cover charge or age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live! 

 

 

Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock trio Tarnished are rocking The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT as previously announced, but that's not all for them this weekend, as they will also play outside of Crooked Music at 540 Ashmun Street THIS SATURDAY as the closing act during the local music store's slate of live musicians during the returning Sidewalk Sales event! Again, apologies for the short notice on Sidewalk Sales, Crooked Music only announced who was performing on their Facebook page on Monday. Tarnished have confirmed that they will be the headliners at 3:00 PM, and while they didn't specify if this would be a two-man acoustic set or not, their current three-piece lineup is pictured in event advertising. That said, the other acts are all acoustic leaning, so who else is playing on SATURDAY?

The apparent performance order also includes Rudyard Musicians Festival regular Kevin Blakeney at 2:00 PM (he does cover some grunge/alternative songs), while Project 906 singer Billy Bernier & guitarist Joe Jenkins will play a rare acoustic duo set at 1:00 PM. Nice to see them 906 back in the Soo for the first time since the pandemic begin, even without Dustin & Gary, so don't bypass their set! The preceding artists are all solo, including former Pick-Me-Ups frontman Trevor "T.S." Yake at 12:00 PM (no word on if his modern day music is punk-leaning), ex-Inspid Brutality guitarist Tyler Dettloff's current blues project at 11:00 AM, and classic rock/country musician Annis George leading off at 10:00 AM. Crooked Music's Sidewalk Sales Serenade is FREE & ALL AGES, snacks of some kind will also be available, and consider shopping at the store and at other participating local merchants on SATURDAY!

As for Tarnished's Kewadin dates in St. Ignace, attendees will be able to see Alex, Nathan, and Josh in more traditional setting delivering their usual hard rocking covers and originals for gathered fans, so don't miss out there either! Those shows are tomorrow and Saturday night at 9:00 PM with 21+ age limits and no cover charges, and both there and at Crooked Music, please respect either venue's current social distancing/mask protocols where applicable to ensure everyone's safety. Click here and visit the above links for more details on all three dates, and here's Tarnished live!

Finally, this isn't a full fledged concert per say, but Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck began hosting the weekly Thursday open mic nights at Reggie's West last week, and night #2 of their run there begins tonight! Now, this isn't a new concept for Terry Eaton-featured local band, as their predecessors Mourning Wood did host a brief series of open mic nights at The Rednecks Saloon in 2015, but this time, it's not a brand new thing for this venue, as blues rock cover trio Mojo had been hosting the Thursday jam nights at Reggie's West successfully for a few years. However, Mojo have moved their open mic nights downtown to Reggie's Place (I don't know if that was their call, the venue's, or both), so Soundcheck have stepped in to keep the open mic nights going at The Reggievelt. That said, historically, I don't cover open mic nights as concerts on the SMS.

By design, these events allow for an unknown number of outside performers, either joining the house band or by themselves, and if things are busy enough, there's no guarantee that the house band will even play much. Still, open mic nights are fun and a good way for musicians to play on stage without the usual stress, and you'll likely see Soundcheck tackle some hard hitting classic covers in between time, so keep their second open mic night in mind for tonight at around 9:00 PM! 19+, no cover. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Where Are The New Albums? August 2021 Update

It's now time for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, continuing our monthly looks at the current release whereabouts of announced/upcoming albums, CDs, and EPs from local metal, hard rock, and punk artists! This month's installment is largely in a holding pattern, with the same six entries as last month, but two have updates, as noted with their title in italics. Given the kinda-but-not-really release of Kraken Mara's debut EP "Press Start", I opted not to restore it here, as it's publically on sale on Wix, but the actual ability to pay for it still doesn't appear to work, despite appearances. We'll of course let you know when/if that is rectified. So, where are the new albums? Read on below to hopefully find out!

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Chase James Wigmore's new albums

Rumoured Songs: Unknown

Background: Ever the prolific artist and songwriter, local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore posted on his eponymous Facebook page on August 31st to announce two more distinct acoustic albums and the long-gestating completion of his 33 part rock opera "A Story About A Kid Named Todd". In February & March, Chase released three more free albums to YouTube, including one of those acoustic albums (the black metal-infused "Ruins Of Life"), Awokest's new album "Beyonder", and his classical piano release "The Symphonic Organism". Most recently, Chase hyped up a progressive metal double album entitled "Living Divisions", and while he promised a paid digital release for it, the album was also exclusively posted to YouTube, at least initially.

