Hellseer perform live at The Spot in Newmarket, Ontario. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh By: Michael Drukarsh Newmarket, Ontario - Nestled in an unassuming business complex next to a church on Gorham Road in Newmarket, The Spot Rehearsal Studio has become the hidden gem for live music events in Ontario's York Region. Along with nine well equipped rehearsal rooms available for monthly and hourly rental, The Spot boasts a newly renovated concert space, a tattoo artist, a print sho

Left to Suffer perform live at The Garrison in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - Still reeling from the storm of the century on January 25th, Toronto continued to be a disaster zone when I headed down on February 4th to take in Left To Suffer 's The Eternal Suffering Tour . Snowbanks swallowing sidewalks and parking lots, and downtown traffic moving at a crawl. But inside The Garrison , none of that mattered. Metal fans packed the r

April Wine (l-r): Roy Nichol, Richard Lanthier, Brian Greenway, Marc Parent. Photo By: Taylor Jones By: Jay Broderick - When April Wine step onto the stage at the GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie on April 22, it won’t just mark the beginning of one of the most anticipated Canadian rock tours in decades. It will mark another milestone in a career that has spanned generations. In a warm and often humorous conversation I had with the guitarist, harmonica player, and v

Ghost perform live at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh Photos By: Michael Drukarsh Words By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - Toronto didn’t just host Swedish rockers Ghost on Saturday night... it surrendered to them! By the time doors opened at Scotiabank Arena, the place was already buzzing with fans in full Ghost regalia... face paint, papal robes, ghoulish masks, and enough ghostly attire to turn the concourse into a cathedral of the damne

Judas Rising perform live at The Rockpile in Toronto, Ontario. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh By: Michael Drukarsh Toronto, Ontario - The temperature inside The Rockpile wasn’t too far off the outside temperature of minus a million degrees last night as the crowd slowly made their way into the venue. But that all changed as soon as the lights went down and the first of three bands hit the stage to deliver a set of classic heavy metal to fans ready to warm their hearts and souls

Lord of the Lost perform live at Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - Toronto has seen some things… but nothing like January 2026! By the time Germany’s Lord of the Lost finally took the stage at The Danforth Music Hall , the city had already survived a week that felt like hell! First came the brutal cold snap on January 23rd... A soul‑crushing –50°C (that’s –58°F for our American friends), officially making Tor

By: Jay Broderick Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto Growing up with an absent father and stumbling into trouble during my early teenage years taught me firsthand how crucial an adult role model can be. The statistics don’t lie... young people from single‑parent or fractured homes face steeper challenges than peers raised in more stable family environments. And in a massive city like Toronto, temptation and trouble lurk around every corner. That’s where Big Brothers Big Sis

Ted Axe performs live during Indie Night in Canada in 2023. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick - Toronto’s music scene has always had its share of characters like Nash the Slash and Robbie Rox, but few carry the kind of rock‑and‑roll mythology that surrounds Ted Axe . Frontman, punk instigator, glam‑rock disciple, horror‑movie obsessive... Axe has worn many identities over the decades, and somehow they all converge into the shadow‑drenched sound he’s making today. I f

By: Jay Broderick - Sweden has never been short on ferocious punk outfits like Anti Cimex, and Raised Fist, but Dödsbringaren (translated to English as Bringer of Death ) arrives with a level of anticipation usually reserved for legacy acts making a triumphant return. The name might suggest a black‑metal onslaught, yet Bödel ’s debut is something far more volatile. It's a pure hardcore detonation. It’s political. It’s furious! It’s delivered with the conviction!! Front and

By: Jay Broderick - On August 29, 1981, my MUCH older cousin (sorry Jim, wink, wink), took my sister and I to the CNE Grandstand in downtown Toronto to see a rock concert. It was my first ever live music experience. I was 10 years old. The band? April Wine ! I remember 2 distinct things that night... the funny smell of the smoke that filled the air, and the drum solo in which the drummer's sticks glowed different colours. It was pretty damned cool!!!! 27 years later (almost

Kayo Dot perform live at The Cave in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - There are hidden rooms in Toronto’s music scene, and then there’s The Cave . Well, ok, maybe it's not "hidden", but I certainly had never been aware of the upstairs venue at Lee’s Palace. How it has eluded me all these years, I cannot say. How I’ve been going to shows in this city for 4 decades without knowing this grungy little sanctum existed is beyond me. But

The Maysides perform live at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario. Photo By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Ontario By: Jay Broderick - Toronto's music scene didn’t exactly come roaring into 2026, but Hamilton region punks The Maysides did everything in their power to change that. For fifteen bucks at the good ol’ Horseshoe Tavern , the city had the chance to kick off the year with a stacked bill of punk, alt‑rock, ska‑leaning chaos, and one of the most charming acoustic sets y

