Article by Melanie Macpherson , Photos by Tracy Creighton ( Copperblue Photography ) Presented by Bloom Entertainment in collaboration with Lunar Music The International Women’s Day show at the Roxy Theatre felt like something a little different. Not really a concert. Something closer to a talent show, turned all the way up, or maybe one of those gala award shows. The Roxy helps with that. It’s got that old-world feel, with the faux balconies and window-lined walls that make

Roughsleeper – Everything Is Getting Worse Released: March 3/2026 Lonesome View Records By Scott Roos Our Grade: B+ Regina’s Roughsleeper return with Everything Is Getting Worse , a five-track EP that doubles down on the band’s strengths: punchy melodic punk, big hooks, and tight musicianship. Now operating as a streamlined trio with Rob White (guitar/vocals), Joey Gadica (bass), and Steve McNeil (drums), the group has trimmed the lineup but kept the energy intact. The EP ope

By Scott Roos Photos by Tracy Creighton ( Copperblue Photography and Design ) There are a few different kinds of nights you can have at a live music show on the Prairies. Sometimes you’re sitting politely in a theatre seat watching a jazz quartet play something tasteful. Sometimes you’re at the bar with a country band cranking out a set of songs that everyone somehow already knows. And every once in a while, if you wander into the right room at the right time, you’ll find you

by Scott Roos photos by Tracy Creighton By any reasonable prairie metric, Saskatoon has always had a bit of a split personality. On the surface: bridges, river walks, and just enough indie coffee to keep the vinyl collectors hydrated. Beneath it: a stubborn, grimy undercurrent of extreme music that refuses to stay politely underground. And lately, one of the loudest rumbles coming up through the floorboards belongs to DEAD SHIT EARTH. Attack With Force previously unleashed th

by Scott Roos photos by Tracy Creighton ( Copperblue Photography ) Sunday, March 1st, at SaskTel Centre brought together three bands whose music helped define alternative rock radio in the 1990s and early 2000s. With Econoline Crush, Big Wreck, and Live on the same bill, the night leaned heavily into familiar songs, big guitar moments, and an audience eager to revisit the soundtrack of their younger years. Econoline Crush Econoline Crush opened the evening with a compact seve

by Scott Roos photos by Scott Roos (Scotty the Rooster Photography) Forty years is a long time to be doing anything. Forty years of thrash metal? That’s practically a miracle. Yet here we are. The Bay Area wrecking crew known as Exodus, one of the original architects of thrash metal’s glory days, are gearing up to unleash their latest slab of carnage, Goliath . It lands March 20 through Napalm Records, and if drummer Tom Hunting is any indication, the band didn’t exactly stro

by Scott Roos Hollow Dominion with new vocalist Aurel Dumont Out on the flat prairie where the wind never really stops and the winters still mean business, heavy music finds a way to grow in the strangest places. Regina’s Hollow Dominion are proof of that. The deathcore crew from the city that rhymes with fun are about to drop their new single “Lifesblood” on March 12 - and it carries a little more weight than your average release. This one’s a goodbye. “Literally, yeah,” gui

Article by Melanie Macpherson, pictures by Melanie Macpherson and Saul and Nova Creative Melanie Macpherson and Patti Fedrau - Photo by Saul and Nova Creative I worried all day that I was going to miss the rehearsal.The weather app on my phone had been sending up winter squall warnings since morning... freezing rain, snow, wind, zero visibility. I carried on anyway, making plans for the worst but hoping for the best. I left sub plans on my desk in case the storm kept me from

By Scott Roos Our Grade: A- With his latest single, "Alone", Jordan Perry leans confidently into retro territory, delivering a shimmering slice of synth pop that feels both nostalgic and fresh. The track opens with a restrained, mid-tempo pulse before gradually layering glossy keyboards and live drums, creating a slow-burn build that pays off in a satisfying climax. It’s easy to imagine this one sliding seamlessly onto the soundtrack of Cobra Kai, thanks to its polished eight

by Scott Roos Our grade: B+ A Confident Debut Rooted in Classic Rock Warmth Battleford-based Hartz Roller makes a strong first impression with their debut single, “Let Me Love You.” The track leans into a warm, nostalgic lane while still carrying enough spark to feel contemporary. From the first listen, the vocals give off a Stevie Nicks–adjacent vibe, paired with instrumentation that recalls the breezy polish of classic ’70s AM radio pop rock. Like a Sweeney Todd or Bay City