Current Release Status: Your guess is as good as mine, but remember that Chase is very prolific and varied in his musical interests, and not every album of his has seen a formal paid release, either by finishing it's lifespan as a demo, or by being released online for free. In fact, he hasn't released one of his brand new albums for sale since "One Last Act Of Defiance" on Bandcamp in December 2019, though note that he recently posted a dozen back catalog albums from various projects of his onto his Bandcamp page, so some of his more recent free albums could follow there. Stay tuned for updates from his camp when they roll in!
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Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide's fourth album

Rumoured Songs: "Lost & Found", "All Broke Down", "No Control"

Background: Local Celtic punk veterans Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide began recording sessions by October 2018 at Dustin's own Mission Control Studios, as per their Facebook page. In January 2019, the band confirmed that they were indeed recording a fourth studio album (and first since 2012), which will presumably be released through Tidal Records, and will also be their first album with second guitarist Liam Seymour & drummer Chris Johns. While "All Broke Down" was initially cited as the first single in December 2018 (source here), the first two released singles were "Lost & Found" in March 2019 & "No Control" in December 2020. Credits on the above songs' music videos note that Kyle Whittaker at Strange Pumpkin Studios in St. Catharine's is mixing the album, as he has done for multiple Tidal/Mission Control releases. Dustin has posted a handful of solo songs on Tidal Records' YouTube channel in recent months, but it's not publically known whether or not they'll also be used as new Tide originals.

Current Release Status: When The Tide shared a teaser clip for "Lost & Found", they mentioned that the album was "coming soon", which doesn't tell us much, especially as the band has not posted anything publically yet in 2021. With recording sessions well along the way, and two music videos now public, it's likely that Dustin and company aren't early in the process, but we'll let you know when more comes out on the album!
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Handsome Sandwich - "Lettuce"

Rumoured Songs: "All or Nothing", "Bitter"

Background: After taking a year+ long hiatus during the pandemic, local "no genre" (but functionally alternative/hard rock) band Handsome Sandwich reunited with a new lineup, with returning members Jesse Cook & Johnny Belanger now joined by singer Taylor Emlaw and bassist Mitch Sirie. Via their brand new Facebook page and YouTube channel, the band almost instantly began teasing a debut album (after previously being covers-only in their 2017-2020 run), posting two YouTube videos of them jamming new original songs planned for it. On June 25th, Handsome Sandwich revealed that the album will be titled "Lettuce", it will be recorded at Unsalted Audio with producer Dustin Goodall (pictured with the band and Bill Priddle), and that pre-production started on June 27th.

Current Release Status: No clue, especially given that we have no prior Handsome Sandwich albums to go off of, but the new look band has definitely hit the ground running since resuming activity last month! Staying busy and creative when proper non-socially distanced concerts can't happen isn't a bad idea either, so stay tuned for updates from Handsome Sandwich's camp!
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Mike Haggith - Bridges

Rumoured Songs: "From The 55th Parallel", "Over Indecision", "The Nature of The Times","An Act of Strength","The Catalyst", "Dangerous Town", "Come On Home", "Blue Highway", "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost", "Bridges"

Background: After moving to Thompson, Manitoba in November 2017, prolific local/Windsor hard/alternative rock musician Mike Haggith relaunched his dormant solo project, and soon commenced work on a new CD named "Bridges", which finished recording sessions in early 2019. His Facebook page has documented songwriting sessions, acoustic videos of new original songs, plus solo concerts in Thompson largely featuring new tracks. Despite the unveiling of the cover artwork, three singles, and even a music video for "The Nature of The Times", Mike indefinitely postponed the release of "Bridges" in late 2019 due to mixing delays, personal life concerns, and the quick development of a new album named "If Ever Comes The Day", which was released in June 2020. Note that Mike has released a new studio single named "To Be With You" that has exclusively been aired on The Borderline Radio, but he has not confirmed whether that will be part of a new album of it's own.

Current Release Status: Mike has largely kept his next music plans close to the vest aside from some promising teasers, though he did perform "Come On Home" in Thompson's virtual Winterfest concert in February, and said there that "Bridges" will be released this year. Though this album has been surprisingly delayed since before the pandemic, Mike's typical candor & honesty bodes well if anything sudden occurs. Keep tabs for updates, and watch #LockdownLive IV to hear the whole album unplugged and hear his side of the album's progress and delays as of April 2020!

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Molten Imp's second & future singles

Rumoured Songs: "Winter XX/XXI", "Winter XX/XXI II"

Background: Two years after his local doom metal band AlgomA's final concert, guitarist Boyd Rendell resumed public musical activity in the spring of 2021 via Molten Imp, which has been described as both an industrial metal project and "computer generated noise rock". After posting a couple of standalone songs on their Bandcamp page that may or may not be packaged on further releases, Molten Imp released "Double Dose (Me)" on May 28th for $4, and it is described as the "first in a series of virtual 7" singles". Featuring two songs, plus two brief bonus tracks for buyers only, "Double Dose (Me)" was mastered by Dustin Goodall at Unsalted Audio, though whether the teased future singles will be recorded, released, and priced similarly is unclear.

