LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stiffler's Mom), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Four posts in two days, we're off to a fast start for 2014! Today's post mostly relates to weekend concert previews, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for Saturday night, but we also have lineup notes and debuts for two hard rock bands playing this weekend, and some more assorted notes to round out today's post. As for Tym Morrison's weekly arrangement at The Harp, while I assume it'll continue tomorrow night, I am currently awaiting official confirmation, but when announced, that will be up on the site as soon as possible. Now, let's begin today's news/preview post!

Local party/hard rock mainstays Stiffler's Mom will kick off 2014 in style with a headlining concert THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only just announced on Monday, and I held it until today to avoid a redundant re-post. The first local concert date for Stiffler's Mom since we officially rolled them into our full coverage, Greg, Mike, and Jobn were last seen upstairs at The Rockstar Bar six weeks ago, and if you're familiar with their fun live concert dates and skilled experience, you'll know they'll be up to their usual tricks again in their first date of the new year! A $5 cover charge is likely for Saturday night, a 10:00 PM start time is likely as well, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the above links (as for one reason or another, this show doesn't have an event page like their late-2013 shows.) This should be an entertaining and often heavy show, so keep it in mind for THIS SATURDAY, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train"!



Now to the weekend's heavier dates that we knew about already, including the new Griphook lineup's public debut TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Roosevelt Hotel! As you may remember, the band officially replaced Ottawa-bound frontman Jim O'Leary with bassist Dan Beaupre's former 100 Gran bandmate Joel Syrette last week, so this weekend's concerts will be the local hard/classic rock quartet's first verifiable live gigs with Joel up front and their first public non-stag & doe appearance since the Ray Brown benefit in October (not counting 7 Year Itch dates.) Last seen at The Rosie in April, it'll be interesting to hear how the new Griphook lineup does, but Joel & Dan have chemistry from the 100 Gran days, and while Joel isn't overly similar to Jim musically from what I've seen, he is a very talented singer & guitarist, so this should work well! Admission should be free for this weekend's 19+ dates, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's Griphook's original lineup covering AC/DC last year!

Finally for currently confirmable heavier shows this weekend, prolific Sault Michigan hard rockers RamWagon will debut a new lineup of their own TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT when they make their first 2014 stops at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! These will be RamWagon's first dates since replacing the departed Marcel Grengs with former Monkey's Uncle drummer Ron Suchey, and given Ron's past work in that band with RamWagon bandmate Nathan Switzer, there should be ready-made chemistry for the new lineup's debut this weekend! Also in lineup changes, the band appears to have parted ways with guitarist Cody Reed at some point late last year, as per his absence from their currently listed Facebook lineup. Unlike with Marcel, a reason has not been publically announced for Cody's departure, but it sounds like it happened somewhat recently, as Cody's personal Facebook page still has RamWagon's banner as his cover photo. He has not been replaced as of yet, but hopefully the split was amicable, and best of luck to Cody in the future!

With lots of wide-ranging modern and older hard rock covers in store, kick off 2014 in good order for the first heavier shows of 2014 across the river with RamWagon! Like usual, there's no announced cover charge, a 9:00 PM-ish start time, and a 21+ age limit. For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's RamWagon's original lineup covering Cameo at LemmaFest last summer!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or company name:

• If you didn't hear any more formal word on why Colosimo's Music Store closed, it's likely related to the closure of it's original Thunder Bay location last August due to declining business as a result of online shopping, as per this news article. Info on the Soo branch (which replaced the relocated Case's Music on Spring Street in 2012) isn't given there, but it definitely closed around the same time last summer. At least nothing bad happened locally, but best of luck to the former staff!
• Were you still curious as to the identity of The Debts, the new punk band that headlined the Danger Cats-featured X-Mess acoustic show at LopLops last month? I assume it's safe to say now that their lineup includes prolific local musician (and Case's Music owner) Jay Case, Blues Harvest/Pesto Shirts alum Jake Rendell, and his former Garage Inc. bandmate Ryan Seabrook. I know they're not a metal band, but I just wanted to answer an open question from our coverage of this event! My source is personal Facebook postings.
• "The original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage have announced a new album for release in 2014, that being a sequel to last year's "Environ-Mental Suits" (subtitled "Anvil of Antioch".) It's album cover was posted on their Facebook page on Tuesday, and it's considered their 45th album, indicating that at least one more is in the works for this year (as they have 43 officially so far.) Release details are forthcoming, but this will likely be a free release like their other recent albums. I'm curious to hear more, and stay tuned!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow in case there's any late-notice concerts to plug, with other news also lying in wait! Thanks everyone!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!

