Project 421 Jam Session Recap, Emergency Festival Fallout, And More!!

Before we get too far into this post, we have a very late lineup change for TONIGHT'S Ballot Burner-headlined concert at The New American Pub, as local rapper Mikey Thomas has replaced grunge/hardcore duo Bad Back on the lineup, as per the Facebook event page yesterday morning. A reason for Bad Back's exit hasn't been announced, but seeing as frontman Jamie Vincent is still promoting the show, an external commitment for Nathan Sauve would make sense. Hopefully we see the guys back soon, and don't miss Mikey Thomas TONIGHT! Now, today's post features Emergency Festival fallout, some assorted updates, and first, a surprise jam session recap!

Due to personal family health matters, I haven't had a whole lot of time or opportunities to attend concerts recently, but that was partly remedied yesterday afternoon, as Project 421 guitarist Blair Burch invited me to check out their latest jam session! I don't live far from where they jam, which made things extra convenient! The roughly 2 hour jam was the first time that I've seen the guys with new drummer Chris Thompson, though guitarist Frank McGillivray couldn't make the jam due to personal commitments. As a result, the guys didn't play all of their regular songs, and some sounded empty without Frank's parts, but I got a first hand look at 4/5ths of Project 421 tackling classics from bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, and Dio, along with their newer original "Into The Darkness"! You can't judge a jam session on the same level of a concert, as a lot of it is meant for practicing and getting everything down for a show, but the guys sounded really good, and it's nice to hear Curtis McKenzie's impressive vocals back with the band!

Me and Blair chatted for a while after everyone left, and it was a nice break from the hectic personal stuff I've been dealing with lately! I also saw and heard some intriguing things concerning future plans, but we'll wait for official public word before saying anything here. I got a handful of photos from the jam that you can see at this link or via our Facebook page, and here's Project 421 (minus Frank) jamming their song "Into The Darkness"!

Next up, here's some fallout from yesterday's second annual Emergency Festival at Rocky DiPietro Field, which appeared to be a hit (despite the hot weather) according to early social media reports! First, there was an act that dropped out of the festival, that being Saskatoon country artist Zachary Lucky due to bronchitis, as per his Facebook page on Friday, though he hopes to play here again later this year. Disappointing for fans, but at least he let everyone know beforehand! As for the festival itself, it was MCed by SooToday's Donna Hopper, and of course, she got lots of great (and colour) photos from the show that you can check out at this article! They include 5 photos of headliners The Fast Romantics, 4 photos each of Gnaeus, Northwest, and The Poor Young Things, 3 each of The Pixo Control, Tasman Jude, and The Sunparlour Players, 5 of concert attendees, and 4 of art vendors on site. Excellent work as usual, and I like how nightfall made the closing set seem like it was at a different venue entirely!

A likely Tuned episode is forthcoming, but Local2 cameras were on site for this (unembeddable) video from The Emergency, which features abbreviated video footage from The Fast Romantics, The Sunparlour Players, Tasman Jude, and Gnaeus' sets (I wonder why The Poor Young Things and the other locals didn't make the cut?) Strong footage, and nice to see fans dancing up front for The Fast Romantics, so give this video a look above!

Lastly for current festival fallout, here's the latest from local alternative/grunge trio The Pixo Control, as we can finally confirm that their new drummer (replacing the departed Keeghan Rosso) is named Matthew Thibert, who made his public debut with the band on Sunday. The band has yet to confirm this on their Facebook page, but photos from the show confirm his identity. I'm not familiar with Matthew from past local bands, though he did once play with the defunct Bawating Collegiate jazz band Reverse Fozmosis shortly before the school's 2010 closure, alongside The Boatload Killers' Liam Seymour and others. I'm curious to see how he does live with Michael & Steve in The Pixo Control, so stay tuned for more on the new lineup! And we were holding this for when we mentioned their new drummer, as the cover art for the band's upcoming debut CD "Probably Not" is now posted on Facebook!

Similarly to the defunct Habitat Shuffle's EP, it's of a picture hanging on a wall, but this picture of mushrooms will be familiar for Pixo Control fans, as a framed copy of it has sat on stage for the band's recent concerts. I'm unsure of the symbolism, or if it connects to the name "Probably Not" at all, but it's recognizable and to the point! Stay tuned for more from the guys this week!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or venue name:

• Just as a general site updated regarding our sidebar links, I've finally added The Emergency Festival and The Northern Vibe Festival to our links concerning concert festivals in the Sault Ontario area, while amending information on venues and dates for existing festivals, mainly concerning events impacted by this year's Downtown Association debate and cancellation of Queen Street East outdoor events. Hopefully things are updated there now!
• Sault Michigan bar/concert venue Golanka's Bar (commonly known as The Bird) has closed at some point in the last two years, though their (now-deleted) Facebook page wasn't updated frequently enough to post a statement on why that I've seen. According to London Gentlemen guitarist Mike Libertoski in a Facebook conversation, the East Portage Avenue building was bought by new owners who are turning it into an outdoor retail store of some kind. The Bird hadn't hosted a hard rock concert that we'd heard of since early 2013, but it's sad to see it go, and hopefully Yoopers have good memories of The Bird!
• Sault Ontario alternative hard rock duo Infinity Grinder have posted seven new demo recordings on their Soundcloud page in the past 3 weeks, which confirm that they play improvised jams as well as original songs, Brad & Terrence both handle drums and guitar parts in studio, and that they formed last year. The songs are solid, often hard-edged, and nicely varied, but only "A Few Weeks" has vocals. Give them a listen above, and don't miss Infinity Grinder's New A debut TONIGHT!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and our newest poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & Tantrym Tyme) And Most Of This Weekend's Sault Michigan Concert Previews!!

The last concert weekend of the summer holidays is upon us, so today's post will largely focus on previews of most of the shows! To avoid it getting lost in the shuffle, we'll preview Tym Morrison & 415E's previously announced shows tomorrow, but I promise they're coming! All Sault Michigan-area previews for today, and we'll start with some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you need to know!

Kinross hard rockers Banned have added to a very busy stretch of shows this weekend with two shows at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) in Sault Michigan TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, Banned announced these shows on Sunday, but I held them until now to avoid a redundant double post in a short span. Fresh off a set in Gould City this past weekend, these add to their existing Chippewa County Fair sets on Thursday (which we'll get to in a minute) and Friday afternoon's solo set at the fair in Kinross, which Banned even admitted might be a record for them on their Facebook page. Ever the prolific band for their scheduling, I have no doubt that they'll be on fire at the fair and The Bird this weekend, so keep all 4 dates in mind! As best as I can tell, the Bird shows will be Banned's first at that venue since March of last year, while their Friday matinee at the Chippewa County Fair will be their first non-battle performance at this yearly event. Banned will be on at 4:00 PM on Friday in Kinross, with the Bird shows going down at around 9:00 PM.

