Deep in the heart of Thunder Bay’s downtown, you’ll find brothers Ryan and Nic MacDonald’s recording studio and jam space, the place where The Honest Heart Collective has spent over a decade making music. Now, the Thunder Bay based band is returning with their newest album Sheer Will, scheduled to release on September 18. 

There was nothing “blue” about last weekend.

Blues in the Ballpark came to Port Arthur Stadium, bringing two unforgettable days of world-class blues and blues rock to one of Thunder Bay’s most unique concert venues. Previously held as Bluesfest at Marina Park, it had been seven years since the city hosted an event of this scale dedicated to the genre.

When we talked to Killswitch Engage lead singer Jesse Leach last month ahead of their Thunder Bay tour stop, he said he’s only heard “legends and stories” about how rowdy a Thunder Bay metal show gets.

We think it’s safe to say he found out firsthand just how legendary a Thunder Bay crowd is.

Killswitch Engage is spending plenty of time on Canadian highways this month, but for lead singer Jesse Leach, it’s not long enough. The American metal band is on a two-month tour, with the first couple of weeks seeing them hit stages across Canada (including a return to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium).

red flag flowers was recorded with a team of musicians in Thunder Bay and Sudbury from September 2025 to March 2026. The EP is a tribute to the breakups Houston has had in their 20s, with each song telling the story of a “different type of relationship” or “situation” they went through.

For singer/songwriter Kris Tonkens, the creative act is a political one. Their newest EP Predators, which was released back in March, is a political and personal introspection, reflecting on their private life, the struggles of living in a femme-presenting body, and rising political tensions in North America.

Hicks is scheduled to release a new album, the follow-up to 2022’s Talk to Time, this month. And he’ll be bringing his new music on the tour that will see him return to Thunder Bay in a few weeks.

After spending years working within the traditional music industry, Juno Award nominee Bazini has stepped into a more independent path—a path that has given him space to slow down and reconnect with how he actually likes to write and perform.

The snow in the forecast might have you down, but a sunny concert led by vocalist and producer Carly Martin in the tropical atmosphere of the Centennial Botanical Conservatory promises a much needed afternoon of warmth and community. 

Like their other album and their pair of EPs, this new release features plenty of tight, technical thrash songs that have one purpose: ecstatic destruction.

This past weekend, the Thunder Bay Blues Society hosted a sold-out Blues House Party concert at the Da Vinci Centre featuring performances by The B5 Allstars, Mark Potvin Band, Junior and The Bifocals, The Chain, and K.T. and The Rhythm Aces. Check out some of the action as captured by photographer Anna Buske below.

Alex Sampson came from humble beginnings in his small hometown of Atikokan—a complete 180 from the lifestyle he climbed mountains to reach.

“It’s going to be a very romantic night out,” Rodney Brown says about Lightfoot for Lovers, his “prelude to Valentine’s Day” Gordon Lightfoot dance and concert on February 7 at the Italian Cultural Centre.

The beaming lights, the ecstatic energy of the fans, and the pounding of the drums in your chest are only some of the sensations you can expect at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium on January 17, when Thunder Bay’s own Lockyer Boys—brothers Will and Charlie Lockyer—return home for their first headlining show, Locals Only.

If Christmas music isn’t your thing, the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium lined up just the concert for you. Concert-goers filled the open pit and got ready to mosh as Toronto-based punk rock band PUP and British Columbia hip hop duo Snotty Nose Rez kids took the stage for a night of hard-hitting musical catharsis.

High school friends Jarret Schilke, Derek DeSa, and Bryan Johnston share a powerful bond and love of hip hop. With Johnston’s beats and Schilke and DeSa’s MC skills, the trio decided to put on a show at the Apollo in December of 2000. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Today marks a grand slam for Thunder Bay blues lovers; the blues will be coming back to the city on a major scale next summer. After a seven year hiatus, the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium (TBCA) announced that a summer blues festival will return in 2026 as they unveiled the lineup for the newly rebranded festival, now known as Blues in the Ballpark, which will now take place at Port Arthur Stadium next August 21 and 22, featuring a lineup of acclaimed international blues talent.

“It’s crazy. It’s like a small arena show,” says local musical artist EZRA, whose debut single “Slip Away” has amassed over 15,000 plays between streaming services since it was released last November.

For a musician, creating an alter-ego can allow for a creativity and freedom that their public persona doesn’t allow.

Here are three artists who took the alter ego path, with varying degrees of success.

Festival-goers in Thunder Bay had the time of their lives at the sixth Wake the Giant music and cultural festival this past weekend. Headlined by the Black Eyed Peas, this year’s festival marked the first-ever Indigenous headliner in addition to its first-ever ticket sell-out as 8,500 people filled Marina Park to participate in this special celebration of diversity, inclusivity, and culture.