Saturday, June 29, 2013

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rotaryfest Second Stage), Plus The Latest From The Suicide Kings & Haggith!!

As promised, today's post is headlined by a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this year's Tenaris Second Stage at the Sault Ontario summer music festival Rotaryfest, where as usual, local original musicians and select out of town bands will grace the outdoor Queen Street East stage (outside of The Grand Theater) in three weeks time on Friday, July 19th & Saturday, July 20th! Now, the amount of hard rock-leaning bands has fallen from two last year to only one this year, but it's still more than the Second Stage had in 2011, so read on below for full lineup details, and check out our coverage of the Main Stage lineup in yesterday's second post!

As usual, the Friday lineup on the 19th is smaller, and it will feature out of town headlining band Jaill, an indie/pop rock trio from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (interesting to see an American band at Rotaryfest!) They'll be on at 9:30 PM, and they'll be preceded by four local acts, including blues rock standouts Blues Harvest at 8:30 PM, local/North Bay folk trio The Faraway Neighbours at 7:30 PM, solo folk artist M.D. Dunn at 6:30 PM, and folk/country rockers The Porter Band opening at 5:30 PM. Talented lineup overall, so if you like the above genres, be there on Friday!

As for the main Saturday lineup on July 20th, that's where you'll find this year's only heavier band on the Second Stage, that being local hard rock quartet Sailor's Tongue, in their first live show since last year's Rotaryfest! Though this isn't technically a one off reunion (they've even recorded original material in the interim), it's great to see the McKey brothers & company finally back for another live show, and hopefully their classic-influenced and varied hard rock originals will be welcomed back for another Second Stage go-round! This year, they're the highest slotted local band on Saturday night at 8:00 PM, with two out of town bands (Toronto reggae collective The House of David Gang & Guelph "indie-afrobeat" band The Minotaurs) taking the headlining slots at 10:00 & 9:00 PM respectively. Local news media credits a "surprise guest" in the 7:00 PM slot, but Rotaryfest's own official schedule credits Sault Ontario native & prolific Sudbury blues artist Sean Poluk as playing at that time (no word on why there's partial secrecy, or if something's changed in that slot.)

The remaining Saturday bands in descending order include local folk musician Guy Smith at 6:00 PM, jazz/blues artist Rusty McCarthy at 5:00 PM, progressive rock quartet Machines Dream at 4:00 PM, folk quintet The Mulch & The Mire at 3:00 PM, and returning indie rock trio Cowboys & Indians opening the stage at 2:00 PM. This is a very different lineup than last year's Second Stage, with only 3 bands (Sailor's Tongue, The Faraway Neighbours, and The Porter Band) returning for this year, so the diversity & newer names are appreciated, but metalheads are bound to be disappointed with the decrease of heavier acts. Nonetheless, there's a wide array of talented sounds to be had, so check the above links for more details on the FREE & ALL AGES action going down in three weeks!

Next up, here's some big upcoming news from Rotaryfest main stage performers The Suicide Kings, as they're looking to add a new bassist to their lineup! The news has been plugged on their Facebook page, the Musicians Wanted Facebook group, and members' personal Facebook pages in the past week, but I will stress that they are NOT replacing any existing members. Instead, current bassist Mitch Sirie is planning to move to second guitar full time with the band, as part of an impending expansion to a quintet, which should be interesting in itself! Personal Facebook posts indicate that there are already some interested musicians, but the Rockstar Bar Battle winners won't begin formal auditions until after Rotaryfest in three weeks, so if you're a bassist, there's still time to let the guys know that you'd like to try out! Knowing how fast The Suicide Kings have rose locally in under a year, this could be a huge opportunity, so message the guys on Facebook and at the above links, and stay tuned for more on The Suicide Kings' bassist search!

Finally for today, you may have read on Facebook that local grunge/alternative rock band Haggith's next shows will be part of a private Canada Day bash up in Goulais Mission from yesterday through tomorrow, mirroring their live debut last year, but things will be on a larger scale this time around. Not only will Haggith play, but this will also see the live debuts of Haggith side projects Mike Haggith & The Din and Sound X, as well as a number of newer acts on the band's independent label PaperClip Productions, including Haggith guitarist Daniel Horton & recent backing singer Kristi-Lee Marshall in a joint set, a performer named Frank McGillivray that PaperClip Productions has listed as a signed act in recent months, and two newer acts that I know nothing on named Purple Core and The Nirvanabees (my source for the full lineup is Haggith frontman Curtis McKenzie's solo Facebook page.) Even though this bash is not publically attendable, PaperClip Productions will be recording full sets from the performing acts, and have plans to release live albums from the show at some point down the road, so stay tuned for more on these intriguing plans & new acts!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news either tonight or tomorrow as we continue to clear out backlogged news stories! Thanks everyone!

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