photos and words by Scott Roos Dave Mustaine shredding up a storm during "Hangar 18" There are nights when a metal tour rolls through town and checks the boxes. And then there are nights when thrash history itself seems to step out onto the stage, plug in, and remind everyone why this music still matters. The recent triple threat of Megadeth, Anthrax, and Exodus at the SaskTel Centre on Tuesday, February 24th delivered exactly that: a multi-generational thrash celebration tha

by Scott Roos photo by Tim Hubbard There’s a particular kind of stamina required to play death metal drums at full velocity. It’s not gym stamina. It’s not marathon stamina. It’s something stranger and more surgical, more punishing and more precise. And after more than three decades behind the kit, Lee Harrison knows exactly what that means. “I grew up doing it,” Harrison says plainly, sticks already in hand during our conversation. “Getting more intense as time went on… I’m

words and photos by Brooke Anderson (Brooke Anderson Media) “Just close your eyes and imagine you’re not here”. She told the audience as she introduced her song The City. Bearing through the cold and many inches of snow, Ella Forrest and The Great Pines played at the E.A. Rawlinson on Friday, February 20th. Though they hadn’t played together since August and had only rehearsed the week before, their chemistry was unmatchable. Personality soared through the roof of the saxopho

by Scott Roos photo courtesy of Econoline Crush There comes a moment in every long-running band’s life when the question shifts from Can they still do it?  to something more interesting: What do they sound like now that they’ve lived a little longer?  On their self-titled 2026 release, which drops February 27th, Econoline Crush answer that question with grit, clarity, and just enough swagger to remind you why they mattered in the first place. This isn’t a nostalgia lap. It’s

Article by Melanie Macpherson , Photos by Tracy Creighton ( Copperblue Photography ) Adam Johnson has become known for putting on a good show. He and his band take live energy to the next level with a performance that hits more like rock ’n’ roll while still creating a sound that keeps it country. He hits the perfect note for a prairie party with a middle-finger-raising attitude and a talent for capturing snapshots of gritty reality, all while coming across as thoughtful, and

by Scott Roos band photo by Jim Louvau Thrash metal lifers Exodus  are wasting no time ushering in their next era. With a stacked Canadian run alongside Megadeth  and Anthrax , the Bay Area legends are already knee deep into the campaign for their upcoming full-length Goliath , and if drummer Tom Hunting  is to be believed, Western Canada - especially Saskatoon this Tuesday, Feb. 24th - is in for something fierce. “Oh, it’s been awesome,” Hunting says of the tour so far. “It’

by Scott Roos band photo by Totem Coast Photography Progressive death metal has never been short on ambition, but Boston’s GRAVEBORN have made evolution itself their defining mission. Since forming in 2013, the band have steadily expanded their sound across four increasingly sophisticated releases: Samsara , Seeds of Life , The Athenaeum , and 2021’s Transmigrator . Now, after more than five years of painstaking work, the group return with what may be their most conceptually

by Scott Roos Our Grade: B+ Saskatoon’s Blind Commentary continues carving out space in the prairie underground with the release of “Trapped in the Walls,” which dropped Feb. 11. The single marks the band’s first offering of 2026 and hints at a continued experimental direction ahead for the self-described "emogaze" outfit. On this track, they don’t ease you in. They drop you straight into it. “Trapped in the Walls” is all tension and texture. The guitars shimmer and collide,

by Scott Roos band photo by Carsen Warriner There’s a difference between re-releasing old songs and resurrecting them. On Decomposition , the new EP from Saskatoon metal act Pythonic, the band does the latter. The five tracks mirror their earlier EP in order and foundation but the similarities end there. What once leaned toward groove-heavy nu-metal-esque sonics now detonates with sharpened death-metal precision. And according to guitarist Vincent Kohut, this is only the begi

by Scott Roos photos by David Leyes As Glass Tiger marks the 40th anniversary of their landmark debut The Thin Red Line , the songs that launched them from bar stages to international radio still carry the spirit of the young band that first created them. Four decades on, keyboardist Sam Reid finds himself revisiting those early recordings in a new way and not through the dense production that defined the 1980s, but through stripped-down performances that return the music to