New Song Uploads & Much More Recent Updates!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Today at the SMS, we're mostly tackling some smaller news stories, especially as a few big concerts are still awaiting either a venue confirmation, a public announcement that they're indeed happening, or this weekend's concert preview posts, as at least two were announced too late to warrant posting twice in a stretch of a few days. Along with some feature profile updates and more notes, we'll start with some new song uploads, so read on below to get caught up!

First, we have a surprise new live recording upload from defunct local metal band Faithless Sin! Bassist Ryan Gratton (now of Chronic Demonic) uploaded this to his YouTube channel yesterday, and it features their 2006 lineup covering "Die By The Sword" & "Black Magic" from Slayer's first album "Show No Mercy". According to his personal Facebook post on this upload, the lineup present here includes Ryan alongside Winkstinger's Jason Bourcier on vocals, guitarists Joe Falco & Frank La Tassa, and drummer Mark Parent. Ryan did apologize for the recording quality, but it's not unlistenable, just a little rough sounding, especially in terms of vocal clarity. The guys have these songs well in hand, and it's a nice sampling of the sound that Jason & Mark brought to Faithless Sin's late 2000s successors Time of Ruin! Check out Faithless Sin's Slayer combo below, and stay tuned for updates on the members' current & next music projects!



Next up, here's a new song from local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore! Expected to be on their forthcoming full length demo early next year, this song is called "People These Days", and it was uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel on Sunday. Compared to many of their earlier songs, the instrumentation sounds fuller and more complete (I like the guitar work), but it's fairly muffled in contrast to Ringsnaps Gibson's pig squeal vocals, which are still going to polarize listeners who aren't existing fans of the style. I like the musical expansion though! Check out "People These Days" below, and stay tuned for more from the label soon!



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

• Local sludge/stoner metal trio AlgomA are looking for someone who can film and record their concerts for 62nd Chamber Productions film projects, as per 62nd Chamber's Facebook page yesterday. Experience with video camera & audio recording equipment is a plus, and for now at least, the position is a volunteer role. If you're interested in helping out, message singer/guitarist Darby Wigwaus at boydrendell@gmail.com!
• Spring Street music/lessons shop Colosimo's Music Store has apparently already closed. A statement hasn't been made, but their Facebook page & website are both down, and there has been no employee posts on their surviving Facebook groups since May, so I take it they quietly closed local operations this summer. It's disappointing that they couldn't succeed longer here, but with 4 established Sault Ontario music stores to compete with, they were already in a crowded market. I've moved Colosimo's to our "Other Sault Ontario Links", and best of luck to all of the former staff!
• Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night have posted two new instrumental demos onto their Reverbnation page, presumably towards their next albums, including a new version of "A Wintery Mix" and a brand new track named "Nosferatu's Dream". Very solid for both, dark and orchestral in tone (though "A Wintery Mix" is heavier), so give it all a look at the above links!

Finally for today, here's some updates to some of our monthly feature posts! Starting in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles, I added a link to the Fresh Magazine interview with Downtown Showdown winners Bring The Fallen in our profile of that battle, as the interview was a prize for their victory, while I replaced the recently inactive Daybreak Johnnies with the newer band The Hydra's Teeth (who also have Late & Loud members) when noting the later bands of performers at the Humane Society Battle of the Bands in our profile of it. Finally, I edited notes on the Battle for the Blood profile to note that the scoring for that battle was done by a paper voting ballot, not by crowd reaction, as a battle under similar rules and promotion is in the works (and we'll have more on that here when announced, so stay tuned!) Moving back to our YouTube Channel Profile Updates, I edited references on our profile of Stillbroke's YouTube channel to further emphasize their breakup last year (with Jesse & Sam moved out of town, it's more than a hiatus at this point) Lastly for now, I expanded the videos on all 2011 profiles & the remaining Sault Michigan profiles in this series. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews this week, including last month's poll results & this month's new poll on Friday! Thanks everyone!