No cover charges are announced, but click here for fair ticket details, and while the fair is obviously all ages, you must be 21 to attend their Soo shows this weekend. Check the above links for more details! Nice to see Banned keeping busy (perhaps on an accelerated scale this weekend though), so don't miss their varied hard rock sound at The Bird or the fair on Friday and Saturday! For a preview, here's the newest live video courtesy of the band's official YouTube channel two weeks ago! Filmed at their battle of the bands performance at the Charlevoix Venetian Festival last month, this is their first video upload in 4 months, and it features band members Alex Traynor, Jim Pentland, and Don Traynor, with Alex's former TraynWreck bandmate Sam Lalruatpuia filling in on guitar for Denny Smith. I'll assume Denny just sat out this song/gig (as he's pictured in more recent live photos), but I'm starting to wonder if singer Tara Starr left Banned? If I hear confirmation, I'll let you guys know!

The video is of Banned playing a new original song named "Deadbeat Dog", and while the lighting is very dark despite the daytime setting, it does fit with past original songs of theirs, with the chorus showing solid aggression that the laid back choruses lack! Nice to hear some new material from Banned, so give their new video a look below, and don't miss them at The Bird this weekend or at the fair tomorrow night!



Also in short notice concert announcements, young local metal cover quartet Tantrym Tyme will play at The Malamute Saloon at 3047 West Mile 80 in Kinross THIS SATURDAY for a second straight week! I apologize for the short notice again, but the guys only announced this show on their Facebook page yesterday via the poster on your left. I'm not sure if this is part of a new regular run there or not, but last weekend's show must have been a hit for Tantrym Tyme to get the call for a second show at The Malamute Saloon! The poster sells this talented young band well, and hopefully there's a good turnout on Saturday on the outdoor patio (which I assume is where they played last weekend also.) The show starts at 9:00 PM on Saturday, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Hopefully Saturday's show goes well for Tantrym Tyme, who continue to make waves as they get more experienced, so don't miss out, and for a preview, here's Tantrym Tyme covering Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me" last year!



Speaking of shows involving Tantrym Tyme, TONIGHT marks the return of the Rock Till You Drop battle of the bands, where three local bands will gather to compete for the top prize at the annual Kinross fair! Like in past years, winners are determined in a busker style, with money donations placed into a bucket after the bands' sets, with the winning band being the one who raised the most cash. Donations will be given to Team Jessica to help support local student Jessica Jorgensen's battle with leukemia, which is an awesome cause (as Pop Evil attendees will attest to), so don't be stingy with your donations, as it all will help! This year's three competing acts include two returning bands from last year, including the aforementioned Banned and Tantrym Tyme (who won in 2011 as Abstract), while new local hard rock quintet RamWagon will replace 2012 participants Missy & Chelsea as the final band for tomorrow's battle. Rock Till You Drop goes down at 7:30 PM tomorrow, it is definitely all ages, and click here for more details, including how to get tickets for the fair in general!

I believe Missy & Chelsea won last year (don't quote me on that though), though this year's lineup is still high quality and should be ready to entertain fairgoers tonight! Will Tantrym Tyme win their second Rock Till You Drop in 3 years? Can Banned claim top spot amidst their busy concert weekend? Or can RamWagon make a big first impression in their Kinross debut? Find out TONIGHT, I'll have fallout if it comes in, and check out the bands above! (I'd preview a RamWagon video here to keep things fair, but I don't think they have any embeddable ones yet.)

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Tym Morrison & 415E concert previews (and more) TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Full Throttle), A New Band Discovery, And Sault Ontario News & Notes!!

Continuing with our recent abundance of Sault Michigan news, we have even more on this Saturday morning (our first of two posts today), so we'll lead off with a new band discovery and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT! After that, we'll touch on some recent Sault Ontario updates, including a new video and much more, so here's what you need to know!

In some recent Google searching, I recently discovered a defunct Sault Michigan hardcore/punk band named Poverty Stricken, so here's what you should know about them! Previously named Death By Kickdrum, Poverty Stricken were a young band (at the time) that was active from roughly 2003-2006, and they have a fairly detailed autobiography on their Angelfire website that has even minor details about their run, along with more info on their Tripod website and their PureVolume page. Their lineup widely varied, but frontman Taylor Keller & drummer Jack Messer were constants (alongside guitarist Ian Rose & bassist Justin Menard in their last lineup), and notable local metal guitarists like Mike Libertoski & Scott Savoie were briefly members according to the above links. Poverty Stricken did play live gigs, mainly at school functions, but they did play at the local Sidewalk Sales event in August 2006, and I can't find much else for band details after that point. They also released two demo tapes featuring mixtures of original material and metal/punk covers, and four rough demos were posted onto their PureVolume page linked above, but how do they sound?

The quality's rough, but there is a carefree style and a hard edge to the posted songs, and I think Poverty Stricken sound pretty good given their ages! I also admire the work put into their websites, band pages this old (let alone from high schoolers) don't tend to be this detailed. Some of the songs are a bit punk leaning, but there's something there musically, and I'd be interested to see what Taylor and Jack are up to musically now! Poverty Stricken are now in our inactive Sault Michigan band links!

Next up, here's that SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Full Throttle will be playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this was only just announced yesterday, and it'd have made our last Sault Michigan-only post too long if I shoved it in late. Recent favourites at The Bird, Full Throttle (featuring Absolute's Donny Newell on vocals, guitarists Jason Lamoreaux & Steve Pevarnic, drummer Mark Gillotte, and a bassist to be determined) should have a varied set of hard rock-leaning covers in store for fans tonight, so if you need something to do after LemmaFest, why not take a trip down to The Bird for some Full Throttle action? There's no announced cover charge for this 9:00 PM show, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for details, and for a preview, here's Full Throttle's current incarnation covering Velvet Revolver's "Slither" in March!

We'll close this post in Sault Ontario, starting with new videos from local hard rock quartet Ashes To Dust! These are their first live concert videos since last fall, and like most of their other uploads, these come from performances on the stage at Superior Heights Collegiate & Vocational School, where the members still attend. Featuring their current lineup (though with Noah Morden focusing on vocals only with no bass), the videos are of Ashes To Dust playing their new original song "Forgotten Lives" and (as embedded below) a cover of 10 Years' "Wasteland", and the quality's fantastic on these! Noah's vocal range is improving, and the guys have a good sound and know the songs, though they could all stand to be a bit more energetic. Check out their 10 Years cover below, see more at the above links, follow Ashes To Dust on Twitter, and don't miss the guys at the third annual Swampstravaganza in August!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from Sault Ontario, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or venue name:

• Queen Street East bar/concert venue The Bottom's Up Lounge will close this weekend, due to the building's landlords selling the location to new owners who want it vacated by July 1st. Though not a common metal venue, Tym Morrison once frequented this small (though classy) lounge, and metal band alumni have played at their open mic nights. Disappointing news for sure, but hopefully the ownership returns with a new spot down the road!
• The July 6th Promonium Jesters-headlined concert has switched venues (sort of), as promoters have quietly moved the show from The Rockstar Bar to their downstairs neighbour The Algonquin Pub. A reason wasn't announced, but a scheduling conflict wouldn't surprise me, as it is a Saturday nighter. The show should still be great no matter what floor it's on, so don't miss it!
• I've removed defunct local hardcore band With Blood Build Character (the original band under this name, not the former Unbound that guitarist Christopher Neveau is also a member of) from our Sault Ontario band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page earlier this year. Essentially the successors to March Into Regression, they played live just once (in Laird last August) before falling inactive, but hopefully their members stay active in local music going forward!

That's all for now, but stay tuned later today for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on ex-Intrepid guitarist Donnie Hank's channel! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Powerslug), Recent Sault Star Hard Rock Interviews, And Much More!!

As promised, here's our first news post of February 2013, so what's on tap? Today, we have a lot of assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, along with a new solo original song, and some catching up on hard rock band interviews from a major local news source, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT (and check out this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post below this one!)

There are indeed heavier concerts this weekend in the Sault Ste. Marie area, courtesy of Sault Michigan hard rock trio Powerslug! Their second announced concert weekend of the year, the band featuring I.S.O.M., Kilacel, and River Witch alumni are playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) TONIGHT, following a first concert either yesterday or Thursday. When drummer Bob Helsten announced the shows on his personal Facebook page on Thursday, he indicated the first show was that night, but bands in the area generally play Friday first instead of Thursday, so I'm not sure if there's scheduling differences at play, or if it was just a typo. Regardless, I missed the show until now, and I profusely apologize as a result! They could really use an online page to update show information though. As for tonight's gig, Powerslug will bring their hard rock covers to the stage at 10:00 PM, a cover charge wasn't announced, and you must be 21 to attend. If any more details pop up, I'll add them here! These should be good concerts from this talented trio, and with no online media either, take my word for it, and go occupy The Bird for some hard rock this weekend!

Next up, if you're a Sault Star subscriber, you may have noticed an interview last month with Sweet's Steve Priest in advance of their show with April Wine at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino next weekend! That alone was worth mentioning, but today, it's just part of a catch-up I wanna do for other recent Kewadin Casino hard rock performer interviews held with The Sault Star since the beginning of last year, so what'd I miss? All conducted & wrote by The Sault Star's Jeffrey Ougler, the recent SMS-suited articles included interviews with Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson (prior to their Kewadin show in August) and members of both of Stryper's opening bands last February (Slaughter bassist Dana Strum & Lynch Mob guitarist George Lynch), so click each link above to give them a look! I apologize for the late notice on most of these, but I'm not a Sault Star subscriber, so I miss a lot of their quality articles as a result.

If you're not familiar with Jeffery's concert preview articles/interviews, these all feature general discussions with the band member(s) on their history and recent events, along with promotion of the Kewadin concert, and they're all informative and deserve a look, even late! Check them all out above, and don't miss Sweet with April Wine on February 9th at the Soo Kewadin!

Also today, here's the newest solo track from Alterwhite mainman Mike Matthews! Entitled "Erase Me (Please)", he posted it onto the AlterWhite YouTube channel on Thursday, Mike recorded this for his "album "Something Left Inside", but how is it? The music's good, especially the heavy second half, but Mike really overdoes the clean vocals on the soft first half, and he should have done the first few minutes in a more reserved and less exaggerated style. The second half makes up for it though, so check out "Erase Me (Please)" below!



Finally for today, here's SIX assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, as we've had a bunch of these in the last few days! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or band name:

• Former Skull After Betryal bassist Adam Brett is currently looking to join or form a new local metal/hard rock band, though he aims to play guitar this time around. I know he's been working hard to improve his skills recently, so give him a shout at this location or find his Musicians Wanted Facebook group posting from yesterday for more details!
• Prolific Sault Michigan guitarist Mike Libertoski is back with a new original demo! His first publically available new song since 2011,  this blistering & short technical metal demo is full of promise and shows a skill evolution from his other early 2010s work, so give it a listen at his SoundCloud page, and his solo project is now back in our active Sault Michigan metal band links! (Note that this is credited to himself, not his Galactic Alignment project.)
• Valentine's Day Massacre frontman Steve Rhodes has joined a new band, that being the London, Ontario death/thrash metal band D3athcharg3r! Early reviews are very good, and congratulations to him on this big opportunity! However, he was quick to point out on his personal Facebook page last month that The V.D.M. (who all still live in London) remain alive, and he'll be with them as long as they want him, so fingers crossed we see both of his bands up here soon!
• Last night, Sault Ontario hard rock quartet The Suicide Kings revealed on their Facebook page that they were working on their own debut EP, which should be "ready to go" by the end of the month. Nothing else is publically known yet, but keep an eye out to see how this progresses!
• Also last night, new Sault Ontario metal project Unbound revealed that they plan to make their live debut in March, though extra details (i.e. location, lineup changes, Justin Fratpietro tributes) have yet to be posted. I'm very curious to see how Unbound shapes up after all that's happened, so stay tuned for updates as they roll in!
• Has Jason Ladouceur rejoined Winkstinger? Nothing official has been publicized, but Jason plugged a Thursday night Winkstinger show on "the 11th" at The Rosie in a recent MSN status, which (barring a typo) would likely refer to April 11th. If true, this would mark the band's first show since July, and Jason's return to the band following his exit in May, with Anthony Orazietti replacing him on rhythm guitar last summer. If I here any concrete confirmations or denials, I'll let you guys know!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news at some point this week, as our cache of news slowly grows! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Powerslug), Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Before I head to The Oddfellows Hall to rock out at the second annual Sewer Swampstravaganza, here's an all Sault Michigan post featuring this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews across the river! We've also slotted some extra stories at the end relating to tickets for an upcoming show and a video from a local band, but let's begin with the previews, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! (Updated on Saturday at 10:53 AM)

Local hard rock trio Powerslug are returning to The Bird THIS WEEKEND! This will be their second straight concert weekend at Golanka's Bar, and once again, we missed last weekend's shows for coverage on here, but that's the joy of late announcements by a band with no online pages. I apologize once again for missing those dates (I need to get better on the ball), but I caught these latest ones, which were announced by guitarist Chris Gurnoe on his personal Facebook page on Monday. The guys should have a great weekend of hard rocking covers in store for their fans tomorrow and Saturday night, so absolutely keep them in mind for your weekend concert plans! Both TONIGHT & SATURDAY NIGHT's shows should start at around 10:00 PM, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no advertised cover charge. It's good to see Powerslug back out there, and hopefully you guys can make it out to chug your mug with Powerslug, so keep their shows at The Bird in mind for the next couple of days! For a preview, check out this unembeddable Facebook video from a recent show in Ludington!