Paulie Boy Blues performs live at Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Zoobia Ilyas By: Jay Broderick - Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern has hosted legends for decades... The Rolling Stones, Roy Buchanan, the Blues Brothers, and a long list of artists who shaped the DNA of modern rock and blues. On November 4, 2025, rising American blues guitarist Paulie Boy Blues added his name to that lineage with his first-ever Canadian performance. Unfortunately, it was not a show

By: Michael Drukarsh - As we enter into 2026, the world is in need of more music. To answer the call, Ryder has put out a live recording, Live From The Dark . This 9 track release, slated for February 13th, puts the listener face to face with the band out of Queens, New York. The first thing one notices about the quality is that it sounds live, like kick you in the teeth live! This, as the band proudly brags, is because there are “no overdubs, corrections, or post-performan

Winners of the February 2025 Toronto Edition of Canada's Teen Jam. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick - In February 2023, I took my general interest photography website and created LoudTO. We had some small growth in 2024 as far as number of monthly readers, but in 2025, our number of readers doubled. ASTONISHING for this little thing we got going on here, and we are so grateful to you, our readers! With that, I thought it would be great to revisit LoudTO's Most Read

By: Michael Drukarsh - If you are a child of the 70s then you were a teen of the 80s... and chances are, if you are here checking out this site, you were - and perhaps still are - a metal head. And , if you were a teen metal head of the 80s then chances are you owned these four influential albums; British Steel (1980), Blizzard of Ozz (1980), Number of the Beast (1982), Kill 'Em All (1983). And , if you were a teen in the 80s, then you were a young adult in the 90s, and

Jeff Martin performs live at Biltmore Theatre in Oshawa, Ontario. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Oshawa, Ontario - Oshawa’s Biltmore Theatre is arguably the city’s premier room for live music, yet it felt more like an intimate gathering of old friends than a formal concert on December 18th. With no opening act and no theatrics beyond a few pedals and a single acoustic guitar, Jeff Martin , the frontman of one of Canada's most loved rock bands, walked onstage alon

The Trews & Gord Sinclair perform live during The Edge Holiday Rocktail Party 2025. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick (with thanks to Corus Entertainment and 102.1 The Edge for the approval to post their event) Toronto, Ontario - The Edge ’s Holiday Rocktail Party (and the previous iterations) has always been a coveted ticket. And it's not one that you just purchase... the event is exclusively for contest winners, making the 100-capacity theatre at Corus Q

Sacrifice perform live at The Concert Hall in Toronto, Ontario. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick - Man... where does one even start? When I shot my first concert back in 2018 (a blues festival called The Canal Bank Shuffle), I never dreamed where the road would lead me. I shot the same festival again in 2019, and a seed was planted. I knew then that this is where I wanted to take my photography. I mean, still images PLUS music, all wrapped up in one? It wasn't going

All Them Witches perform live at History in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - Toronto’s History was buzzing on December 9, 2025, as All Them Witches brought their stoner rock magic to a sold-out crowd. Originally slated for Danforth Music Hall, the show was upgraded to History due to overwhelming demand, a testament to the band’s growing cult following. The venue was packed wall-to-wall, with fans eager for a night of heavy groove

image generated by AI By: Michael Drukarsh - 2025 has been a rough year for heavy metal fans. Our heroes are getting older, as we all are, and the time has come to say good-bye to many. With the loss of Ozzy Osbourne on July 22, followed by Ace Frehley on October 16 , I thought it might be nice to share some Ozzy and Ace gift ideas to help make the holidays a little brighter. After all, they may have left us but thankfully the music they created will live on forever. Books

Krisiun perform live at The Garrison in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jojo Taylor By: Jojo Taylor Toronto, Canada - The Garrison is a small but mighty club that can bring in some of the best underground acts from around the world. In this case it was three bands from America and one from South America. This was a wild mixture of Death metal from Fargo, North Dakota, Long Island, New York, and Los Angeles, California. The headliner this night came in from Brazil. Gorgatron Roxa

By: Michael Drukarsh - Working with LoudTO has afforded me the opportunities to see incredible shows and introduce me to new music from bands I would not have otherwise heard of. 2025 was an amazing year for me, capturing moments on stage from classic bands of my teenage metal years to new bands taking their first steps towards rock and roll stardom. Here, in no particular order (because they are all AWESOME), are my top five concert photography experiences of 2025: Killer D

By: Jay Broderick - There is no denying that the 1980s was the golden age of heavy metal. With it brought an endless list of subgenres like thrash, death, black, and speed (not to mention the vastly inferior, yet much more popular glam and hair). If you were fortunate enough to live in and around Toronto during these times, you will fondly remember the explosion of the heavy metal lifestyle. The so-called "Headshop" popped up all over Yonge Street, where you could buy flags