Trapt/Hinder Fallout, New Videos, And More Recent Updates!!

The news keeps coming in, and our streak of consecutive days with new posts will run until at least the end of the month, as tomorrow (day 34) will see our review of SweetKenny's new album, so keep an eye out for that! Today though, we have some more recent news and notes, including a few new videos, but first, here's some fallout from a major concert that took place last weekend!

Waiting for any videos or news articles from this past Sunday's Trapt/Hinder concert at The Dreammaker's Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino? I've finally got some to share, including a rare Kewadin Casino hard rock concert review on SooToday! Oddly not from usual concert reviewer/photographer Donna Hopper, the review heaps praise on the three bands (including fan-friendly openers Acidic), though it mostly focuses on Hinder's headlining set and how well recieved it was by attendees, especially during "Lips of an Angel" and "Get Stoned". I've never been high on Hinder myself, but it shows that their sound has a large appeal, and if fans left happy, that's what matters! 11 photos were also included in the article linked above, mostly of Hinder, but there are three from Trapt's set and one of Acidic frontman Mike Gossard as well. As for videos, I've only found two YouTube channels with any, including two Hinder videos from YouTube user suffacation2 (who had previously posted videos from local Papa Roach, Buckcherry, and Billy Talent shows), so click here to check out two videos of Hinder's biggest hits mentioned above!

The other new videos are courtesy of YouTube user Autumn Beard, in what are her first local concert videos, and including videos of the same Hinder songs above (plus "Better Than Me" and "Get Me Away From You"), and two Trapt videos of their songs "Headstrong" and "Sound Off"! These videos are alright too, and centered well, though the videos have an odd blur effect when the camera moves, and people's heads do sometimes get in the way. Check out Trapt playing "Sound Off" below, and see more from the show at the above links!



Next up, here's a new video from new stoner/sludge metal trio AlgomA! This is of their set-opening original song "Fell Down A Well", complete with the projected video that was synched up with it at 180 Projects last weekend. Uploaded to their YouTube channel this morning, the video footage used is from the 1926 German silent movie "Faust", and the sample intro comes from a Charles Manson interview. Featuring Kevin "Marty Chase" Campbell on lead vocals, this recording (which is from a jam session and not their concert last Sunday) sounds pretty good, and it captures the vocals and individual performances clearer, which is good to have! I'd be curious to see their other songs with the videos synched up too, but for now, this works, so check out AlgomA's quality doom metal sounds below!



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

• Sault Ontario music store Colosimo's Music has started a brand new Facebook page, so become a fan of it at this location for updates! Remember, this store opened last summer, and is located at 173 Spring Street (the original location of Case's Music before they moved.)
• Remember when a band named K.I.C.K. was scheduled for Toystock at The Canadian Nightclub in November, but later dropped out? As it turns out, they're an acoustic rock trio featuring Cowboys & Indians/Shore drummer Aaron Dunn that have been active since last summer, and they've been seen at a number of recent unplugged gigs. I know they're not metal, but I wanted to acknowledge the answer to a lingering question from our Toystock coverage, so now we know!
• Toast guitarist Mike Libertoski has uploaded a new 7 minute original instrumental named "Information" to his SoundCloud page on Tuesday, and it's an awesome sounding technical compositon with plenty of time changes and brutal solos and riffs, so check it out at the above links, and stay tuned for more from his solo work (and perhaps his most recent bands?)

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's CD review tomorrow in our likely last post of the month! Thanks everyone!

Weekend Concert Previews, A New Local Music Store, And This Week's Classic Video!!

We're back to news and previews for today's post, and these include previews for this weekend's slate of hard rock/metal concerts! It's another light weekend on the heavier side of the spectrum, but if any late notice gigs come up, I'll let you know as soon as possible! Also stay tuned after the previews for notes on Sault Ontario's latest music store and this week's classic video, but for now, here's what you need to know!

