Thunder Bay’s Dual Metal Powerhouses The Fixer & Teknosis Bring the “Ugly Knots” Tour West
- Scott Roos
- Oct 7
- 5 min read
by Scott Roos for NSMZ
Two of Thunder Bay’s rising metal forces — The Fixer and Teknosis — are taking their heavy sounds across the country this October on the “Ugly Knots Tour 2025”, with shows stretching from Quebec to Alberta. For both bands, it’s more than just another run of gigs — it’s a chance to bring the Thunder Bay metal community to stages far beyond home turf.
“We normally do all our own tour booking,” explains Vic Sin of The Fixer. “This time around is our first time bringing direct support on tour with us. We're very excited to be having our friends in Teknosis come out west with us.”
For the first few Quebec dates, The Fixer will fly solo, but once the tour hits Ontario and beyond, Teknosis will join in full force. Together, they’ll crisscross the prairies, including Prince Albert (Oct. 11 at Studio Q), Saskatoon (Oct. 16 at the Green Room), Regina (Oct. 17 at The Exchange), and more.
A Long Time Coming
Both bands share deep roots in Thunder Bay’s heavy music scene — a tight-knit, cyclical community that’s weathered its fair share of ups and downs. Sin recalls playing with members of Teknosis “going back to when I was 16 — so that’s going up to, you know, 20 years or something of playing shows together.”
Teknosis guitarist Craig Kainulainen echoes that sentiment. “The Thunder Bay metal scene has been pretty tight-knit,” he says. “We've been involved in it off and on with different bands for 20 years. It's always been very supportive — not really competitive or cutthroat. We get along great with [The Fixer]. They support us, we support them… so I'm looking forward to hitting the road with them.”
That spirit of collaboration is what’s fueling this tour — a road trip built on shared history and mutual respect.
New Music, New Energy
The Fixer are currently supporting their 2025 single “It Will End Tonight” and their 2023 full-length Your Lie (WormHoleDeath Records), while also teasing fresh material. Sin says the band’s latest single marks both a return to roots and a bridge to something new.
“We’ve been kind of picking away at writing off and on, seeing what new things we may want to incorporate into our sound.”
Sonically, The Fixer’s hybrid of gothic, industrial, and punk-metal continues to evolve. “Some of our newer stuff has gotten a bit more melodic,” Sin adds. “We actually pull a little bit more from EDM… mixing a bit of that into the metal world and the goth world.”
Fans will get to hear the next chapter of that evolution on tour — along with a brand-new single, “Ugly Knots”, dropping October 3rd.
“These two songs that we're releasing ("It Will End Tonight" and "Ugly Knots") are kind of us experimenting with different sounds and seeing what we were wanting to do,” says Sin. “We still ended up really proud of these songs and wanted to have them in our catalog. They're really fun to play and they go over well live.”
Teknosis: Groove, Grit & DIY Spirit
Meanwhile, Teknosis — supporting their blistering 2024 EP Return to Civilization — will bring a more raw, groove-driven heaviness to the tour. Their sound sits somewhere between Lamb of God’s early aggression and a more old-school, stripped-down ferocity.
“Lamb of God’s first few albums I was really into,” admits Kainulainen. “I was really, really into Pantera when I was younger… Groove metal is kind of lack of a better term for us because you know how metal subgenres work — you can go slash this slash that forever. I have a hard time describing our own sound sometimes because I don't really think we sound like a lot of stuff.”
That unclassifiable quality is part of the band’s charm — a sound honed in Thunder Bay’s lone metal haunt, the Black Pirates Pub, and captured with a DIY edge. Their EP was recorded and mixed by Ryan MacDonald at Lionheart Sound Co. and mastered by Topon Das (F*ck The Facts).
“We're starting to play around with more of the DIY thing and doing it our own,” says Kainulainen. “We do our best to record everything to capture the live sound as close as possible.”
Prairie Fire: Saskatchewan on the Rise
The Fixer’s Vic Sin says the band is especially excited to hit Saskatchewan again — with new cities and fresh venues waiting.
“This will be our third time playing in Regina. It is our first time in Saskatoon and Prince Albert and our second time in Moose Jaw,” he says. “We've been in touch with Clay Cott (Prince Albert promoter/Threadbare Productions) for quite some time now. We actually were in Prince Albert for a stretch of our downtime last year and hung out with him for a few days. So we're really excited to be doing a show with him this time around — and just so everybody knows, that will be Clay’s birthday weekend!”
He also praised Prince Albert’s new venue, Studio Q, calling it “an all-inclusive environment… the kind of space that makes for a special show.”
A Tour Built on Community
Both The Fixer and Teknosis see this tour not just as a showcase of heavy music but as a way to reconnect scenes across Canada’s often-isolated cities. It’s the kind of grassroots touring ethic that has always kept metal alive in the country’s smaller centres.
“Driving three, four, five hours is a short drive for us… that’s just what you do.”
From the clubs of Thunder Bay to the community-driven spaces of the Prairies, Ugly Knots Tour 2025 feels like a celebration of survival, reinvention, and pure, unfiltered heaviness.
“Regina has always remained a special spot to us,” Sin reflects. “So to be doing more in Saskatchewan, we're just super excited for it.”
Ugly Knots Tour 2025 – The Fixer & Teknosis
Oct 2 – La Sarre, QC – La Brute du Coin
Oct 3 – Montreal, QC – Piranha Bar
Oct 4 – Espanola, ON – Shorty's *
Oct 9 – Fort Frances, ON – Pink Parasol Tea Room
Oct 10 – Brandon, MB – The 40
Oct 11 – Prince Albert, SK – Studio Q
Oct 12 – Edmonton, AB – The Rendezvous
Oct 13 – Calgary, AB – Pin Bar
Oct 14 – Lethbridge, AB – The Slice
Oct 15 – Moose Jaw, SK – Chillers
Oct 16 – Saskatoon, SK – Green Room
Oct 17 – Regina, SK – The Exchange
Oct 18 – The Pas, MB – The Wescana Inn
Oct 19 – Winnipeg, MB – Osborne Taphouse
Oct 31 – Thunder Bay, ON – The Hunger 18 (Downtown-wide Hallowe’en Festival)
(* = without Teknosis)
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