A New And Inactive Band Each In Sault Michigan, Plus Last Month's Poll Results!!

Let's get a new post on the site on this Tuesday morning, which is half devoted to the final results from our most recent poll, and to lead off, some big news on a new and old band project each in the E.U.P.!

415E guitarist Chris Hubbard has launched his own eponymous solo project, entitled Hubbard! This talented Sault Michigan guitarist will be familiar to many fans dating back to his mid-late 2000s work with Nixxon Dixxon, and with 415E still officially on hiatus, this appears to be Chris' current musical pursuit. Posts are minimal as of yet on Hubbard's Facebook page, but Chris indicated on Sunday that it was "song writing time", and a later post teased that he will have pictures and videos to share "as I record my solo album." This picture is currently the project's Facebook profile photo, and if this is the album's planned cover artwork, than the album is named "415E" like his dormant band (both coming from the police radio code for a disturbance from loud music or a party.) There are no musical hints yet as to how Hubbard will sound, but it is no secret that Eddie Van Halen has been a major influence on his guitar playing and past songwriting, not to mention live covers.

This is all sudden news, but also very welcomed, as Chris is an excellent guitarist, and it'll be interesting to see how his solo project shapes up in studio and possibly beyond! Remember that 415E (as The Hubbard-Menard Band) had teased recording sessions for a debut album in 2012, so might some of those tracks return in this new project? Stay tuned at the above links for more details, and Hubbard is now in our active band links!

While we're on the subject, we'll now move Chris' aforementioned local hard rock band 415E to our inactive Sault Michigan band links. Aside from this month's post regarding the new Hubbard project, 415E has not posted on their Facebook page since June 24th of last year when they advertised Chris and his dad (drummer Tony Hubbard) playing an open mic set in Rudyard. In any event, the band proper last played live at the St. Ignace Kewadin earlier that same month, which were teased as their last St. Ignace concerts "for a while." Active from 2012-2017, 415E evolved from a two man studio project into a full live band in 2013, debuting live at the Sebastian Bach concert at The Dreammaker's Theater that January. A frequent attraction at Kewadin Casino branches in the mid-2010s, 415E often had a cryptic online presence, with few photos of the band shared on their Facebook page, and even fewer videos circulating, but that may have been intentional to encourage fans to attend their shows.

While arguably not hitting Nixxon Dixxon's preceding heights, 415E was a popular sight at The Rapids and Northern Pines Lounges for over 4 years, even during their brief period of playing two man concerts, and I hope this isn't the last that we've seen of 415E on a local stage! Best of luck to Dave, Chris, Mitch, Tony, and other former members in the future, and don't miss Tony's reunion with his old classic rock band Stonewall Creation at Three One Three on Ashmun next month!

We'll close today's posts with the final results of last month's poll, where we posed this question to you guys: What was your favourite local metal, hard rock, or punk concert of 2017? A whopping 6 votes came in last month, which isn't great, but thanks to those of you who did vote! Here are the final results on Sault Ontario shows last year:

The Din & Bizotic at LopLops Lounge on October 21st (3 votes, 50%)
Diamond Head at The Rockstar Bar on September 2nd (2 votes, 33%)
Garbageface & Vaultry at The Canadian Nightclub on July 7th (1 vote, 17%)
Gianni Gagoots at LopLops Lounge on February 18th (0 votes)
Rock For Autism at The Canadian Nightclub on May 6th (0 votes)
Northwest & Greg Callaghan at LopLops Lounge on May 27th (0 votes)
CKY & The Wild at The Canadian Nightclub on June 8th (0 votes)
Go Skateboarding Day at Queen Elizabeth Park on June 21st (0 votes)
Mike Mikus & Id Iota at LopLops Lounge on July 15th (0 votes)
Oh!No 2017 Music Festival in Leeburn on September 9th (0 votes)
AlgomA & Shit Liver at The New American Pub on October 2nd (0 votes)
Taryn Bugyra benefit at The Rockstar Bar on October 14th (0 votes)
Other (0 votes)

After losing the late 2017 poll to Diamond Head, The Din's farewell(?) concert came from behind to win the year end poll, which is a sign that their loyal fans are still giving in to The Din, even after their dissolution! Both were high profile concerts last fall, and it's nice to see that July's Live705 event with Garbageface and Vaultry didn't fall in vote count! Unfortunately, every option from the first half of 2017 failed to receive a single vote, even the CKY concert which won our early 2017 poll, but perhaps recency mattered this year to see the earlier shows get snubbed. It's all in who votes! All of these concerts received a vote at some stage of the year for our biennial polls, and hopefully the involved bands continue to entertain local audiences this year, but congratulations to The Din and Bizotic on their victory to end 2017's concert calendar with! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on Thursday, and for our poll on your favourite shows from the  first half of 2018 next month! Thanks everyone!