LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Turner Up) Plus This Weekend's Concert Previews!!!

It's time to preview this weekend's slate of metal and hard rock concerts! There's a lot going down in Sault Ontario between tomorrow & Saturday, including two newly announced shows, but I haven't heard of anything heavy going down in Sault Michigan this weekend. If I hear anything across the river, I'll absolutely have it here, but for now, here's the Sault Ontario weekend concert previews, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

Local classic hard rock quintet Turner Up are back on the local stage THIS FRIDAY & SATURDAY!! I apologize for the shorter notice, but the Facebook event page was only just posted this afternoon. Last seen last month at The Sportscentre Bar & Grill, they'll be returning to The Nicolet Tavern for the first time since January this weekend, and with St. Patrick's Day on the horizon, Turner Up plan to take on the holiday with full force! The current version of Turner Up are only seen about one weekend a month on the local stage, so if you've been missing their brand of classic hard rock covers, then don't miss out on their return to The Nic this weekend! They'll be on at 10:30 PM both nights, you must be 19 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! It's always good to see Turner Up take the stage, and they'll be a good soundtrack to the St. Patrick's Day revelry this weekend, so keep their shows on Friday and Saturday in mind! For a preview, here's the old Turner Up covering Guns N' Roses' "Mr. Brownstone" last January at The Rockstar Bar!



Now to the previously announced shows, starting with the 43rd Roosevelt Hotel metal night, which goes down TOMORROW NIGHT, and if you've missed the out of town headlining bands since Stephane Vincent took over as the series' booker in October, then get ready for this lineup! Winnipeg groove metal band Waster will rock The Rosie tomorrow night in this next stop on their Sickness In The East tour, and if you love bands like Pantera & A Perfect Murder, you'll definitely enjoy these guys! I really dig Waster and their high aggression and groove, and if I can manage to remotely charge my camera by tomorrow night, I hope to check this show out! Backing them up tomorrow are Guelph hardcore quintet Farewell To Freeway, who notably headlined the 15th Rosie metal night last May, and it's good to see them back in the area! They'll be ready to unleash their own hardcore fury and breakdowns onto their local fans tomorrow for sure, so don't miss them either! The local opening band will be local hardcore notables As It Stands in their first show of two on consecutive nights this weekend, and you'll likely remember them as Farewell To Freeway's local openers from May as well! Always good to see them on a local stage, and you know things will get hard and heavy at The Rosie tomorrow night with this lineup!

Aside from the return of out of town headliners, this Rosie metal night is also notable in that it's the first ever ALL AGES Thursday metal night, so if you're under 19, you can go to this one! That's awesome to see, and hopefully this goes over well to ensure future all ages metal shows there, like last year's Fatality-headlined weekend gig. Admission is FREE for 19+ attendees, but if you're underage, there's a $3 cover, and everything starts at 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This sounds like a great concert, and hopefully you guys (myself included) can come out and ensure future big Rosie metal nights like this! For a preview, here's Waster's music video for their song "Forty Creek & 40 Speed"!



Speaking of all ages metal concerts featuring 3 bands (one of which being As It Stands as an opening act), you'll wanna pay attention to this other metal concert on Friday! Three notable local bands will rock The Speak Easy at Algoma University on Friday night in what was recently confirmed to be an ALL AGES concert in it's own right! The headlining band will be local death metal quartet The Valentine's Day Massacre, fresh off of their set at Dead In The Van, and they'll be joined by As It Stands (in their second all ages metal show in two days), and melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters (in their first concert in over a month) for what should be an explosive night of metal! The Speak Easy hasn't been too frequent of a spot for recent local metal concerts (especially multi-band ones), but it'll be good to see these bands in new territory come Friday night, and all ages can enjoy this one! Unlike tomorrow's Rosie metal night, there's absolutely no cover for anyone regardless of age, and there'll be an early-ish start time of 8:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

It's cool to see local metal bands rocking a different venue for a change, and with a nice stacked set of death metal and hardcore tunes in store from all three bands, you guys won't wanna miss this show! Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's The Valentine's Day Massacre playing their song "Let It All Bleed Out" at The Canadian last fall!