Next up for the weekend concert previews is the return of Muskegon hard rock quintet RedStone Riot to Sault Michigan! In what is called their "annual show" in Sault Ste. Marie (implying that they won't be back until 2013), this will be the band featuring Elipzis alumni Rachel Kiger, Ryan Harrison, and Wally David's first local concert appearance since their live debut last August, and they'll rock The Corner Pub Bar & Grill's parking lot for a special outdoor "biker bash parking lot party" tonight and tomorrow night, which should be interesting! I understand they've had a few other bands playing outdoors recently as well, like Powerslug, and this will add a unique ambiance to the event! However, disregard any allusions on Facebook postings and event pages to this being a Friday only event, the band's website and The Corner Pub's Facebook event page confirm they're playing tomorrow as well. There's no announced cover charge for this weekend's shows, which have 10:00 PM start times and I'll assume 21+ age limits, though with the outdoor setting, I don't know how that'd be regulated. For more details, click here or visit the above links!

It's great to see RedStone Riot back in Sault Michigan for two more local shows, and any old Elipzis fan or hard rock lover should consider a trip to The Corner Pub tonight or tomorrow night! I have no embeddable video media to share here (I removed my upload of "Lifeless Disguise" by band request despite being a free file on their website already), but if anything pops up to show RedStone Riot in action, I'll be sure to let you guys know! Don't miss them this weekend!

Lastly this weekend is the return of Charlevoix metal trio Peril to the Eastern Upper Peninsula, as they have two nights of classic metal covers lined up for The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino tonight & tomorrow night! Though certainly not rare stops for this talented and hard working band, Rapids Lounge regulars won't see Peril back there until October, so unless you're up for a drive to St. Ignace (or further), seeing them pump out some entertaining covers this weekend isn't a bad idea in and of itself! If you're up for seeing Peril this weekend, they'll be on at around 10:00 PM tonight & Saturday night, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Peril are definitely an entertaining and talented band, and their classic metal stylings will fit right in at the Rapids Lounge this weekend, so if you're missing RedStone Riot or Powerslug this weekend, consider a trip to the casino to check out Peril tonight or tomorrow! For a preview, here's Peril covering an Ozzy Osbourne classic a few years back!


Finally, here's a couple of news stories from the Sault Michigan side of things! First, tickets are officially on sale online now for August 13th's Buckcherry/Fuel concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, so if you've got $35 to spare for next month's big show, head to Kewadin Casino's brand new ticketing page to get hooked up, or call 1-800 KEWADIN, or head to the physical box office. Plenty of tickets are still available, including some second row seats, so act now before they're gone, and stay tuned for more news on this concert as it all comes in! And lastly for today, local classical metal trio Theatre of Night have uploaded a new promo video for their brand new album "The Dawn's Early Light" onto their YouTube channel, and it features samples of many of the album's tracks along with scattered band, album, and patriotic photos. It's more or less an extended variant on their earlier promotional videos for this album, but with more music and album information. The biggest news is that they've added a new song named "Dixieland" to the track listing, while combining all 5 of the U.S. Military theme song covers into one track, but people who've already bought the album knew that already.

I have my copy ready to review this month (hopefully as soon as our news cache is generally cleared out) so keep an eye out for that, as this should be a very intriguing album, especially if you love America and what it stands for! Check out this newest promo video below, get more at the above links, and pick up "The Dawn's Early Light" on iTunes at this location!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for my review of TODAY'S second Sewer Swampstraganza tomorrow, and I hope to see you guys there! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & Nudge), Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Now that I'm back home and settled in, let's help clear out this glut of news from the past week starting with an all-Sault Michigan news post! We haven't had one of these in a while, partly thanks to an overall slowdown in news across the river, but this weekend's pretty big for metal in the Sault Michigan area, so it fits to give everything some extra attention today! That said, our preview of LemmaFest is coming tonight, as I want to give it more of a focus than it could have in this post due to some new shows, so in this post, we have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this month, a preview of a notable band's live return TONIGHT, and more news from them, so here's what you need to know!

Kinross hard rock quartet Banned will return to the Sault Michigan area TOMORROW NIGHT for their first ever concert at The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in Barbeau! Though they've kept busy in the last couple months with shows all over the Eastern U.P., their Cozy Corners debut will be Banned's first show within 45 minutes of the Soo since their March 15th stop at The Bird, so if you've missed their hard rocking covers, take note of their Barbeau gig tomorrow night! I apologize for the short notice too, as this show was only announced on the band's Facebook page on Wednesday, and I've only had time to mention it now. Also, if they're having any guest performers, their page hasn't announced them. Details are scant for this show, but Banned's set will come after the festivities wrap up for a walleye fishing tournament that The Cozy Corners Tavern is hosting on Saturday. A cover charge has not been announced, but a 10:00 PM start time and 21+ age limit are both likely. For more details, visit the above links! It's nice to see Banned back in the area on Saturday, and hopefully the guys deliver a great weekend of hard rock classics and maybe some originals tomorrow! For a preview, here's Banned playing their original song "Plaid Girl" last month in Gould City!



Also in new Sault Michigan shows, Marquette hard rockers Nudge have lined up another set of weekend dates at The Satisfied Frog next week! Just 4 weeks after their last shows at The Frog, this hard working and talented U.P. band will rock Sault Michigan once again, and with the frequency of their last 3 weekend engagements here (all are just 4 weeks apart), it's great to see Nudge making up for lost time following their early-2012 absence from the area! Also note that frontman Danzo McCracken's solo show will return to The Satisfied Frog on Wednesday and Thursday before Nudge crank up the rock on Friday & Saturday, so if you wanna mellow out a bit, keep Danzo's solo sets in mind next week as well! There's no announced cover charge for Nudge's shows next weekend, you must be 21 to attend, and there's an advertised start time of 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a good time to me, and hopefully Nudge can rock The Frog to it's core with plenty of great heavier covers next weekend! Stay tuned for updates on these shows if they come in!

Now to a preview of one of the metal concerts in Sault Michigan this weekend, and while our LemmaFest preview is forthcoming in our next post, the band that opens this year's Michael Lemma tribute festival tomorrow will also be playing a long awaited concert TONIGHT as well! Brimley metal trio Half A Man will play their first concert in 13 months tonight at The Bird (a.k.a. Golanka's Bar), and this has definitely been a long time coming for the guys following recording sessions, delays, lineup changes, and more! As such, this will also be their first show as an official trio (though they temporarily played with 3 members at their 2010 live debut), and it will be their first concert since the departures of guitarist Denny Breslin & singer Dillion Semasky, though only Denny had played at any prior Half A Man shows. Tonight's concert seems fairly standard compared to Half A Man's earlier concerts, but the Facebook event page does confirm that there will be a barbeque at The Bird prior to their set, so come on out for that as well! There's no cover charge for tonight, you must be 21 to attend, and the concert itself actually has a listed start time of 8:00 PM, which is oddly early. Check the above links for more details!

Sounds like a great show to me, and it's awesome to see Erik, Gary, and Mikey back on stage after so long! This caps off a busy Friday for Half A Man after being interviewed by Scott Cook & Brian Davie on Rock 101 this morning, and I hope many of you guys knew about the interview and tuned in, as I was busy this past week and couldn't get a moment in to remind you guys. I hope someone recorded it too, it'll be a great listen if someone did! Also remember to follow Half A Man on their new Twitter page too, especially as you can only read their tweets if you're a confirmed follower on your own Twitter account. Go see Half A Man TONIGHT at The Bird, stay tuned for our LemmaFest preview later tonight, and for a preview of tonight's show, here's the new "radio version" (less swearing) of their original song "Drunk", courtesy of their YouTube channel yesterday! Sounds very good and still potent, but make note of their live return tonight!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for our extended LemmaFest preview later tonight, and possibly more news! To accomodate that, I'm postponing this month's YouTube Channel Profiles to tomorrow so we don't flood the site with posts today or de-emphasize the LemmaFest preview by putting it up tomorrow morning, as it begins early tomorrow as it is. Stay tuned!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half A Man), Concert Updates, A Woods Of Ypres Interview, And More!!

Here's another news post to kick off the coming week! Today, we have some assorted random news and notes, a new interview concerning a prominent local band, updates to the lineups of two shows this coming week, and leading things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!

One day before their LemmaFest-opening set outside of Dondee Lanes, Brimley metal band Half A Man will return to The Bird (a.k.a. Golanka's Bar) in Sault Michigan THIS FRIDAY!! This will be the band's first live concert appearance in over a year, their first gig since the departure of guitarist Denny Breslin last summer, and their debut as an official three piece band, though they temporarily played with 3 members only for their first show in 2010. Details on the show are fairly scant at the moment, but the guys should have loads of brutal original material and select covers in store for their long awaited live return, so if you can't make LemmaFest on Saturday (or if you just miss Half A Man), go see them at The Bird on Friday night! There is no announced cover charge, you must be 21 to attend, and a 10:00 PM start time is listed. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Also, I understand that Half A Man will be interviewed on "Scott & Brian In The Morning" on Rock 101 on Friday morning at or around 8:00 AM, so tune in to 101.3 FM on your radios on Friday to hear the interview and maybe some studio material? Time will tell, but don't miss Half A Man's busy and long awaited return this coming weekend!

Next up, here's some lineup updates to a pair of upcoming Sault Ontario-area metal concerts this coming week! First, local grimecore trio Shit Liver have replaced Desbarats death metallers For All That Is Lost as the headlining act at Thursday's 46th Roosevelt Hotel metal night. The news was broken on the Facebook event page this past Thursday by promoter Mitch Sirie, but a reason for F.A.T.I.L.'s exit was not announced. Nice to see Shit Liver still playing at The Rosie this week following their dropout of the Battle for the Blood on Tuesday, and they and The Bear Hunters will continue their frequent alliance in this series well this time around! As for For All That Is Lost, you can still see them this week at both the aforementioned battle & at their own "F.A.T.I.L. Gathering" on Neebish Road in Laird on Friday, which has it's own lineup additions! Fellow Desbarats death metallers Inhuman Methods have been added to the lineup for their second show with new singer Anthony Tverdal, bringing the lineup of named bands to seven. Solid addition, hopefully their opening slot at The Rosie on Thursday is a harbinger of good things for the F.A.T.I.L. Gathering on Friday! As well, the Facebook event page also notes that "others" will be playing as well, but what could that imply?

I wouldn't be surprised if the "others" refer to a band made up of assorted musicians, possibly similar to the one-off band Blood Messiah from a F.A.T.I.L. event in Thessalon last August. That band featured ex-Bring The Misery alumni Dan Souliere, Daeson Lesage, and Travis St. Amour alongside a fourth member I can't place, and Facebook has a bunch of photos & videos from said event. Travis has indicated on the event page that a band he was in was playing as of June 4th, but is this the "others" being referred to, or is it something else? If I hear anything, I'll let you guys know, but check the above links for more details!

Third today, here's a new Woods of Ypres interview you guys might be interested in! The Indian music blog Trendcrusher interviewed guitarist Joel Violette towards a post in February, where Joel answered questions about the circumstances surrounding the release of "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", the songwriting process for the album, recording with producer Siegfried Meier and mixer John Fryer, why the "W5" sessions weren't documented much like for the band's earlier releases, the band's evolution from black to doom metal, and the future for both Woods of Ypres and Joel's Thrawsunblat project. Solid interview with Joel answering to the best of his ability when he didn't know the answers first hand (i.e. David Gold's though process and choices), and there's some interesting new tidbits! Joel did reveal that original pre-release plans called for video releases and studio diaries to chronicle material being recorded for the album, but none of that has been released (I'd love to see them leak out in some form though), and while there won't be a new Woods of Ypres studio album, Joel does plan to find a new drummer for Thrawsunblat, as David provided drums for them prior to his passing as well. Rae Amitay, possibly? Click here to read the full interview, it's definitely worth checking out!

And finally, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Kinross hard rockers Banned apparently played a set yesterday at 5:00 PM at the Blaney Park Rendezvous motorcycle rally (east of Manistique) as per their Facebook page. Even if this was in our local range, there wasn't enough advance info or details to cover it here, but it's great to see Banned continue their slow spread across the U.P., and hopefully this gig was a huge hit!
• Sault Ontario classic hard rock quintet That's Chester also played a show with little to no advance word yesterday, that being at this year's local Relay For Life event, as per their Facebook page. A venue or specific details (i.e. if it was open to the public) weren't promoted on band pages, but this isn't the first time That's Chester have rocked out for this great cause, so kudos to them! Also note that this was likely their first show with drummer Ric Datson since March following a joint injury.
• Sault Michigan classical metal notables Theatre of Night have announced on their Facebook page that the final mixing and mastering for their second album "The Dawn's Early Light" is now underway. Awesome to hear, so stay tuned for the release of their very patriotic new album on July 1st, if all goes according to plan!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and this month's new poll tomorrow, along with a bunch of mid-week concert previews over the next little while! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Powerslug) And Some New Videos!!

Well guys, last night's Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands is in the books, and I have a recap (not a review, per say) coming tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Because the videos I filmed are taking forever to upload, but don't worry, it'll be a good one, and you can check out the videos from earlier bands last night and the results at our Facebook page if you wanna until then. So to keep things rolling here (and because of a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), we've got a post with some recent news today, including new videos, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Powerslug are playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) TONIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, but guitarist Chris Gurnoe only just announced the show this morning on his personal Facebook page. This has become a common occurrence with the band formerly known as River Witch for about a year now, since their former Facebook page fell into disuse, as I've only tended to hear about their non-Kewadin shows late or on short notice. I'm doing my best to keep on top of things though, so bear with me! This will be Powerslug's second straight Saturday night concert at The Bird, and though I've yet to hear media of them in action, members' pasts in their predecessor band Blind Baby indicate a solid sound, so don't miss them TONIGHT! Admission should be free, you must be 21 to attend, and there's likely a start time of 10:00 PM. For what little I can gather about this concert, get more at the above links! Hopefully Powerslug knock it out of the park again this weekend, and go check them out tonight for some hard rocking across the river!