First in our previews are the latest solo concerts from Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison, who will bring his acoustic sets to two local venues this weekend! First on his itinerary, Tym will play his first ever solo concert at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill at 743 Trunk Road tomorrow night, which is very eastern compared to most of Tym's past solo venues, but if you on the east end or around this venue, this might be convenient! Note that tomorrow's show is NOT at the similarly named Zone Roadhouse in Goulais River, which Tym has played at in the past. Saturday's concert will take place at The Eagles Club on Old Trout Lake Road, which will be his first show at this venue in over a year & a half. Once a regular there with his own bi-weekly concert arrangement, it'll be good to see Tym back up north for this concert on Saturday, so don't miss it either if you can help it! Admission should be free for both of these concerts, with 10:00 & 9:00 PM start times respectively and a likely 19+ cover charge. For more details, click here & here!

It's great to see Tym ramping up his unplugged solo concerts since their return last week, and hopefully his shows at The Roadhouse & The Eagles Club go swimmingly and encourage future returns there, so go check him out this weekend, and for a preview, here's Tym & former Half Past singer Luke LeBlanc covering Extreme's "More Than Words"!



Now to Sault Michigan for the last known hard rock concerts of the weekend, as local hard rockers Monkey's Uncle will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino tomorrow & Saturday night! Their first announced concerts since the Sault Riverview Music Festival (I stress "announced", as their online pages are rarely updated to plug likely shows at other venues), this veteran hard rock outfit should be raring to go with plenty of entertaining hard rock originals and covers in this latest concert weekend of theirs, so if you're up for some heavier live music across the river tomorrow or Saturday, head to the casino! Admission should be free for these 21+ concerts, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more information, click here! These should be some good nights of music from Monkey's Uncle, who do deliver from what I know, so don't miss them this weekend, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" a few years back!

Next up, Sault Ontario has a new music store, and it's in a familiar location! After a brief vacancy, the former Case's Music location at 173 Spring Street returned to the music instrument/lesson business in (I think) August as Colosimo's Music Store! As best as I can tell, this is a new branch of an existing music store in Thunder Bay that has seen it's own successes & longevity there, though I don't know if this is the beginning of a chain or just a small expansion. According to the local store's Facebook page, Colosimo's offers a wide variety of instruments, as well as lessons in everything from singing and guitar to mandolin and banjo, and Facebook features some photos of the interior so you can see some of the instrument stock. Their current hours are 10:00 AM-5:00 PM every day except Sunday, and their current number is (705) 450-4222, so check the above links for details! I wish Colosimo's the best locally, and they seem to have a good track record and everything together, but I wonder if their proximity to the other local music stores will affect them?

Though the Spring Street location is familiar to Case's Music regulars, Colosimo's are now competing with Northland Music, Music Depot, The Thomas Walls School of Music, and the new Case's Music location, all within 5 minutes of each other, and it'll be interesting to see how all 5 fare in the coming months. Still, hopefully Colosimo's does well, and I've added them to our listings of local music stores on the bottom left sidebar on the SMS itself!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! Returning to our general intention of tying these weekly uploads in with performers at upcoming concerts, I've opted to focus on Tym Morrison this week, specifically a previously Facebook-only video of his band Caveman Morrison from a couple of years ago. As you may know, Caveman Morrison are far more known for their covers than for original material (though they have covered Tym's solo originals for certain events), which makes this video from a Rockstar Bar gig on December 11th, 2009 a bit surprising, as it's of Caveman Morrison playing an improvised original song! It's just 77 seconds in length, but it shows their then-lineup (Tym, then-bassist Rick White, and then-drummer Jeff "Shrek Ogre" Richards) in solid form playing a very catchy little number, and it's be interesting to see Tym adapt this to a complete solo track!

This video was filmed by an attendee and later uploaded by Rick to his personal Facebook page a week later, and the original video can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=235603496302. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Caveman Morrison, I'm just trying to share it with a wider audience! It's a fun little clip that would be interesting to see more of from Tym & company, so check out this improvised original below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes hopefully this weekend! Thanks everyone!