LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Alice Cooper), Early LemmaFest Info, And Much More!!

In our last news post of the month (with our Shit Liver album review coming tonight), we have a huge LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, first news on an upcoming annual concert festival, and lots of other notes, so check everything out below, especially if you're a Yooper!

Detroit shock rock legend Alice Cooper will make his long awaited return to our area on Friday, June 27th when he rocks The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! No stranger to the Twin Saults, you may remember Alice and his solo band from two Kewadin dates in August 1998, followed by returns in October 2001 & August 2007 (plus his New Years Day show at the former Sault Memorial Gardens in 1990), and it will be awesome to have his wild stage show back for the first time in almost 7 years! This show is part of his 2014 Raise The Dead tour, and for reference sake, his band's lineup is almost entirely different from 2007 save for himself & bassist Chuck Garric. Get ready for Alice's hit songs like "Under My Wheels", "Poison", and likely cuts from his upcoming covers album on June 27th, with tickets going on sale THIS FRIDAY at 10:00 AM! They will cost $58.50 or $68.50, and you can buy them then at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. For more details, visit the above and links and this press release via SooToday!

Alice Cooper's a legend and has entertained and shocked with his intense and highly theatrical live concerts for decades, and hopefully fans get more of the same in his return north in June, so stay tuned for updates as they roll in, and GET YOUR TICKETS A.S.A.P.!!

Next up, we have the first official details on this year's fourth annual LemmaFest, so what should you know? As revealed on it's Facebook event page, the Michael Lemma tribute concert event will return to it's home outside of the Dondee Lanes once again, and it will take place this year on Saturday, June 21st (which is close to past years on the calendar, but not on the fourth Saturday of the month for the first time.) Similarly to past years, there will be a pig roast (with "all the extras"), door prizes, drink specials, a 50/50 draw, and commemorative t-shirts and mugs, while all proceeds will be going to the family of "Hot Tub" Johnny Hackworth, though I'm yet unsure of the cause. The band lineup will be announced in the next few weeks, but according to an event page post, former Integrated System of Machines drummer Bart Rennels will be coming back home to play at 8:30 PM with a band he formed for this event named Nightmare Grin, though we await confirmation of their full lineup and sound.

As well, local alternative hard rockers Plastic are hoping to play this year pending the addition of a new drummer to replace the departed Paul Burns, so if you know anyone who'd like to try out, message the band at this link! Any other lineup notes are just speculative at this point, but for reference, the only bands to play each of the last 3 LemmaFests were Scofflaw and Dirtbag In A Dress (formerly Bucksaw.) Admission will be $10 this year, so stay tuned for updates on the bands and more, and hopefully this year's LemmaFest is the best yet!

Finally for this post, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while (including some from Sault Ontario), and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• A free & all ages live music showcase named The Coffee House Concert will take place at Superior Heights Collegiate & Vocational School's front foyer at 7:00 PM tomorrow, which will feature grade 11 & 12 students in their guitar class. Though not classified by genre, a few students with metal & hard rock ties will be among the performers, including Brutaly Fatal drummer Tyler St. Amour and Ashes To Dust alumni David Peredun & Kyle Breckenridge, so keep this event in mind!
• Local concert promoter J.D. Pearce has indicated on his promotional Facebook group that he has upcoming local dates to be announced for both The Ripcordz and The Dayglo Abortions, who you may remember from major & well received local dates last year. Stay tuned for official announcements when they occur for both bands!
• Speaking of his concerts, local thrashers Pillory were recently removed from the lineup of the Havok/Anciients show at The Canadian on June 24th. A reason hasn't been announced, though Pillory have dropped out of a number of recent and upcoming shows following recent inactivity and their bassist departure, so this may be related. Hopefully things are alright in their camp, but if you're interested in replacing them at the Havok show, message J.D. at this link!
• After a quiet start to the year, local hard rock cover trio Power Slug will return to the stage for the first time in 5 months when they rock The Team Spirits Bar at the Manistique Kewadin Casino this Saturday! Nice to see the guys back at it, so if you're up for the drive west, go chug your mug with them this weekend! (For reference, they have scattered dates there after this, but none yet at the regional Kewadin branches.)
• I've added Brimley, Michigan recording studio Scholomance Studio to our Other Sault Michigan Metal Links! Owned by local metal musician and Werehold Records founder Jason Mills, this is (I think) a newer studio that is being used by Werehold artists. I'll assume we'll hear work from there on June 13th for Werehold's next Friday the 13th event, so keep an eye out for that!
• The long teased Earache Records reissue of Woods of Ypres' second album "Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth" is now available to pre-order! Copies will soon be available on CD and on limited edition coloured vinyl records (along with bundle deals involving shirts), with the official re-release coming on June 23rd. Awesome news, so click here for complete pre-order package details!

That's all for now, but stay tuned tonight for our review of Shit Liver's debut album! Thanks everyone!