And finally for this weekend, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison has TWO concert sets in store for his fans on Saturday night! Firstly, he'll be back at Bossy's Pub N' Grub on Pim Street for an 11th straight week, and like most of his Bossy's appearances, he'll be playing a matinee set of acoustic hard rock and metal covers for his fans! Then, he'll take the St. Patrick's Day party back to The Zone Roadhouse in nearby Goulais River on Saturday night for his first show there in 4 months! If you're in the mood for a St. Patrick's Day good time, this wouldn't be a bad place to do it in, so get your green beer ready! Admission for both shows should be free, I'd assume that the Bossy's set will be all ages, and The Zone Roadhouse gig is likely 19+ . Tym will be on at Bossy's at 2:00 PM on Saturday, then he should be on at The Zone at 9:00 PM. For more details, click here and here for each show's Facebook event page! Sounds good to me, and hopefully Tym's unplugged covers fit the holiday well come Saturday, so keep his next two shows in mind! For a preview, here's Tym covering Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" at the former Foggy Notions in 2010!



That's all for today, but stay tuned (hopefully) for some concert reviews soon, along with this week's classic video and much more news to come! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Waster), New Videos, And More!!

Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying your long weekend! Today, we've got some more assorted news and notes from the local metal scene, including some notable live concert video uploads and an out of town band's quest for a local booking, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

It looks like the 43rd Roosevelt Hotel metal night has officially been announced, and although it's on March 15th (re-affirming what looks like a now-monthly schedule), this will still be an awesome show, as for the first time since the promoter switch in October, there will be an out of town headlining band at the next Rosie metal night! Winnipeg groove metal band Waster will headline this March 15th concert as part of their Sickness In The East Tour, and I have to say, they sound awesome! If you like bands like Pantera, you'll definitely enjoy Waster, so check them out at the above link in advance of this concert! Joining them next month will be Guelph hardcore quintet Farewell To Freeway, 10 months after they headlined the 15th Rosie metal night in May, and their melodic metalcore assault will definitely be welcomed back to Sault Ontario next month, so don't miss them either! The local openers will be local hardcore standouts As It Stands (who also opened for Farewell To Freeway last spring at The Rosie), and you know they'll set the tone well for this concert come March 15th! As usual, this will have a start time of around 10:00 PM, but for the first time in Thursday metal night history, this will be an ALL AGES SHOW!!!! Yes, if you're under 18, you can attend a Rosie metal night finally, although you'll have to pay a $3 cover charge as a result, where as attendees 19 and older will get in free as is usual.

For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see the current Rosie metal nights finally expanding a bit to include out of town headlining bands, and the all ages experiment will be cool to see again! The Fatality/Immersed all ages show last year from Dismembertainment went well despite the summer heat, though it wasn't on a Thursday. How will this pan out? Time will tell, but hopefully I can make it out, and stay tuned for updates at the above links!

Next up, a new video from Poison frontman Bret Michaels' headlining concert at The Dreammakers Theater at Kewadin Casino on December 27th is now online! Filmed by YouTube user sarahforcexo, this was uploaded onto her YouTube channel last week, and it's of Bret's cover of Poison's "Something To Believe In" from that concert. I'm not a huge fan of Poison's softer material, but it's a well performed rendition, and he precedes the song with some kind words and dedications to American armed forces for the sacrifices they've made for our freedoms and their hopeful returns home for the holidays, which is awesome of him! It's nice to finally see some more videos from the newest Bret Michaels show, so kudos to Sarah for uploading this video and filming it with a good quality camera near to the stage as well, it turned out well! Check out Bret's solo version of "Something To Believe In" below, and stay tuned for more Kewadin hard rock concert videos as I hear of them!


