Monday, January 30, 2012

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Who Made Who & Late And Loud), Battle Of The Bands Updates, And More!!

In what is likely our final news post of this month, we're squeezing in some more big stories before we post this month's CD review on the site tomorrow, so here's what's on tap for tonight! We've got the latest updates for the battle of the bands in April, some newly discovered videos from a Kewadin Casino metal concert last year, and leading off, some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next month, so read on below for all the news, and check out this morning's post featuring big Garden of Bedlam news, more battle updates, and other assorted topics in the post below this one! (EDITED, 7:47 PM)

Ontario AC/DC tribute band Who Made Who are coming back to Sault Ontario THIS FRIDAY!! The local favourites will make their first appearance in the area since Hempfest on Friday night at The Canadian Nightclub with a night full of Brian and Bon-era AC/DC classics, and you know the'll put on a great show! Local bookers wouldn't bring them here so often if they didn't deliver, so if you want some high voltage rock n' roll this weekend, be at The Canadian on Friday night! I apologize for not having this earlier, as Who Made Who referenced this show on their Facebook page a week ago as their "next stop", but no venue was credited, so I held off until fuller word came my way. Doors open at 10:00 PM for this show, you must be 19+ to attend, and though no cover charge is announced, I'd expect one, so bring at least $5. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a great night of AC/DC hits and favourites, and with a talented and well-suited tribute band to rock it all out for their fans, you won't wanna miss Who Made Who on Friday if you're an AC/DC fan! Stay tuned for more on this show as the week rolls on!

Also in new concerts is a Sault College Campus Watch fundraiser pub at Coch's Corner on February 25th, and local classic metal quartet Late & Loud will headline this show in their Coch's Corner debut! Barring a new show announcement beforehand, this will be their first concert of 2012 & their first show since the fall, though 3/4s of Late & Loud did play a show as General Striker last month. Note that despite their presence on the Facebook event page and the preliminary event poster, local hard rockers Half Past are NOT playing this show. Guitarist Alain Fletcher confirmed their non-involvement with me earlier today, and huge thanks to him for letting me know! A post on the event page implies that "the other band" hadn't confirmed due to a lack of practice space, but whether Half Past was the implied band or not isn't known. Still, Late & Loud should deliver a great concert, no matter what! Unlike most non-Halloween concerts at Coch's Corner, tickets for this event will be $10 (it is a fundraiser pub, after all), you likely have to be 19 to attend, and the start time is (oddly enough) 7:30 PM. Reportedly, there will be door prizes as well, but fuller details (like where to buy tickets) are not out yet. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This sounds like a very interesting event for a solid cause, so keep an eye out for more updates as I hear them, and apologies again to the Half Past camp!

Next up, here's the latest updates on the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th at The Grand Theater, as two more bands are confirmed for the lineup, and both are seemingly new! One, I know stuff on, and they're a new blues rock quartet named The Moves. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they feature prolific local bassist Nathan Bouliane (ex-As It Stands, The Outside Lights, etc.), frequently seen local singer/guitarist Josh McNally (Deter, The Crossed, etc.), and Blackwater alumni Cody McMillan & Dave Pihlaja on guitar & drums respectively. Talented lineup, and though I don't believe they'll play a hard rock style, they have metal alumni in their ranks, and some notable Battle of the Bands competitors from recent years! Notably, Nathan took 1st place and "Best Bassist" at the 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands as a member of Stillbroke, and Blackwater (with Cody & Dave in tow) won the Sault College/Scotties Tournament Battle in February 2010, so don't sleep on The Moves come April 20th, as the talent is there! The other newly announced band for this battle is a new band named Inhumane Method, of whom I know nothing about. Nothing public about their identity has came my direction, and despite a metal-implying name, I can't say anything definitive on them yet. If you can help identify who Inhumane Method are, e-mail me at robertfigures@hotmail.com!

This brings the confirmed battle lineup to 9 bands, making it the biggest Sault Ontario battle of the bands since the Kiss battle, and there's still more bands to come! I'll note that Late & Loud are still not advertised for this battle, despite the band's indications that they registered. I confirmed with guitarist Jonathan Tiberi earlier today that they entered and were looking into why they weren't advertised yet, so hopefully this gets resolved soon! Stay tuned for more battle updates as they come in!

And finally for today, remember when we mentioned that the Castlegar, British Columbia internet radio station Energy Rock Radio (which was locally based from 2008-2011) had shut down? Well, the station may have ended, but some local news from Energy Rock Radio has still found it's way onto my radar via some videos on the ERR YouTube channel! Before moving out west, Energy Rock Radio creator and DJ Ryan Kaarlela attended the Cinderella concert at The Dreammakers Theater at Kewadin Casino on April 14th, 2011, and he posted 7 videos from the show onto YouTube in June! The videos include short clips of "Shelter Me", "Heartbreak Station", "Second Wind", and "Push Push", along with longer videos of Cinderella playing "Somebody Save Me", "Nobody's Fool", and "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)", so click each link to see Ryan's videos! I think these slipped my radar for two reasons: They weren't posted until two months after the show, and Ryan didn't tag the Soo or Kewadin Casino in the videos, so they weren't visibly from the local concert on first glance, and I apologize for having these so late.

The videos are good quality, and Ryan's angle on the right is fairly close, but the audio has scratchy moments, some videos are too short, and singer Tom Keifer isn't too clear on the recordings. Still, these are nice videos, so check them out at the above links, give Ryan's new "Energy Rock Radio Show" a listen on Hard Rock Radio Live on Saturday afternoons, and here's Cinderella playing "Somebody Save Me" in April!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of Foothill Road's second EP TOMORROW in our likely final post of January 2012! Thanks everyone!

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