LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sandman, The Wyld Stallyns, And The Uncanny Valley), And Fort Creek Updates!!

Here's a new news post for your Tuesday night reading, and while it does feature some new videos and updates from a rising local band, we're mostly diving into three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS over the next two months! Here's what you should know!

New local hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley will play their third public concert on Friday, February 28th when they make their LopLops Lounge debut as the opening act for two touring indie rock bands on their upcoming Ontario tour! The headliners are Kawartha Lakes alternative quartet Heaps, whose melodic and atmospheric originals should be a great fit at LopLops, so genre fans will want to give them a look! The other featured act is Hamilton indie/shoegaze quartet Basement Revolver, who will bring their own dream pop-inspired original set to a local audience at (almost) month's end, so don't bypass them either! The Uncanny Valley aren't a perfect genre match, but this should be a solid opportunity for Adrian, Matt, Adam, and Dylan to get lots of local fans at this early stage of their run! This concert has a $10 cover charge, doors open at 8:30 PM, and you must be 19 or older to attend. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will be the featured musical entertainment at the second annual Docs & Food & Beer & Bands fundraiser event at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre on Saturday, March 7th! I admittedly can't find a reference to this event in 2019, but hosts Northern Superior Brewing have hosted events like this in the past, and the event in question is a fundraiser featuring pairings of their beer along with a selection of food, and live music for accompaniment. In this case, the fundraiser will support the upcoming Docs on Ice hockey tournament in April, as partnered with Algoma Family Services to fund youth mental health and addictions support locally. Great causes to be sure! Despite the event name, The Wyld Stallyns are the only "band" on the bill, with their support act being relocated local solo musician Ben Saunders, whose public material is extremely varied, but I assume we'll see his acoustic singer/guitarist mode here.

A 7:00 PM start time is advertised for Docs & Food & Beer & Bands, and tickets will go on sale tomorrow morning at this link, price not yet publicized, though it includes 3 food & beer tickets each. An age limit isn't stated, but given the heavy emphasis on beer and the presenting sponsor providing it, you can take things from there. This sounds like an intriguing event for worthy causes, if somewhat atypical as concerts go, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details as they roll in!

Lastly for new concert announcements, Toronto-based Metallica tribute band Sandman will return to The Canadian Nightclub on (Good) Friday, April 10th! Despite what the Facebook event page may tell you, this is not their debut in Sault Ste. Marie, as Sandman played here in March 2015 at The Rockstar Bar, and previously at The Canadian in June 2008, which is personally notable to me as it was my first ever 19+ concert. Still featuring Helix alumni Rick Van Dyk & Paul Fonseca in their lineup, Sandman achieved extra notoriety in 2016 after briefly getting a cease & desist letter from Metallica's lawyers over their promotional material, before the real Metallica set things straight and officially endorsed them. It's great to see Sandman keeping at it with their faithful sounding and looking stage show, and they should provide some hard hitting thrash action over the Easter weekend! An opening band is to be announced. Presented by Cabin Media Entertainment, tickets go on sale on Friday for $20 at The Canadian Motor Hotel's front desk.

The event page's write-up implies that tickets "start at $20", so prepare for a jump at the door, at the very least. This is a raise from the 2015 admission fee, but it is a different venue and Sandman are higher profile now. Also, note the oddly early start time of 7:30 PM, despite being on a holiday weekend. Metallica fans won't want to miss out on Sandamn's return after 5+ years away, so visit the above links for more details!

We'll close today with some new videos from new local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek, starting with this brand new promotional video on their Facebook page. Featuring just still images (often heavily filtered and with some shaky motion), it introduces all 5 band members in a roll call of sorts, while also teasing that updates will be coming soon on their debut EP, marking their first public confirmation of what they're doing in studio right now. Very ambitious to already be recording an EP before ever playing a formal public concert (jam night appearances aside), but the guys have the talent and experience! I don't know who's doing the narration here, but is anyone else getting vibes of the DJ from The Warriors? Embedded below is their newest studio clip from February 2nd, featuring bassist Robin "Bones" Lee playing bass while at a tracking computer. The music on offer has a slow southern rock vibe, but there are still a lot of unknowns yet from Fort Creek's camp. In the meantime, give everything a look above and below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next, in all likelihood! Thanks everyone!