Current Release Status: No idea, but given the quiet recording methods and quick release of "Double Dose (Me)", the planned second 7'' could come at any time. Molten Imp definitely stand alone in the local scene right now, and hopefully we hear more released material from them soon, but follow them above to see where they're progressing!

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The Uncanny Valley's debut album

Rumoured Songs: "The Uncanny Valley", "Glowin'", "Middle Man", “This Love is Psychedelic”, "Stuck In Rotation", “Sweet Like Sugar”

Background: The new classic hard rock band from 2019 Soo's Got Talent winner Adrian Sullivan, fans will have seen original material of theirs right from the start, as The Uncanny Valley debuted their own songs in their first live concert at The Canadian on New Year's Eve 2019. Live concert & jam session videos have followed on their Facebook page featuring their own material as well. After posting a teaser audio clip of "Sweet Like Sugar" in September, they posted the full studio version of "Middle Man" in October, finally confirming there that they are working on their first album, though no other details have followed suit. The album will presumably feature new bassist Brendan Bertrand, who replaced Adam Fahrer in the band earlier this year.

Current Release Status: No clue, which isn't helped by The Uncanny Valley's age and relatively unfamiliar profile for many readers, not to mention the complications of the pandemic and their public hiatus since releasing "Middle Man", though their new lineup did make their live debut at the drive-in Rotaryfest last month. That said, they are a talented group who seemed to be taking the right steps for the future, and hopefully more updates on The Uncanny Valley's debut album follow when ready!
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I hope you guys liked this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! This series will return on or around September 2nd, while our next monthly feature post will likely be this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles next week. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

Episode #2 Of Metal Morpheus On The Borderline, Plus A New Music Video!!

In our first post of August 2021, let's do a formal recap of the second and episode of local metal singer Josh Amendola's new internet radio show Metal Morpheus on The Borderline, plus a bonus local video at the end! As of this writing, four episodes are online to stream on demand at this link, with episode #5 premiering at 9:00 PM tonight on the station's live stream. In case you're not familiar with the format, click here for our recap of episode #1 from last month, and since that point, episodes have all been themed around metal subgenres. Episode #2 premiered on July 11th, it's about 61 minutes long (slightly shorter than the previous week), and it is themed around doom metal, so what should you know about it? After the too-chaotic opening theme, Josh explains the origins of black metal and starts for a second straight week with the pioneers of metal, Black Sabbath, this time via their doom metal-inspiring classic "Into The Void".

8 minutes in, Josh transitions to talking about British doom metal legends Witchfinder General and the origin of their name, before playing their own self-titled song. The next segment (at around the 13 minute mark) focuses on Saint Vitus & their song "The Lost Feeling", which is about depression, though note that Josh's introduction primarily takes place over the song's intro. Staying with pioneering 1980s doom metal bands, Josh next throws to Trouble at the 18:30-ish mark, playing their song "The Tempter" on air. The first half ends with a segment on British doom metal group Pagan Altar (25:10 or so in), whose played song is "Judgement Of The Dead". Metal Morpheus continues at about 33:25 with Pentagram, from which Josh plays their song "Starlady". This episode's local content follows at about 39:40, when Josh introduces a segment on inactive doom/sludge metal trio AlgomA.

Josh does give AlgomA some nice props, and while he does optimistically note that he can't wait for their next concert, remember that they have only played live once since 2017, and not at all in over two years. AlgomA actually get TWO songs played on air here, both from their 2014 debut EP "Reclaimed By The Forest", including the title track and "Go On, Git!", which Josh explains is based on a true story, and you can infer further from the lyrics. At about 50:20, we leave the Soo to look at Cathedral via their song "Midnight Mountain", before closing at about 55:45 with The Obsessed's "Sodden Jackal" and some summative thoughts about what makes doom metal distinct from other subgenres. Entertaining episode that helps give a crash course in the foundations of doom metal, so this is a good way to learn a bit about what makes the genre appealing! Stay tuned soon for our recap of episode #3, and hear episode #5 on The Borderline tonight at 9:00 PM!

Finally for today, let's head south for a look at St. Ignace, Michigan progressive death metal quintet Heavy Lies The Crown's new (if very belated) music video for their song "Knucklebutter"! Premiering on their YouTube channel on July 26th, this is apparently one of at least two videos they shot when the band gathered together in the E.U.P. last week (nice to see Nathan and Cale back north of the Mack), and they also apparently discussed the band's future plans at the same time. No word yet on the second music video, but the one for "Knucklebutter" features the guys playing the song in a Victorian house that dates back to the 19th century, that allegedly was once the home of a pirate, and is currently being rebuilt. The video is well shot and suits H.L.T.C.'s sound nicely, and it's good to see their 2019 EP "Scatter Brain" getting some full realization like this! Give the full video a look below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!