Monday, June 6, 2011

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (WinkStinger), A Newer Local Band, And Lots More News!!

June's started off well in the local scene, and I have some more stories to share that should keep the good news coming today! In this post, we have news on our upcoming monthly feature post schedules, the latest on As It Stands' album, and news on a (possibly) SMS-coverable band we've referenced on here in the past, among more stories, but let's lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

In May, fans of local cello punk trio RedD Monkey may have become aware of a concert they'd be headlining on June 11th (this Saturday) at Foggy Notions. Well, a full lineup for the concert is finally out, and good news, there's metal to be had! Local extreme metal quintet WinkStinger are listed as the third band of four on the lineup for this concert, so if you're bummed they won't be at The Rosie on the 16th, they still have some June concert action lined up! They are sort of outliers for this show, but there's a ton of diverse sounds to enjoy, so here's who else to look out for! RedD Monkey are headlining (of course), with the unique local trio The Night Owl Meme Makers as the first support band. They have an interesting mix of music that's hard to describe, but imagine acoustic folksy music with an accordion and banjo, and you may get an idea! Opening are Sounds From The Green Room, who I will have more on in a second, as I've learned a few details about them. This show is on Saturday night at 9:00 PM, there is no cover charge, and you must be 19 to enter. For more details, check out the above links and the official Facebook event page! Nice mix of styles here, it should be a fun concert, though spread the word and make note of it, given that is on Saturday! Stay tuned for updates if they come in!

Leading from that, I wanted to discuss Sounds From The Green Room. You may remember this band as one of the openers for RedD Monkey's "Swamp Donkey Romp" concert at Foggy's on February 26th, but I knew absolutely nothing on them. Well, seeing as they're back for the show on Saturday, I did some more research to see if I could dig anything up, and I think I have some real details to share! Though they still don't have a visible internet page, they have played at least one other concert, in Ottawa on February 21st (also with RedD Monkey.) Ottawa music blogger Andrew Carver was there and reviewed their set for his blog National Capital Rock, and it includes photos and a short review on the band! Judging by his photos and review, I was able to determine that the band is just a duo (not unlike Sue Inside in that respect), and if I'm not mistaken, their members are singer/guitarist Brad Griffith (of SBD & No Arrow fame) and drummer B.J. Swire. If I'm wrong, please correct me! Though I haven't seen audio or video yet, Andrew described their sound as "somewhat twisted classic rock" with "a nice fuzzy sound - plus drummer", and an ad for this Ottawa show on Eventful described their sound as "honky tonk metal". Sounds promising enough!

I have a hunch I'll be seeing Sounds From The Green Room long before a site pops up, though they should launch one already, as it'd help get their exposure up! They do sound intriguing, and hopefully I'll get to see them live one of these days! And if I'm right about Brad Griffith in this band, it's good to see him out there still, though hopefully SBD resurface again at some point! Stay tuned for updates on Sounds From The Green Room if I hear them!

Next up, here's the latest on As It Stands' upcoming full length album! As announced on their Facebook page, their 3 day recording sessions at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga have wrapped up, as has tracking for said recordings. According to their Twitter page, the band also announced that they worked with producer/Metalworks chief engineer Kevin Dietz on the recordings, though it wasn't specified on whether he is the album's official producer or is operating under another role. That's all that we've heard since we included the sessions in Thursday's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, but I wanted to share it, as these do lead from and to big stories for the local hardcore quintet! I'm surprised they've kept things so concise and short compared to the updates some other bands have made during recording sessions, and the three day schedule seems short, but I have a hunch they're just keeping things secret until big reveals happen, like the album's name, artwork, tracklisting, and so forth. You can be sure that we'll have updates as they come in, and if the album doesn't come out by July 2nd, all the current details will be posted for our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post!

Now, here's some assorted shorter stories from the last couple of days, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:
  • Full Circle's shows at The Rockstar Bar this weekend have been moved to Foggy Notions and cut in half to just a Friday show (as cited here.) No reason was given for the move, though they're likely only playing on Friday because of the aforementioned RedD Monkey concert on Saturday. This is the only advertised Foggy's stop in 2011 for the former Turner Up, so make note of their now-moved show on Friday!
  • Lion Ride have launched an official mailing list! To join and get band updates sent to your inbox, head to their official Facebook page, click the mailing list tab on the left, and fill out the information. It's free and painless, but you'll need to confirm your registration via a confirmation e-mail. I don't know how much they'll use this mailing list, but hopefully they'll have some cool news to share through it, so I recommended signing up!
  • Marquette hard rockers Nudge have announced that a second band will join them for their concert at The Satisfied Frog in Sault Michigan on Friday! I believe the band is Oscoda, Michigan classic rock band Grounded, check them out at this location! Good classic sound, a couple harder songs too, they'll fit in well! They're NOT playing on Saturday too though, only Nudge are playing. Still, go rock out at The Frog either night!
And finally, I wanted to update you guys to our new schedule format on the SMS for monthly feature posts & profiles. Last month's features were way too log-jammed for comfort, and I decided to fix each of our monthly feature posts to a schedule that I hope will be maintained in future months. With that said, our "Where Are The New Albums?" posts will continue to be on the 2nd of each month, and polls (which return next week) will continue to be on the 18th of each month. That said, I've slotted the 10th of the month to be the new post date for our Defunct Local Band Profile Series, and our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profiles will now be posted on the 26th of this and future months. Hopefully this keeps things more spread out, so we don't get swamped again like we had been in the spring! CD reviews will still operate on a flexible changing schedule, and future monthly features will be addressed when announced. Also, in terms of our Defunct Local Band Profile Series (and other features where we have a balance of the twin Saults), I've decided to boost the amount of Sault Michigan bands covered or featured from 3 out of 10 bands to 2 out of 5, which is more if you round up. This is to keep things closer in line with the real ratio of Sault Michigan metal bands to Sault Ontario, as it's gotten closer since we started the blog.

Our old 2-1-3-1-2-1 schedule for the Defunct Profiles is now a 2-1-2-2-2-1 schedule until January, barring a 2 band month beforehand. It's mostly the same, but the projected September profile will be for Sault Michigan instead, so there'll be 2 straight profiles for Michigan bands in the fall! Next year, we'll permanently go to this schedule on a 5 month cycle: 1-1-1-1-1, which repeats after 5 bands, so there will still be 2 Sault Ontario bands in a row on occasion. I know this could sound unimportant, but it makes everything fairer for Sault Michigan, as their band totals have grown more than Sault Ontario's in recent years. Just wanted to get that out there!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our "Soo Stories" review, Bad Side profile, classic video, and weekend concert previews as the week draws on! Thanks everyone!

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