Now to some new videos, starting with a new song from prolific local solo guitarist (and judge at last night's battle) Mike Cliffe! Entitled "Nose Hair Sweater", it was uploaded to his YouTube channel last Wednesday, and it's definitely one of Mike's harder rocking and more upbeat instrumental tracks! Employing lots of time signatures and some interesting vocal samples & visualizations, Mike did note that it was "quite unfinished", but complimented how fun it was to play. It's a really cool track as it is, and has lots of creative heavy parts, so check it out below!




Also in new songs is a new solo track from Wearwithal frontman and veteran Sault Michigan singer/drummer Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten! The former voice of bands like I.S.O.M. and End of Existence posted a new original solo song named "Destination" onto his YouTube channel on Tuesday, and it's pretty catchy! Completely clean sung, it's got a nice groove to it with solid melodic vocals, and if this is the direction is solo material is going now, I definitely wanna hear more (though with some harsh singing too, of course.) Very nice, so check it out below, and hear more from Orb's recent band work at the above links!



Finally for today, I'm sharing this last because it doesn't work in the United States, so it has a limited view range. Two weeks ago, former Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie uploaded a video of him covering the Devildriver song "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" onto his YouTube channel, but it was blocked in the United States shortly after on copyright grounds by WMG (probably because the original song was in the background.) That said, it was not blocked in Canada, creating the odd scenario of a video by a Sault Michigan guitarist that only Sault Ontario metalheads can watch without an IP switching tool. If you can see it, you'll get a very proficient and well played cover, and Scott's on high form here, but maybe he should redo it without the backing track for American fans? Check out Scott's newest solo guitar cover below if your country allows it!



That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for my recap of last night's Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands, and also, tune in to CBC Radio One (89.5 FM in the Twin Saults area) at 5:00 PM TODAY to hear Garden of Bedlam's song "New Rain" on the CBC Radio One program "Bandwidth", which is all about Ontario music! Not sure if they're just being played or if anything else will come up, but listen in at 5:00! Thanks everyone!

The Tym Morrison Concert Preview, Plus More Assorted News & Videos!!

After three days of just feature posts, we're finally back with a new news post at the SMS, and it's combined with weekend concert previews due to this being a very light weekend for metal and hard rock shows. Unless there's some concerts in twin Saults I haven't heard of or are getting a very late notice, there's only one show going down this weekend of a metal relevance, so we're previewing that first, but stay tuned after that for a local band's new singer, another's current status, and this week's classic video! Read on below, and also check out our Kiss Battle of the Bands Profile in the post below this one!

This weekend's concert preview is for Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's matinee show at Bossy's Pub N' Grub on Saturday afternoon, in his 12th straight Saturday show at the Pim Street restaurant! One week out from Caveman Morrison's new lineup's debut, Tym will be sure to deliver an entertaining set of acoustic hard rock and metal covers to his fans at the former Smack Daddy's, so keep his return to Bossy's in mind on Saturday! Tym will be on at about 2:00 PM as usual, I doubt there's a cover charge, it should be all ages given the timing. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a fun time this weekend, and hopefully some of you guys can make it out to rock out with Tym on Saturday during this light stretch of metal shows! For a preview, here's Tym's newest solo original song "The Afterlife", which was self-recorded and posted onto his YouTube channel earlier today! It's an interesting rock track with some good atmospheric vocals and nice lyrics, and though it's not a blistering metal number, it's well written and has a nice feel for it, so give it a listen below!



Next up, new local doom/stoner metal band Giwakwa have announced the addition of Jason Bourcier to their lineup as their new singer, officially making them a quartet. He was quietly added to their lineup on their Facebook page earlier this week, and he notably rejoins former Fitswitch bandmate Larry Mousseau in Giwakwa. Jason's well known locally for his bass work in bands like Fitswitch, SIGHdEFECT, and Murder Playground, but Giwakwa brings him back to singing, a role he's handled very well with bands like Time of Ruin, Operation: Killdozer, and (most recently) Faithless Sin. It'll be good to see Jason back fronting a local band again, as I haven't seen him on stage officially fronting a band since Operation: Killdozer's 2009 debut, and hopefully he fits in well with Giwakwa! No other real band news has came since beyond some photo postings, all of which appear to be before Jason joined, but it does give us a glimpse at Giwakwa together performing! As I hear more on them and their next updates, I'll definitely have them here, so stay tuned, and note that I've edited our YMCA Battle of the Bands Profile to note that Jason has joined Giwakwa when mentioning newer notable bands from that battle's competitors!

Also today, I wanted to address a local band's current status, or lack thereof. That band is local old school hardcore quintet Destroilet, who haven't been seen on stage since February 2011 when they opened for Maximum RNR at Foggy Notions, and they last posted on their online pages in April upon the release of their debut EP. With that said, it was announced a few days ago that the members of Destroilet (minus guitarist John Conway) have formed a new pop punk band named The Belmonts, with Redundant's Justin Langlois on the second guitar, reuniting him with former SIGHdEFECT bandmate Matt Waples. Videos are posted on the new band's Facebook page of Ramones & Riverdales covers, so give them a look for some solid punk rock jams! Now, what does the existence of The Belmonts mean for Destroilet's future? According to their Facebook page, The Belmonts are "somethin' to do for fun while Destroilet takes a break", which more or less affirms the recent inactivity from them. I assume this is due to John having external commitments, but I'm not positive. If they don't return to activity soon, I still won't consider Destroilet inactive until the fall, as I remember that they were tentatively lined up to open for The Dayglo Abortions had they came here again in October, so I'm counting a year's inactivity from then.

Still, fingers crossed that Destroilet come back at some point in the near future, as their old school hardcore fury was welcome at local concerts in recent years, and even a year late, a CD release show would be fun to finally have! Also, just as a humourous aside, wouldn't Destrundant be a fitting alternate name for The Belmonts given the band members' other projects?

And finally, here's this week's classic video! With a very light weekend on the local metal scene, I'm dipping into the general archives this week for one of two videos I recently rediscovered of a local metal band in action, that being defunct Sault Michigan quartet Nixxon Dixxon! Though disbanded since 2010 (and with 3/4ths of the band now in Trail's End), they still developed a good local following during their run, and when doing research towards another post, I found two videos of them from mid-2008 concerts at The Bird (a.k.a. Golanka's Bar) that I hadn't seen in a few years! Possibly the oldest publically viewable footage of Nixxon Dixxon live, the first video (of them covering Van Halen's "Ain't Talking About Love") is of noticeably worse quality, so we'll start with this June 2008 video of them covering Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me"! Brandon Carr's singing isn't as wide-ranging as it was at their 2010 peak, and the video's angle can be far from the stage and impaired by attendees' heads, but it's a solid performance of this Def Leppard classic, and it's good to see this video again! Note that I brightened the lighting in the video after uploading it to YouTube, as the original video was fairly dark.

