New Year's Eve Concert Previews, Plus More Updates!!

Hey guys, this might be our last full news post of 2012, and while I had intended for it to be half focused on New Year's Eve metal/hard rock concert previews, one of the announced shows has been cancelled, that being Turner Up's planned return gig at Gusto's Bar & Grill tomorrow night. A reason was not announced, beyond the band saying "Cancelled sorry." on the Facebook event page, but no matter why, it's disappointing all around! It'd have been a pricier gig, but Turner Up have been missed in recent months, and hopefully they and Gusto's will be back next year! That said, we have one other heavier New Year's show to preview, plus news on a potentially intriguing new Bon Soo event, a new video, and more news, so read on below for what you need to know!

In what's likely the last hard rock concert of 2012 in the Sault Ste. Marie area, Kinross hard rockers Banned will return to Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT to end the year on a high note and ring in 2013! This marks the second straight year that they've played a New Year's Eve gig in the area, and Todd's Tavern has been a decently active venue for them in 2012, so hopefully they rock the house with their covers & originals! Note that guitarist Alex Schrovenwever is home for the holidays, but I have not definitively heard one way or the other on if he'll be back with Banned tomorrow (I'll let you know if I find out!) Aside from the New Year's setting and likely partying associated with it, everything seems fairly normal for this show, with Banned on at around 8:00 PM tomorrow, a 21+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the band's Facebook page!

If you're looking for a hard rocking way to end 2012, head down to Moran (50 minutes from the Soo, 15 minutes from St. Ignace) to enjoy the Traynors and company as they deliver some diverse and entertaining live music! For a preview, here's Banned covering The Rockets' "Oh Well" this summer!



Next up, here's some information on a potentially intriguing new event that could have some metal/hard rock representation! As announced on SooToday two weeks ago, the annual Bon Soo Winter Carnival in Sault Ontario has joined forces with The Public Relations & Event Management Program to create a new performance area for this year's 50th anniversary, and it's entitled The Marquee. It's planned to be a platform for locals in the arts, culture, and performance communities to perform live in Bellevue Park during this year's carnival. Partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Bon Soo's currently looking for local artists, performers, and entertainers to perform at The Marquee this year between February 2nd and 10th, and with no announced restrictions on who could perform, this could open the door for metal and hard rock bands to at least apply! If you're interested in applying to perform at Bon Soo's Marquee this year (or in volunteering), e-mail snow@bonsoo.on.ca and visit the above links for more information!

This has a lot of potential, especially to further integrate local artistic and musical talent into the festival! Since the yearly battles of the bands dried up, there has been a need for more local music, and maybe this will be a way back in for many of the area's talent in that field, metal or not! I'd recommend looking in to applying to play at The Marquee in February, as you never know what could happen!

Thirdly today, here's the latest video from the hard rock cover trio from Superior Heights Collegiate performances that we featured a lot of on the site earlier this year! Featuring guitarists/bassists Liam Seymour (Sailor's Tongue) & Adam Gualtieri alongside a still unknown drummer, this is this band's first posted video since April, and it's a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" as filmed on Halloween (hence the Hulk Hogan & hippie costumes.) Though the video is in black & white for some reason, it's well edited, and despite not being a heavy song, the guys show good talent, with Liam's vocal range up to the task compared to the original! Check out their newest video below, and see more of Adam & Liam's covers at this location!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• In my e-mail conversation with 415E/Highest of Fives drummer Devin Anderson last week, he mentioned that Free Refill might come back in the summer for some shows. The band initially went inactive in the spring following half the band's move from the area for college, but according to a tweet on The Highest of Fives' Twitter page, Free Refill may have played at a school assembly on May 18th (though I can't 100% confirm that.) Fingers crossed that we haven't seen the last of them though!
• Also in Highest of Fives-related updates, they have revealed on their Twitter page that their home recording studio is called The Beat Lab Studio, while there have been tweets there as well alluding to their "summer tour". It'd be awesome to see them, Free Refill, AND 415E gigging this summer, as the Sault Michigan scene could use the extra bands, but I'll keep you posted if we hear anything definite!
• According to a Musicians Wanted Facebook group posting on December 17th, veteran local drummer Glen Thomas has added Wishbone/Flat Stanley bandmate/guitarist Tony Kajnar to his Mourning Glory project, and they're looking at playing live cover-centric shows in 2013, with covered bands including Porcupine Tree & Friction Plane. This could potentially shift the project from it's heavier leaning originals, but anything different and talented would be an asset locally, so message Glen at this location, and keep an eye out!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for our look back at an up and down year in the local scene, so what happened in 2012? Our year in review post will be up tomorrow, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone!