Friday, August 2, 2013

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & RamWagon), Powerslug Concert Previews, And More Recent Updates!!

(UPDATED, 12:40 AM) In our first of two posts today, we're mostly focusing on more concert previews for the weekend, including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the Sault Michigan area, along with some more shorter news items from recent days and some left over concert previews for this weekend, so here's what you need to know!

Kinross classic/hard rock quintet Banned aren't just playing at The Sundown Lounge on Saturday, as they've also announced a gig for TONIGHT at The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in Barbeau, Michigan! I apologize for the short notice, they only just announced this show on their Facebook page last night, and as far as I know, it wasn't previously advertised (also, they don't mean The Cozy Inn in Brimley, as proven at The Cozy Corners Tavern's own website.) Last seen in Barbeau (a half hour south of the Soo, an hour north of St. Ignace) over 5 months ago, it'll be nice to see Banned's ever more diverse blend of hard rock and more general sounds back at The Cozy Corners tonight, so if you can't make the Pickford show tomorrow, you have an earlier alternative! There is a 9:00 PM start time for this 21+ concert, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the above links, and best of luck to Banned on their busy regional weekend! For a preview, here's Banned covering a Carrie Underwood song earlier this year!



Also in late notice Eastern U.P. hard rock shows, Sault Michigan hard rockers RamWagon will return to The Satisfied Frog in the Soo TONIGHT AND TOMORROW NIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, the band only announced the shows on their Facebook page 20 minutes or so ago. Essentially a splinter band from similar local band Full Throttle, RamWagon made their first Frog appearance three weeks ago (after debuting at LemmaFest in June), and their modern-leaning assemblage of covers should go over well in their return to this popular West Portage Avenue bar and concert spot! A 10:00 PM start time has been announced, you must be 21 or older to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, check the above links! Even though their solo shows have all seen relatively late notice announcements, I like what I'm hearing from RamWagon's lineup, so keep their Frog returns in mind this weekend, and see their only public video at the above links!

Next up, and in a bit of negligence on my part, I forgot to preview this weekend's "Powertoast" shows at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill in Sault Michigan yesterday! I plugged them last month when first announced, but somehow, they never made it to our concert listings, and for that, I profusely apologize! "Powertoast" refers to (I assume) a rare intentional double booking for Sault Michigan cover bands, as local hard rock trio Powerslug and the more general rock cover quartet Toast (both featuring drummer Bob Helsten) will share the stage at The Corner Pub TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT, though there is the possibility that this weekend's shows will feature a form of a combined lineup featuring members of each band. Regardless, Powerslug have a lot of great covers to chug your mug to, and Toast are quickly making a name for themselves with their more varied sound, so keep these shows in mind! There's no announced cover charges, you must be 21 to attend, a 9:00 PM start time is advertised, and I do not know if these are outdoor or indoor gigs. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This should be an interesting weekend, be it a shared booking or a "two-off" band combo, but keep these shows in mind for some Sault Michigan hard rock action, and for a preview (as Powerslug have no known public videos), here's Toast covering Rev Theory at a recent concert!



Also today, here's three shorter assorted stories from the Ontario side of the border, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

  • We missed covering this at the time, but local death metal standouts The Bear Hunters were newly working on their debut CD again as of July 16th (as per their Facebook page), with ex-guitarist Josh Stephney completing his tracks in 2 days, Mitch Sirie starting his soon, and a name decision in the works as well. I'm not sure how this flew under the radar, but hopefully these latest sessions finally lead to a release of some kind, and stay tuned for more in tonight's "Where Are The New Albums?" post!
  • New local band Jack Spades (featuring T-Rex Manning, Bear Hunters, and Asylum Country members) will apparently be an all-original band, despite playing a Pennywise cover for their preview at The Crusade in May (my source is frontman J.D. Pearce on a comment reply on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group yesterday.) This should be good news, especially if the songs turn out like old Fitswitch tracks or "She Banged The Mayor", so don't miss their full debut next month!
  • Local indie/punk musician Wayne Watkins (now of The Small Town Rivals) will be joined by former Nebraska Arms bandmate Dave Prendergast for his acoustic opening set at the Catgut/Bad Back concert at The New American Tavern on August 12th, as per his addition to the Facebook event page a couple of days ago. Nice to see them back together, and hopefully they set the tone well for the grunge/punk onslaught to come that night!

Finally for today, here's some more updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles! First, I updated our profile of 2009's YMCA Battle again to reflect that winners The Undead Warriors (later Bring The Fallen) finally released their debut EP "Stand Before" last month at their farewell/reunion show, as they won the recording time to record the included tracks at this battle. On our Kiss Battle of the Bands profile from that same year, I replaced the yet-to-debut Crawfather with the aforementioned Small Town Rivals in the section on competing members' later bands, and I noted that Madison's Pub (where winners Garden of Bedlam celebrated for their first post-battle concert) is now The Harp Bar & Grill. Finally, on our profile of the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands in 2012, I noted that winners Late & Loud and tied-fourth place finishers The Valentine's Day Massacre are both now inactive, and I also updated the lineups of Jack Spades & London death metal band D3athcharg3r to note the addition of other performers from this battle (bassist Justin Lam & guitarist Andrew Angelic respectively) in their current lineups in the section on performers' newer bands.

That's all for now, but stay tuned later tonight for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! Thanks everyone!

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