Uploaded by attendee Lyzz Johnson onto her MySpace page on June 22nd, 2008, you can view the original video at http://myspace.com/video/vid/36775952. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!!! All credit for this video goes to Lyzz and Nixxon Dixxon, they did all the hard work, I'm just trying to share this video with a wider audience like it deserves! It's a solid early video of Nixxon Dixxon, so give it a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for hopefully more news and notes this weekend, along with our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Constructed Apocalypse on Monday and (yes) our "Woods V" review by the end of the month! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Banned), YouTube Notes, And Lots More!!

Here's a quick news post for you guys to check out this morning, which I honestly wasn't planning to have until perhaps tomorrow, but when a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT calls, you've gotta get it posted with some advance word! That's this post's top story, but read on below as well for new audio recordings from a local guitarist, lots of assorted news stories, and a note on recent YouTube changes. First off, here's details on this new show!

Kinross hard rock quartet Banned are returning to the concert stage TONIGHT, just in time for a night of St. Patrick's Day live music! They'll be back at The Bird (a.k.a. Golanka's Bar) in Sault Michigan tonight for their first advertised concert in almost two months, as revealed on the band's Facebook page late Thursday night, and I apologize for the short notice, I only just heard about it yesterday. It's good to see Banned back, I was wondering where they've been over the last while! If you're looking for some St. Patrick's Day revelry with a heavier soundtrack in Sault Michigan, Banned at The Bird is about as good as it gets, so don't miss the show tonight! Details are admittedly scant, but the show should be at around 10:00 PM tonight with no cover charge and a 21+ age limit, but make room for green beer, and check the above links for more details! This sounds like a good time full of solid music and with the holiday setting, what better way to welcome Banned back to the stage? Go see them at The Bird TONIGHT, and for a preview, here's Banned covering Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" at their last show in January!



Next up, Sneaky Pete guitarist Mario Carlucci has posted some new solo performance clips onto his YouTube channel over the past three days! The newest is a slower instrumental with a nice groove named "Sequence 01 5" that'd fit a softer bluesy rock song pretty well, but I dig his upload from Wednesday named "Shut The Funk Up" more though! The title implies funk, and that's what we get in this funk rock number with more creativity and solo standout parts that add up to a very catchy and listenable tune! Neither of these uploads are videos, with only audio and an accompanying picture, but they're still worth listening to, so check them out at the above links, and here's "Shut The Funk Up"!



Thirdly today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, band, or concert name:

• Ex-Bring The Fallen drummer Travis St. Amour is looking for a singer for a new metal band he's part of (possibly a relaunched Unleash The Blackened Sky?) The start date would be late April, likely after Travis comes back from North Bay, and out of town shows are a goal for the band. If you're interested or want more details, reply on Travis' post at the Musicians Wanted Facebook group from this past Wednesday!
• A post on their Facebook page on Thursday implied that local extreme metal quintet Winkstinger have began recording sessions! Whether these are towards an album release of some kind or not is unknown at present, but a post on guitarist Jesse Cook's personal Facebook page mentioned that drum recording was done on Thursday with bass next. This is all news to me, but I'll keep you guys posted as more comes out!
• Tickets for April 7th's Ypres Metal Fest are NOW ON SALE! I'm 100% certain now, and you can pick them up at Northland Music, The Canadian Motor Hotel's front desk, or through promoter Rich Moreland or David Gold's sister Marie (contact links for both here.) Despite earlier mentions, I've heard nothing recent about tickets being at The Rad Zone, but I'll keep you guys posted if I confirm their availability there. GET YOUR TICKETS A.S.A.P.!!

And finally, I wanted to note a recent change to many local music-related pages that you guys may visit. Earlier this month, YouTube converted all channels on the popular video website to a new format that some users had already voluntarily began using. This is mandatory, similar to the MySpace layout changeover from November 2010, and if you had a lovingly created custom layout (or maintained one in lieu of the new format), it's mostly gone now. The background image (if you had one) will still be there, as will biography & channel details, but the pages now have a cleaner & simpler look that has less room for manipulation, though various layouts and page views still exist. No videos were directly removed from pages either with the changeover, so if any of yours were pulled, the new layout isn't why. As an example, see what the SMS' YouTube channel now looks like at this location. I picked a layout that let you guys see all recent uploads & various playlists up front like before, but info on what I've posted, liked, and subscribed to (along with channel comments) now have separate tabs. Other channels will look similar to this, and if you haven't logged into yours this month, it'll look pretty bare, so go make your channels look how you want again, and hopefully this new look will grow on us all!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and this month's new poll TOMORROW, along with more news soon! Thanks everyone!

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!

It's time to get some more videos out to you guys on this wet Monday afternoon, so here's what's on tap for our latest local metal video showcase! Today, we have the latest videos from two notable Sault Michigan acts and two covers from a pair of Sault Ontario musicians, so here's all that you should know! (EDITED: 5:54 PM)

Brimley metal quartet Half A Man have posted some new videos onto YouTube, and the newest of them gives us our first glimpse at new singer Dillion Semasky! As posted onto guitarist Erik Rintamaki's YouTube channel yesterday, it's of most of Half A Man (I don't see bassist Gary Croad) covering the Down song "Bury Me In Smoke", and though it's filmed in the same location as their "Gooodbye" performance from last month, a white effects filter is laid on the video for some reason. Maybe it's to build anticipation for the new lineup's full debut? Who knows, but audio wise, Dillion sounds good! He knows the song, and he can pull off an aggressive yet melodic track like this with Half A Man, so all seems good to me so far! Check the above links to give the video a listen, or view it below, and thanks to Erik for telling me about the YouTube copy! That said, they have two more new videos on the band's YouTube channel as well, and like their other new YouTube uploads, these are from their April 16th concert at The Merchant's Bar. They're of their cover of Prong's "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" and their original song "Life Goes On", so click each link to check them out! There's not much new to say on these in terms of quality, but these are solid and very heavy performances, especially "Life Goes On", so check out both of their new videos, and here's their new Down cover from yesterday!



Next up, here's some new videos from Kinross hard rockers Banned! No less than FOUR videos from their set on Saturday night at The Bird have been posted onto band members' Alex & Don Traynor's sister/daughter Ashley Traynor's YouTube channel over the last two days, which is awesome, so kudos to Ashley for filming these! The videos are of Banned covering Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine", Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight", Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World", and (as embedded below) Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box", so click on each link to see her videos from Saturday night! For reference sake, Alex sings lead on each posted song except "Wonderful Tonight", which Don sang lead on. I find it odd that Banned's new singer/keyboardist Mike Straw doesn't seem to do much of either in the posted videos we've seen of Banned's current lineup, beyond backing vocals. Maybe it's just a coincidence or a slow build, but I'm curious to hear more of his talents! Overall though, these are fairly solid performances by Banned, though Alex definitely handles vocals better on songs that had higher-voiced singers originally. Good stuff all round, so check the above links for all the new (and old) Banned videos, and here's their cover of "Man In The Box"!



Finally, here's some new solo performance videos from a pair of Sault Ontario musicians, starting with the latest guitar cover from Neno Jovanovic! Like his other recent covers, this is of him playing the guitar tracks along with the rest of the original song, and in this case, it's a cover of Mastodon's "Blood & Thunder". It's a good cover, he knows the original well, but it'd be nice if it was the full song and if it was a bit louder in the mix. Still, it's worth checking out, so here's Neno's cover of "Blood & Thunder", as uploaded to his YouTube channel on Thursday!



And finally, ApocalyptiCDitroyeR frontman Jesse Middaugh has posted two new solo performance videos onto the band's YouTube channel! These are two weeks old, so I apologize for being late to mention these on here, they just slipped me by. These are the first videos that Jesse's posted on his YouTube in over four months that feature him on an electric guitar, which is good to see, and they're of his cover of Simple Plan's "Jet Lag" and (as embedded below) an original track named "The New One"! I'm not high on Simple Plan, but these new videos show off Jesse's guitar skills well, and the new track has promise as a hard rocking number, so definitely give these new videos a look above and below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile later this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half A Man), Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, And The Latest From Rock 101!!

As promised, here's our second weekend concert preview post for this weekend's metal & hard rock shows in Sault Michigan! While there's a few shows across the river for your metal needs, including a notable local band's debut, we also have news from Rock 101 and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this summer as well, so here's what you need to know! (And I apologize for not being able to make the Rosie metal night tonight, we have errands to run very early tomorrow morning. I'll be at TWO shows on Saturday though, so I hope to see you guys then!)

Brimley hard rockers Half A Man have announced their first concert after a long break from the stage, and it will take place at this year's LemmaFest! Yes, the Sault Michigan concert festival in honour of the late Michael Lemma will return to the stage outside of Dondee Lanes on June 23rd, as per this Facebook event page, but full details aren't out yet. For Half A Man, this is their first announced concert since May of last year, and barring any additional dates announced in the interim, this will be their first concert since adding new singer Dillion Semasky and parting ways with guitarist Denny Breslin, so things will look and sound noticeably different from their past live run. Notably, Half A Man were tentatively lined up for the first LemmaFest last year before they opted out due to other commitments, so it'll be good to see them taking part this year! Again, full details aren't out yet, but admission last year was $10, it was an all ages event, and it went from 12:00 PM through the night last year with bands like Swayze Train, Infathom, Scofflaw, and Powerslug among the performers, so that's an indication of what could be ahead. It'll be great to finally see Half A Man back on stage after over a year away, but stay tuned for more from them and LemmaFest over the coming months at the above links, and check out Half A Man's tribute song to Michael Lemma at this location!

Now to this weekend's concert previews for the metal & hard rock concerts that I know of in the Sault Michigan area, so here's what you need to know for your concertgoing needs across the river! First, a new local band makes their concert debut TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT as local hard rock trio Trail's End will play their first concerts at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino! As you may remember, this is the new band from Splitshot/Nixxon Dixxon alumni Chris Hubbard, Kyle Beaumont, and Jake LaLonde, who'll debut their new band three weeks after Splitshot's last concerts in St. Ignace took place. We know that the guys have clear talent from their past local work, but how will Trail's End's live show do? Time will tell, so definitely consider checking them out this weekend! Note that they aren't publically advertising these shows on their Facebook page, but Kewadin Casino's entertainment page still confirms these dates, so I assume they're on as scheduled. Both tonight & tomorrow's concerts should have no cover charge, 21+ age limits, and 10:00 PM-ish start times. Check the above links for more details! It's great to see Trail's End debut, and hopefully Chris, Kyle, and Jake reach new heights with this new project! Go see them at the casino if you can, and for a preview, here's their first original song "Run"!



Also this weekend on the heavier side of things is Kinross hard rock quartet Banned's next concert, taking place on SATURDAY NIGHT at The Bird, a.k.a. Golanka's Bar! One week after their set at Yooper's Got Talent in Rudyard, this rising local band will play their first "real" public concert in three weeks when they rock The Bird with a mix of covers and originals (more on that in a second) in their first public headlining show of the new year! Note that Banned are NOT playing tonight, this is a one night engagement for this weekend. Admission is likely free, everything starts at 10:00 PM tomorrow, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for more details! Banned should deliver a solid set of hard rock covers for their fans this weekend, but for a preview, here's a brand new video of their current lineup! Filmed by guitarist Alex Traynor's sister Ashley (and drummer Don Traynor's daughter), this comes from the Yooper's Got Talent event in Rudyard this past weekend, and it was uploaded to Ashley's YouTube channel yesterday. This is the first footage I've seen of Banned with new members Jim Pentland & Mike Straw, and it's of an original song also called "Yooper's Got Talent", fittingly enough!

Featuring Alex on lead vocals and guitar, and Mike on backing vocals, this is the first original I've heard Banned do, and it has sort of a bluesy/southern rock vibe. It's not bad, though it could stand to be a bit heavier, but Alex uses his vocal range and solo guitar skills well! I like the audience participation element too, nice touch! Check out the video below, and also check out Ashley Traynor's YouTube channel linked above for Alex and Don's set at what looks like the same talent show last year with a Banned predecessor outfit!



And finally for today, here's a piece of news from The Sault's Rock Station, Rock 101. On Tuesday, it was announced that our local rock radio station has reached an extension on their deal with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, that will see radio broadcasts of all our Ontario Hockey League team's regular season & playoff games continue on 101.3 FM for at least three more years, running through at least the 2014-15 season. Rock 101 originally picked up the Soo Greyhounds' broadcasting rights in 2009, when the Hounds left Sault Ontario country station Q104. The new deal doesn't mention anything about that Tuesday talk show that was hosted at Wacky Wings, but I'm not sure if it even still airs. I'm a Greyhounds fan, and I'm glad to see that they've formed a solid and successful partnership with Rock 101, but I know there's Rock 101 fans in the area who don't like the radio broadcasts cutting in to the rock music time, or would rather see a Sault Ontario team broadcasting on a Sault Ontario station. I bring it up here because we cover Rock 101 and this is on their schedule, but regardless, this is a great relationship for both parties, and hockey fans should be glad that they have an awesome partner in place to broadcast their games!

Besides, if you want rock radio on a weekday evening or a Sunday afternoon, or whenever games air, there's always WLSO and the Mackinac City-area stations to tune in to, so put them into consideration for your rock radio needs when the Hounds are on. For more on this topic, read Jeffery Ougler's Sault Star article on the new deal at this location, and go Hounds go!

That's all for tonight, but I have a logjam of news to get to tomorrow, so stay tuned for all of that, including some big stories and new videos! Thanks everyone!