LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stiffler's Mom & 415E) And More Weekend Concert Previews!!

Let's cover the rest of this weekend's currently announced weekend concert previews today, all including most of the weekend's Saturday night hard rock shows, but we'll start with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you need to know, and check out more weekend concert previews (including for shows today) in the post below this one!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet 415E are playing a house party concert THIS SATURDAY (with publically announced address) in honour of drummer Tony Hubbard's 60th birthday! Apologies for the short notice, the event was announced on the band's Facebook page on Monday. Oddly described as a "surprise birthday bash" despite being publically announced on Facebook (and Tony playing at the event, no less), this will be 415E's first show since their Rockfest charity gig in Brimley, and continues a string of summer concerts outside of their usual Kewadin Casino range. The band said that there will also be a block for open mic performers on Saturday, so if you can sing or play anything, keep that in mind! To be held at 3000 South Radar Road in Sault Ste. Marie (at the corner of West 3 Mile Road, near the theatre/future Meijer site), there is no announced cover charge or age limit, and everything starts at 4:00 PM. For more details, visit the above links, and happy early birthday, Tony! Here's 415E live!

Next up, Sault Ontario party hard rock cover trio Stiffler's Mom will return to The Rockstar Bar for a one-nighter THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies again for the short notice, this show was only announced on Sunday, so we held it for this weekend's previews. This will be Greg, Mike, and Jon's first announced concert since their Rednecks Saloon gig two months ago, and first at The Rockstar Bar since June 4th, and it's great to see this popular veteran outfit back on stage for another night of hard rocking classics! Note that this is a one-nighter due to the new Rockstar Republic club nights continuing tomorrow across both bars at The Algonquin Hotel.As usual for their Rockstar Bar gigs, there is a 19+ age limit, 10:00 PM start time, and no announced cover charge (but bring $5 just in case.) For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's Stiffler's Mom live last year!



Closing with previously announced concerts, we'll stay in Sault Ontario with the long awaited return of Toronto hard rock quintet Diemonds for a headlining concert TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rednecks Saloon! Making their (at least) third appearance in the Soo tomorrow, this female-fronted outfit have a hard hitting and energetic blend of originals that definitely left fans on a high in their 2009 & 2013 shows here, and fans should expect more of the same from this high impact quintet tomorrow night! Local support will come via death metal standouts The Bear Hunters and punk/metal quintet Jack Spades (in their last announced show before their split release show in October), and the latter are especially fitting to open, given that J.D. Pearce & Tiffany Stocco opened for Diemonds with T-Rex Manning two years ago! Promoted by Destroilet singer Brent Ellis (a.k.a. Buck Norris), this 19+ show will have a $5 cover charge and a 9:00 PM start time. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and don't miss what should be an explosive concert TOMORROW! For a preview, here's Diemonds live!

Finally, we'll head back to the Eastern Upper Peninsula, where Kinross, Michigan hard/classic rock trio Banned will headline at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Fresh off of a road trip to Drummond Island last weekend, these will be Alex, Don, and Wayne's first shows in St. Ignace in over three months, so if you live in that area and have missed Banned in recent weeks, here's your chance! This popular cover trio (with select originals) should entertain at The Northern Pines Lounge all weekend long, so be sure not to miss Banned this weekend, as it's anyone's guess when their next shows will be announced! These 21+ concerts start at 9:00 PM, and neither has an announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Banned playing a song whose title is something many locals have been wondering about lately!




That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post, possibly with more late notice show announcements, tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Diemonds), Recent Concert Videos, And More!!

We're back to some news and notes on this Tuesday, including some assorted recent updates, two more new videos from a big summer concert, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next weekend, so here's what you should know!

Toronto hard rock quintet Diemonds will return to Sault Ontario next Friday (August 21st) for a headlining show at The Rednecks Saloon! Last seen here in November 2013 at The Algonquin Pub, this female-fronted power outfit always bring a great time to the stage, as seen in 2013 and way back in 2009, and with their new CD "Never Wanna Die" in tow for their Infest The West tour, fans won't want to miss Diemonds' intense live show in 10 days time! Local support will come courtesy of local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters and at least one more band to be announced, so message promoters if you want in! For reference, 2013's Diemonds show featured the now-inactive T-Rex Manning & Punch as openers. Promoted by Destroilet singer Brenton Ellis (under his recent online handle Buck Norris), next week's 19+ concert will have a $5 cover charge, and there's a 9:00 PM start time listed. For more details on this concert, visit the official Facebook event page!

It's great to see Diemonds come back to the Soo after an almost two year wait, and hopefully there's a great turnout next weekend! It's also worth noting that Brent is picking up steam lately as a promoter, primarily at The Rednecks Saloon, which is encouraging, and hopefully he keeps at it if things go well! Stay tuned for updates on this show as they come in!

Next up, here's the last of the recent concert videos from YouTube user Melissa Morrison's channel, as uploaded last week along with her LopLops footage, so what should you know? Though not labelled as such, these appear to come from the Archaics-headlined concert at The New American Pub on June 1st, with photos from that show matching performers' clothing and the stage setup. Melissa posted two videos from the concert, both of local bands making their New A debuts that night, including this one of local alternative/grunge trio The Pixo Control covering the 1960s rock classic "Twist & Shout" in their usual slowed down, then sped up style. Though shot on the vertical angle like most concert videos on the channel, Melissa had a nice clear view of the guys in action, and the audio's very good to boot, but note that the very beginning is cut off. Give this new Pixo Control video a look below!



Melissa's other video from the Archaics show was of local post-punk/garage rock quartet Gnaeus playing a song that I admittedly can't title, but it is familiar from concerts, and has a nice fast paced ending that shows their punk side nicely! Strong work as usual from the VM Radio Battle winners, so give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Gnaeus!



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

• Turner Up/Wishbone alum Brent Royer is looking for a bassist for his new local band project, who apparently play "80s and 90s rock". No other details were offered, but I assume Brent's either the singer or drummer, given his past local band roles. If you're interested in trying out on bass for Brent's new band, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Sunday!
• Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi has entered the local post-punk quartet in the music website Indi's Original Song Challenge, where the winning band could win $50,000, so be sure to throw them a vote to help the cause! The submitted song appears to be "Lovers", as an existing YouTube video of it is embedded within.
• Mourning Wood/Asylum Country drummer T.J. Case is apparently looking to drum in a new band, as per his own Musicians Wanted Facebook group post on Sunday. He noted that he has 13 years of experience, and can do session, live, and tour work, but no word on if this means anything negative for his current local bands. T.J.'s a great drummer who can play almost anything, so if you want to try him out, message him above or at this link!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bret Michaels), And Some New Video Finds!!

I wasn't expecting to have a second post today, but with a new promotional video for a local metal concert taking place TONIGHT, I threw this one together, so what's joining said clip? A new video discovery from two time local battle of the bands veterans, but first, here's a HUGE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT that you hair metal fans should enjoy for early next year (and check out most of the weekend's Sault Ontario metal/hard rock concert previews in the post below this one!)

Poison frontman and TV personality Bret Michaels will once again return to the region for a headlining concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino during his Life Rocks Tour on Saturday, January 18th! Definitely no stranger to Sault Ste. Marie, we last saw the "Rock My RV" host at Kewadin in December 2011 (which followed dates there in 2008 & 2010, plus at the former Eastgate Hotel in Sault Ontario in 2005), so you know there'll be a sizeable crowd back at the Soo Kewadin in January for his (at least) fifth local solo concert! Bret's a glam metal mainstay who's sold millions of records with Poison, and with his new collaborative album named "Jammin' With Friends" now on sale, he'll have some classic Poison hits and newer originals ready to rock this time around for what is the first announced local hard rock show of 2014! Bret's opening band in January will be North Carolina glam metal quartet FireHouse, who will return to the Soo for the first time since opening for Skid Row there in March 2009!

Best known for hit singles like "Don't Treat Me Bad" &  "When I Look Into Your Eyes", the inclusion of FireHouse as openers is extra fitting, as they were scheduled to open for Bret's March 2008 local concert before frontman C.J. Snare's wife went into labour (locals Nixxon Dixxon filled in on short notice), so it's great to see FireHouse opening for Bret locally as was originally planned almost 6 years ago! Tickets will go on sale for this ALL AGES concert on November 29th (one week from Friday), and they will cost either $52.50 or $42.50 depending on location, and a 7:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit Kewadin Casino's Facebook page! It's great to see Bret Michaels back in town after over 2 years away, and while I'm not a huge fan of Poison, he's well liked and definitely talented musically, and an effective redo of his & FireHouse's 2008 show can't be a bad thing! Get your tickets next Friday at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN, and stay tuned for any possible updates!

Next up, here's a new music video discovery from defunct local/Oil Springs metal band Sue Inside! While researching them for tomorrow's YouTube Channel Profile on frontman Shane Lipsit-Fraser's personal channel, I found a newer official channel of theirs that saw just one upload in April 2012 before their fall into inactivity, and it's a music video for one of their last original songs, "Caligula"! Filmed in black & white and on multiple camera angles, it features Shane on harsh vocals & guitar, Adam Veen on clean vocals & bass, and Jeff Vogel on drums. The editing's a bit predictable in terms of what camera angles take place when, but it's well filmed otherwise, and this is still a really promising sign of what could have been for Sue Inside. I always liked Adam's vocal ability and tone, and that (plus his bass work) added a missing piece to their sound, but as well, Shane & Jeff's more extreme local run as a duo in the late 2000s was about 2 years ahead of it's time. I firmly believe that if they played the same material in the early 2010s, they'd have been a lot more successful, but check out Sue Inside's last video posting below!

Finally for today, remember how we previewed TONIGHT'S Diemonds-headlined concert at The Algonquin Pub in this morning's post? Well, the Toronto sleaze rock quintet posted this public service announcement video onto their YouTube channel just a little while ago to hype the concert! It's a PSA from (I believe) guitarist Daniel Dekay to address the fact that 9 out of 10 men suffer from a lack of rock, and the solution is to come to The Algonquin Pub for their show tonight! Note that the video's description says the show takes place upstairs at The Rockstar Bar, but I assume that's an error, everywhere else says it's downstairs. Neat and short clip that is cool to see, especially with the tailoring to the local date, so check it out below, and don't miss Diemonds, T-Rex Manning, and Punch TONIGHT! 10:00 PM, 19+, $5!



That's all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for the rest of our weekend concert previews, plus the aforementioned YouTube Channel Profile on Sue Inside's frontman's channel! Thanks everyone!

Most Of This Weekend's Sault Ontario Metal/Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

We have quite a busy concert weekend coming up (abnormally such for November), so before we get into the first of our previews, here's a breakdown of our preview schedule. Today, we'll profile Sault Ontario metal/hard rock shows taking place between TONIGHT and Saturday, with tomorrow's post focused around Sault Michigan-area shows, and maybe Sunday night's Biipiigwan show in Sault Ontario, but if any late notice gigs come to my attention, we'll move the Biipiigwan preview to it's own Saturday post. With that said, let's begin tackling this stacked concert weekend!

We'll start our previews TONIGHT at The Algonquin Pub (or "The Zoo" if you prefer), as Toronto sleaze/hard rock quintet Diemonds will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario for another headlining concert! Last seen at the old Coch's Corner in mid-2009 in a show we actually were late to hear about on the SMS, Diemonds have a fun party sound that should attract punk and hard rock fans in good measure with their female-fronted and often sleazy sound, so they should get a solid response tonight! The local openers include the long awaited return of local punk/metal quartet T-Rex Manning (replacing The Danger Cats), who will make their first local concert appearance in 6 months tonight, and it's good to see another Rex Manning Day on the local stage! Note that I can not confirm if drummer Rick White will be back on stage to play with the band tonight, but he is a confirmed attendee on the Facebook event page, so fingers crossed! The other local opening band is new local hard rock quartet Punch (fresh off their 3rd place Viva La Battle run), so don't be late for hard hitting originals & covers from this union of Haggith & Suicide Kings members!

The first Algonquin Pub concert from promoter/T-Rex Manning frontman J.D. Pearce in over 4 months, admission will be $5 for this 19+ concert, and there is a 10:00 PM start time. For more details, visit the above links! Diemonds and the locals should put in an awesome show full of hard rock intensity TONIGHT, so don't miss out if you can help it, and for a preview, here's Diemonds rocking a Toronto stage last month!



Moving to shows taking place TOMORROW NIGHT, local grunge/alternative rock quartet Haggith will play for the third & final time at The New American Pub, in what will be their last date before next month's farewell concert. Though their amicable finality is impending, this popular local band still have a lot of rocking to give tomorrow, and they have plenty of fun and aggressive originals (plus select covers) to bring to the stage, so if you're at The New A at 602 Bay Street tomorrow, just have a great time! A late notice opener has been secured, as prominent local hard rock quartet The Suicide Kings will finally return to the stage tomorrow in their New American debut for the first time since August's Airbourne concert! I don't know what led to their 3 month break from the stage (including dropping out of Viva La Battle), but I can confirm that their lineup has not changed, so Steven Flint & Ben Boudreau really are in 3 bands together now, including These Sins of Time & with half of Haggith in Punch.

It's great to have the two top bands from April's Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands back on stage together again one last time, so don't miss this hard rock explosion at The New A tomorrow night! A cover charge in the $4 range is likely, you must be 19 to attend, and everything starts at 9:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I wonder if the presence of Punch's entire lineup tomorrow will lead to a surprise appearance by them? No idea, but hopefully tomorrow's concert goes awesome, and it's still a bummer that Haggith are breaking up! For a preview, here's Haggith playing their/Punch's original "Metal Cage"!



Also TOMORROW, new classic/hard rock quartet Glitch will play their second ever live concert when they return to the site of their debut (The Rockstar Bar) for another solo headlining gig! The new band featuring Sneaky Pete, Lion Ride, and Tripod The Dog alumni made a good impression in their September debut with their varied (and often heavy) cover setlist, and after taking October off, you know this veteran outfit will be raring to go once again! A $5 cover charge (or something close) is likely, a 19+ age limit is to be expected, and everything starts at 10:30 PM tomorrow night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Glitch have a lot of talent and hard rock experience between them, so keep tomorrow's show in mind for a fun party experience, and if you can't make the show, hit them up at Toystock at The Canadian on December 1st! For a preview, here's Glitch covering a Rolling Stones song in their live debut in September!



Finally for today's previews, fellow local classic hard rockers (and Toystock performers) The Thrill Junkies will play their third concert weekend at The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! This union of Turner Up, Havadder, Redundant, Carbon Black, and Full Circle alumni have been rocking local venues to good acclaim since their regional debut since September, and with their aresnal of classic, hard, and general rock covers, you won't want to miss out in their return to The Rosie this weekend! In fact, these shows are helping kick off The Rosie's return after  a 3 week closure period due to the agreement from that over-serving incident, so it's good to have this popular venue back as well! Admission should be free for this weekend's 10:30 PM shows, and you must be 19 to attend either night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be another fun weekend from these talented local music veterans, so if you can't make Toystock, keep this weekend's Thrill Junkies shows in mind, and when we have videos or media from their live concerts, we'll have them here!

That's probably all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for our Sault Michigan previews, and a preview of either the Biipiigwan show on Sunday or a late notice show, plus our newest YouTube Channel Profile tomorrow night! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Diemonds), Big Loonie Bus Show Videos, And More!!

In this Friday night auto-post (apologies if anything major isn't up yet, it's coming!), we have some assorted recent news and notes, a new live concert video, and a preview for a Sunday night concert in Sault Ontario, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!

Toronto hard rock quintet Diemonds will make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario on Thursday, November 21st at The Algonquin Pub! Last seen locally at the old Coch's Corner in the summer of 2009, this female fronted outfit have a fun and sleazy swagger that should fit in well for their next local stop, and after missing their 2009 show until after it took place, it's nice to get a rain check to cover it fully on here! Local all-female hard rock quartet The Danger Cats will open the show in their fourth full concert appearance (and first at The Algonquin since debuting there last month), and they should be a solid fit as they continue to carve a local name with their entertaining and growing sound! The Facebook event page still hypes bands to be announced, and if any do get added, we'll let you guys know. Promoted by Frightlight/Jack Spades frontman J.D. Pearce (in his first Algonquin Pub show in over 4 months), admission will be $5 with a 10:00 PM start time, and you must be 19 to attend. Check the above links for more details!

It's great to have Diemonds back in town after such a long wait, and hopefully there's a big turnout next month for their return, and for The Danger Cats too! Stay tuned for updates as they roll in!

Next up, here's the first new videos from The Big Loonie Bus Show at La Cucina in Echo Bay last week, starting with local death metal quartet Crimson Crusade's entire set! Uploaded by 62nd Chamber Productions' YouTube channel yesterday, this gives us our first clear view of La Cucina (white interior with a hockey jersey motif by the stage), but the stationary camera's at a high side-stage angle for some reason, so while the view is close, we only see the band's upper body and not much else. The video captures 30 minutes worth of action, including their songs "Here We Lay", "Pillage", "For Him", "Crimson Crusade", "Reality", "Vanquish The Tyrant", and "Lost Memories", closing with a cover of Death's "Pull The Plug", so click each song name to go straight to it! Crimson Crusade sound as great and brutal as usual, though I am sort of surprised that songs from their EP like "Left For Dead" and "Consumed" were snubbed. Check out Crimson Crusade's full Echo Bay set below!

Also from Echo Bay, here's a video from an act who you might be expecting. As you may remember, a secret special guest was hyped by promoters Oh! Right Arm! Promotions in the lead-up to the event, but the original planned act fell through for unannounced reasons (no word on who they were either, but my guess was a BeeFMouTH reunion.) Regardless, promoters felt obligated to ensure that there would still be a secret act to play at La Cucina last weekend, so they signed on local musician Chris Shoust's acoustic/grunge solo project Telephone & Address to play the Big Loonie Bus Show, and 62nd Chamber Productions filmed his set and posted this 15 minute video onto their YouTube channel on Wednesday! Alternating between stationary black & white shots and more psychedelic filtered & mirrored effects (but all from the side-stage angle), these continue with Chris' lo-fi original recording style, but all still retain the grungy outsider feel that would definitely be interesting to hear expanded to a full band.

Check out Telephone & Address live in Echo Bay below, stay tuned in case there's more fallout from this show, and watch for some more recent Telephone & Address video discoveries! (Also, note that Telephone & Address' Facebook page has been deleted for unknown reasons, but I've since replaced it with Chris' website again for their link in our active Sault Ontario band links.)



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, venue, or event:

• I've replaced the link for the now-closed Bottoms Up Lounge in our inactive Sault Ontario venue listings with their Facebook page, as their website has been shut down. The Queen Street bar/acoustic venue's been closed since June, so this won't be a major change, but I wanted to give the heads up!
• Sault Michigan solo guitarist Mike Libertoski has posted a rough demo of his/Galactic Alignment's original song "Abort the Export" onto his SoundCloud page, featuring vocals! They're done by his Toast bandmate Bob Helsten (a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone), who used to sing with I.S.O.M. & End of Existence, among other projects. His growling vocals fit really nicely on this technical death metal track, so give the new version a listen above!
• In terms of lineup notes from the Ray Brown benefit concert last week at The Verdi Hall, I can now confirm some additional performers, including that Mike Case's Junior Rockers (featuring ex-Jack Spades drummer T.J. Case) apparently replaced Redundant on the bill, and Ray's former The Chosen bandmate Taryn Bugyra sang guest vocals during Lucky 13's set. My source is performer Valerie Powley's photo album on her personal Facebook page, and I hope the event was a huge hit for Ray!

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