LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Infathom & The Danger Cats), The Bottom Line Concert Preview, And More!!

For today at the SMS, we're covering some new LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next weekend, and some more assorted recent notes, and yes, our preview of a Sunday festival featuring a hard rock band is part of this post too! Now, here's what you need to know!

Sault Ontario all-female hard rockers The Danger Cats will enter unfamiliar territory for the SMS this coming weekend, as they'll make their debuts at The Esquire Club this coming Friday & Saturday! You read that right, we're seeing a rare hard rock show at this popular and long lasting bar at 103 Second Line West (down the road from the Market Mall), which is largely known for hosting classic rock and country bands, so it will be very interesting to see how the girls do in this setting on the 24th & 25th! Fresh off of TODAY'S set at Rotaryfest, their Esquire Club shows will be 9:00 PM and 19+ affairs, but I have no idea on if they generally have cover charges. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Regardless of location, The Danger Cats have an exciting and diverse sound, so keep these gigs in mind for next weekend when making your concert plans, especially if you're in the west end of town already!

Also for new concert announcements, Munising, Michigan metal quartet Infathom will make their long awaited return to Sault Michigan next weekend themselves when they play at (or more likely, outside of) The Savoy Bar & Nightclub, presumably as part of their ongoing Summerfest concert series! The show was announced on their Facebook page yesterday. If among the outdoor bands in the parking lot of The Savoy, Infathom will be second last of this run (preceding Plastic's shows in early August), and come just after local rock cover quartet No Decision's shows this weekend, so it's nice to see the series keeping on! No word on the band for July 11th-12th, or why Infathom aren't playing on Friday, but remember that they are from out of town. Last seen at LemmaFest last month, it's great to see Dillion and company back so soon, so give them a warm reception again next week for their high energy metal! No announced cover charge, 21+ age limits, and a likely 10:00 PM start time are in effect, and stay tuned for updates at the above links!

Now to our likely last of the weekend's hard rock concert previews, as Sault Michigan hard rock quartet The Bottom Line will hit nearby Hessel, Michigan TOMORROW as part of the entertainment at this year's Music & Art Dockside Festival! An annual family event featuring an arts & crafts fair, live music, refreshments, and children's entertainment, this is an area favourite for art fans and families alike, so definitely keep it in mind whether you're shopping, browsing, or spending time with loved ones! Though not previously an event with a high heavier presence, The Bottom Line (who will be playing with new singer Ryan Kitzmiller for the first time following Mitch Goetz's departure) will be on at the Hessel Marina tomorrow at 2:30 PM as the event's de facto headliners, with acoustic solo artist Charlie Reager and classic rocker Gary Van Alstine opening at 1:00 PM & 11:00 AM respectively, as sourced here, so keep the full musical lineup in mind!

This FREE & ALL AGES event may also serve as one of The Bottom Line's last shows due to bassist Jack Slater's college commitments, so head to Hessel to check out the new lineup before it's too late, as they have a promising sound and lineup! No videos are known to publically exist of The Bottom Line, but if we find any, we'll share them on here!

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

• On June 17th, recently dormant Sault Michigan concert promoters Allstar Promotions were gauging interest in bringing The Stone Temple Pilots to the area for a concert, presumably at The Dreammaker's Theater. Lots of solid interest so far, but to speak your mind, comment or like the post on their Facebook page A.S.A.P.!
• Leading from the recent cancellation of their announced Rednecks Saloon show this Friday, local hard rock quartet Beaumont Avenue (the former Suicide Kings) have cancelled the planned Saturday show this coming weekend too, due to prior commitments for some band members, and a band will be replacing them to be announced. Disappointing, but hopefully their Rotaryfest set went well last night! My source is bassist Mitch Sirie on the Facebook event page for The Bear Hunters' show, which basically replaced Beaumont Avenue's Friday gig there.
• We're likely overdue on this, but Sault Michigan radio station Rock 101's overhauled website is now online at this link, and it's definitely a better looking and more modern layout now! It also features an updated page for station personalities, finally listing their newest nighttime DJ "Nikki at Night", but she curiously doesn't have a bio or photo yet. Check everything out above!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our next defunct punk band "introduction" post next, in all likelihood! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Bottom Line), The Pixo Control Concert Preview, And More!!

We're still in our current upswing of Sault Michigan-centric news and notes, so this post includes a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for July in the E.U.P., related new video finds, and some more assorted notes, but we do have a Sault Ontario concert preview as well! With that said, here's what you need to know on this Sunday morning!

New local hard rock quartet The Bottom Line will play their second announced concert set on Sunday, July 20th when they'll be among the performers at the annual Music & Art Dockside festival in nearby Hessel, Michigan that day! My source is the band's Facebook page on May 5th, as organizers have not announced a performer lineup yet that I know of. Though The Bottom Line didn't detail the festival when they announced their involvement, the Music & Art Dockside festival will be held at the Hessel Marina grounds & gazebo, and if past years are any indication, there will be live music, arts & crafts, and regional shopping and merchants to take in at this annual event, which hasn't previously been a spot for heavier local bands. Times for the festival will likely be from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM, this is an all ages event, and there's no announced admission costs. For more details, check the above links and the event page for last year's festival, and stay tuned in case we get confirmation of other performers!

We'll get back to more from The Bottom Line in a second, but first, here's a new Sault Ontario topic (I haven't forgotten this side of the border!), as local alternative hard rock trio The Pixo Control will play a special Monday night show TOMORROW when they make their way down to Cafe Natura! A healthy foods cafe and natural medicine store at 75 Elgin Street that largely attracts acoustic and folk performers, Cafe Natura has found success with it's target audiences since opening, so keep it in mind for this special show! Also, The Pixo Control teased a guest performer for this show on their Facebook page yesterday, possibly cellist Emma N-K (heard here), so keep an eye out! They will be the local openers for Halifax folk/alternative musician Jon McKiel (who The Pixo Control have covered live) and Nova Scotia indie/experimental duo Construction & Destruction, both of whom have a talented sound in their genres, so be sure to check both out via the above links!

The first Cafe Natura show we've fully covered on here, this ALL AGES event has an 8:00 PM start time and $10 cover charge, so visit the official Facebook event page for full details! It'll be interesting to hear how this show does, but folk and indie fans would be best served to come for Jon McKiel's unique originals alone, and the openers (Pixo Control included) should set the tone well also! Keep it in mind for tomorrow night, and here's The Pixo Control live at The Oddfellows Hall!



Next up, here's one last note relating to The Bottom Line, as guitarist Joe Jenkins has a YouTube channel featuring solo guitar performances of his in the past couple of months! These mostly are of jamming and riff ideas, though two videos are of titled songs ("That Wicked Side" and "Pitch Black", which is embedded below), and it's unclear yet whether these are/will become Bottom Line originals. A mixture of harder riffs and softer compositions are on Joe's channel, but the heavier ones sound like good candidates for band expansion, and while guitar solos aren't a high presence, Joe has clear ability and can definitely produce some heavy material, so check out "Pitch Black" below, and click here for more!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, and fitting our recent topic trends, all relate to bands or events outside of Canada! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or station name:

• Sault Ontario goregrind label Blood Shed Productions have surprisingly announced the addition of a British one man goregrind project named Peppermint Green to their artist roster, making them obviously the first non-regional band with the Blood Shed. Their first song together can be streamed at this link, and label loyalists and grind fans will enjoy it, so give it a look if you want, and we'll see how the Blood Shed continues to spread in the coming months!
• Rock 101 DJ Scott Cook announced on their Facebook page yesterday that he'll be interviewing shock rock legend Alice Cooper on the air at around 9:30 AM tomorrow morning during "Scott & Brian in the Morning", obviously in advance of Alice's Kewadin Casino show on June 27th. Awesome news, so be sure to listen in if you can at 101.3 FM, as Alice is a legend who's been very good for local appearances! Tickets are still available!
• Courtesy of his upcoming solo album "This End Up!", Dafter solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton has posted a new track named "Rain" onto his Reverbnation page to stream, so give it a listen via the provided link! I won't give thoughts about it yet due to a likely review of the album this summer, but fans won't be disappointed!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and such this week! Thanks everyone!