The Emergency Festival & Tym Morrison Concert Previews!!

For our first of two concert preview posts this weekend, we're looking at the latest of an ongoing regular arrangement at a central venue this weekend, and the debut of a new (but familiar) concert festival on Saturday! If you're curious, Sault Michigan hard rock previews, anything short notice, and an acknowledgement of this weekend's private Das Bunkerfest will come in our next full news post, and yes, I am aware of some big recent concert announcements (they're coming too!) Now, here's what you need to know for the first of the weekend's heavier events!

We'll start with Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's ongoing weekly concert arrangement, which will continue TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT for his 36th straight week at The Harp Bar & Grill! After another one week spell where he only played one show, this prolific local hard rock & metal artist will return to his usual hosted jam night tomorrow and a regular solo acoustic gig on Saturday, so whichever you prefer, Tym will be delivering the hard rock cover goods at the former Madison's Pub! Like usual for his Harp shows, there's no announced cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and 10:00 PM start times are likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Tym's definitely doing something right for his run at The Harp to continue for so long, so whether you're an established fan of his current shows, or new to the party, keep this weekend's events in mind for some unplugged live entertainment! For a preview, here's Tym live at the former Smack Daddy's covering Metallica!



Next up, a new local concert festival makes it's debut THIS SATURDAY as LopLops Lounge hosts the first ever Emergency Festival! Sponsored by SooToday parent company Village Media and Tenaris Algoma Tubes, this event is in response to the "state of emergency" from the loss of many recent local concert festivals, and can be seen as a spiritual successor in particular to the on-hiatus Rotaryfest Second Stage, which shared a similar folk & roots performer lineup to The Emergency, and also featured LopLops and Tenaris among it's driving forces. However, The Emergency Festival will differ by featuring four different stages of music on Saturday, all taking place on Queen Street between East & Brock Street, with businesses open as usual, pop-up patios featuring craft beer along the block, as well as artisans, craftsmen, a farmer's market, and other family entertainment, so check the above links, SooToday's article on the event, The Sault Star's article and interview with promoter Stephen Alexander, and The Emergency's Facebook page for more details on the non-musical events taking place on Saturday! So, with four stages of music going down on Saturday, what can you see then?

Aside from the main stage, the three alternative "clinic" stages will run simultaneously from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and it's there you'll find the only performers this year that would fit on the SMS. The fourth "Pulse" stage will run outside of The Pita Pit on Saturday, and will feature DJ Seith, Yukon folk project Old Cabin, and local solo performers Chloe Moore, Chris West (as Great Chamberlain), Nick Luck (as Aldous), and Kylie Precepa, so click here for full details on that stage! The second "Acute" stage will be held outside of Case's Music, and it will feature Role Models frontman (and Inner City Surfers alum) Brad "Example" Lacell in a rare solo concert set, so look for some entertaining punk rock renditions from him at The Emergency on Saturday! His set will be at 12:00 PM, preceding headlining sets by country artist Lorrie Bolduc at 2:00 PM and Sault native Mark Kulmala at 1:00 PM, while Ryan Seabrook will open the "Acute" stage at 11:00 AM. Like the other stages at The Emergency, this is FREE & ALL AGES, so click here and check the above links for more details on this stage!

Interesting to see sort of "themed" stages, but it does allow for choice, and while it would be nice to see more of a metal or punk angle, Brad will deliver some of that on Saturday at noon, so don't miss his set if you're at The Emergency! For a preview, here's Brad Example covering a Hozier song!

Before touching on the other stage with "heavier" bands, let's acknowledge the main stage, which will be held in a similar location to the old Rotaryfest Second Stage just past The Grand Theatre. Mostly featuring Toronto-area bands, the "Emergency" stage will feature roots rockers The Treasures, country singer Lindi Ortega, local/Ottawa folk favourite Kalle Mattson, country rockers The Order of Good Cheer (featuring Saultite Frank Guidoccio), indie rockers Jane's Party, country artist Whitney Rose, and local blues rockers The Frasiers, so click here for full details on the main stage, which goes down from 3:00-10:00 PM after the clinic stages wrap up! As for the remaining stage, that's the third "Shock" stage, which is the only Emergency location to be hosted indoors, more specifically, inside LopLops Lounge proper. Basically, this stage is a partial reprise of last month's well received Lopstock all ages event, and it will be headlined by local post-punk quartet Gnaeus at 2:00 PM and alternative hard rock trio The Pixo Control at 1:00 PM! Nice to see both of these rising young bands back at it, so don't miss them either!

The opening bands at LopLops/the "Shock" stage will be newer local band Mashagama (likely successors to The Narwhal Sessions and Obviously D'uh) and local acoustic rock trio K.I.C.K. at 12:00 PM & 11:00 AM respectively. Though indoors, the FREE & ALL AGES statuses stand for the "Shock" stage, so check the above links for more details! While the main stage will appeal to past Second Stage fans, LopLops regulars, and country lovers, the "Shock" stage will be right up the alleys of Ears & Eyes followers and fans of some of the rising younger talent in the area, and it's your best bet for some heavier action during The Emergency! Don't miss it if you're downtown this weekend, and here's The Pixo Control covering Nirvana at Gusto's!



Very ambitious, especially for a first year festival, but it does fill what would have been Buskerfest's weekend on the calendar, and if you love past Second Stages, you'll love The Emergency! Hopefully this is a success to help repair some of the wounds to 2014's local festival calendar, and maybe we'll get a larger punk and/or metal element in 2015 if all goes well! Don't miss The Emergency on Saturday, and stay tuned for more previews and big concert announcements soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Emergency), The Danger Cats On Shaw TV, And More!!

Keeping the news coming so we can beat the next rainfall, we have an intriguing LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month for those of you who missed The Second Stage, and some new videos featuring some known female hard rock talent in Sault Ontario, so here's what you need to know, and check out this month's YouTube Channel Profile in the post below this one!

At least three acts that fit the SMS' coverage range will be taking part in LopLops Lounge's new concert festival The Emergency, which will be taking place on Saturday, August 9th both in LopLops and outdoors on Queen Street East! Possibly a successor or replacement for the Rotaryfest Second Stage (which LopLops had co-organized before it's 2014 hiatus), this all ages downtown festival will see bands playing all day at three outdoor locations, along with a stage set up inside LopLops itself. This adds up to four stages in  all, named respectively "The Emergency Stage", "Acute", "Shock", and "Pulse", so click each name for each respective Facebook event page! As it currently stands, the fourth Pulse stage has no announced performers, and the first Emergency stage (which features local bands like Kalle Mattson and out of town headliners like The Treasures) has nothing visibly heavy, but how about the other stages?

On the second "Acute" stage, fans will be able to see Role Models frontman/Inner City Surfers alum Brad "Example" Lacell in a likely acoustic punk solo set, which should be entertaining among the early stages of The Emergency! This stage is solely comprised of solo artists, with Lorrie Bolduc & Mark Kulmala headlining at 2:00 & 1:00 PM respectively, while Greg MacLachlan will open at 11:00 AM. As for the third "Shock" stage, it's essentially a reprise of Lopstock from earlier this month, with alternative hard rockers The Pixo Control and post-punk rockers Gnaeus returning for sets at 2:00 & 12:00 PM respectively, and both should be riding high off of their recent successes! That stage will be headlined by acoustic trio K.I.C.K. at 3:00 PM, with newer band Mashagama returning in the 1:00 PM slot, and remember, this is the only Emergency stage advertised to take place indoors. Along with the musical entertainment, promoters are advertising farmer's markets, artisans, and patios to take in as well for the event, with the Emergency expected to wrap up at 10:00 PM after The Treasures' first stage set.

For more details, visit the above links! The Emergency sounds ambitious on the surface, but with LopLops past relationship with the Second Stage, I'm not worried about how this is ran. Fans of the Second Stage (whether it comes back next year or not) will be right at home with The Emergency, which retains a very similar band lineup with a focus on indie & roots rock, plus select out of town bands, and it's nice to see some of the younger Ears & Eyes-affiliated bands get a showcase too! I'm curious to see how the Pulse stage fills out, and especially, to see if this is a success, so stay tuned for updates as they roll in!

We'll close today with new videos, including a long teased feature on Shaw TV Sault Ste. Marie featuring local all-female hard rock quartet The Danger Cats! If you're not a Shaw customer and can't turn your dials to channel 10 for the rolling hourly airing of the piece, then never fear, as the girls posted the video onto their YouTube channel last night, so what should you know? Hosted by veteran local bassist Nathan Bouliane with camera work by Free Beer's Christian Lemay, I believe this is part of the new Boardwalk Sessions series that Nathan's been working on with Shaw TV. The interview features an interview with the band (minus drummer Calico Katie), while bassist Jamie Jaguar doesn't feature in the outdoor performance clips, which are of two acoustic guitar original songs, parts of which are shot in black & white. Oddly, Nathan doesn't feature on camera interviewing the girls, with questions shown in Clerks-esque title cards, but what's in the interview?

The video features Kate Kougar, Paula Panther, and Jamie talking about how they met, the inspiration for the band's name, why Kate wanted to form an all-girl band, their musical backgrounds, their view on the local scene, their upcoming plans for 2014, and where you can find them online. In terms of new items, the band did reveal that they want to have proper songwriting sessions this year towards a CD, which would be cool to see happen! Solid interview, though the girls did seem a bit shy on camera, but Danger Cats fans will definitely enjoy it! Check out the full video below (or hourly this week on channel 10), and stay tuned for more videos from them soon!



Finally, here's two new solo performance video from Shadowthrone guitarist and solo metal singer Sabrina Strange (a.k.a. Isla Encanto), as uploaded to her YouTube channel on Sunday! Both are solo vocal & keyboard covers of Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box", with the shorter first take viewable here, and a longer version embedded below. These are just practice renditions and not intended to be refined final copies, but she does take this grunge classic and make it darker and more symphonic, and it's interesting to hear! For reference, some fans may have heard that Shadowthrone will be playing (I think) their first live concert in Garden River next month as part of an AlgomA-hosted event named Das Bunkerfest, alongside Pillory's first set since the winter, and numerous other bands, but that's an invite-only house party, hence why we haven't plugged it on here as a public show. If you've received an invite, keep it in mind, and give Sabrina's newest videos a look above & below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews soon, along with Rotaryfest videos and more updates! Thanks everyone!