Also in the news today, another out of town band is looking for a local concert booking for this summer, so here's what you should know! On Friday, Jerry Lee Boucher from the Drummondville, Quebec experimental metal band Slaughter Slashing posted on our Facebook page inquiring about getting a local show here this summer, specifically on Sunday, July 22nd. I thought I'd help the cause, and he wants to capture some local footage on their tour diaries too, so if you wanna help book Slaughter Slashing for a local concert here in July, shoot Jerry a message at this location! They're definitely an original band with a lot of creative and avant-garde flourishes in their material, and though they have some death metal influences, they're honestly hard to describe, so I recommend checking them out at the above links to see what they have in store! It'd be cool to have them here, so if you can help out at all, give the band a should and hopefully we'll see Slaughter Slashing in the area come July 22nd!

And finally for today, Winkstinger drummer Jonas Gasperas posted a new live video onto his YouTube channel earlier today, and it's from Winkstinger's show this past Thursday at The Roosevelt Hotel! It's of the band playing most of their song "The Devil's Hand" during their set, and Jonas notes in the video's title that returning frontman Alan Wells falls down in the video, which happens about 10 seconds in. It'd probably be more amusing if the video quality from the filmer's camera was better, but with low lighting, moshers in the way, and a far camera angle, it's hard to see the stage at times. That said, the brutal music speaks for itself, and it's great to see Alan back in Winkstinger! Check out this latest video below, and stay tuned for more band news as it rolls in!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news probably tomorrow, including (likely) a good chunk of Sault Michigan stories! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Local Concert Previews!!

One day down, at least four more to go in this marathon of 10 posts in 5 days (maybe more?), and kicking things off today is previews of this weekend's concerts! By this weekend, I mean TONIGHT through Saturday only, as I tentatively plan to preview Sunday's Dancing With Paris & Half A Man shows separately on Saturday in the same post as the March Mayhem tournament conclusion, so stay tuned for those then. Now, onto the previews, starting with a show TONIGHT!

The fifteenth Roosevelt Hotel metal night is TONIGHT! For the first time since the first Thursday show at The Rosie in November, there will be out of town headliners, and there will be multiple out of town bands for the first time as well, so here's what you should know! Headlining tonight are Guelph hardcore quartet Farewell To Freeway, who are hitting Sault Ontario in the latest stop on their All Or Nothing Canadian tour! With Victory Records label support, their aggressive brand of metalcore will be sure to get some pits going at The Rosie tonight! Also joining them on this tour are California hardcore quintet No Bragging Rights, who I'm really digging with their old-school influenced sound and impression! As well, Toronto death metal band Hallows Die have been moved from tomorrow's now-cancelled Foggy Notions headlining show to join the lineup of tonight's Rosie concert. Their progressive style of death metal will be a different, but welcome, taste at this concert, so don't miss them! And in their eighth Rosie metal night appearance, local hardcore quintet As It Stands will open the festivities, three days after opening for Fuck The Facts, shortly before they plan to hit the studio! Though a frequent sight locally, they're always entertaining, so be there early to catch them!

Check the above links to preview each band playing tonight! There will be a $2 cover charge, but considering the value of bands you'll be getting, it's completely worth it, so don't sweat a toonie for this amount of music! As always, everything should start at around 9:30 PM, and there's a 19+ age limit. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Dismembertainment have a great lineup booked tonight, so absolutely head out to The Rosie if you can, as there's lots of quality hardcore (and death metal) to go around! For a preview, here's Farewell To Freeway's music video for their song "The Desperate Age"!



Now to the bands playing Friday & Saturday nighters, and first, it's the return of Caveman Morrison! After a seven month break from the stage after their last lineup's collapse, the local hard rock trio will make their long awaited return to the stage this weekend at The Nicolet Tavern! These shows will mark Caveman Morrison's live debuts with new bassist Jacques Marceau and drummer Willie Bellerose, and though we have yet to hear them publically, I've heard great things about their talent and abilities, so we'll have to see how they do this weekend! They're on at 10:00 PM tomorrow & Saturday night, there's no announced cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend either show. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Caveman Morrison back, I know Tym's put in a lot of work to get the band going again, and here's hoping this lineup lasts longer than their last few have! Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's the band covering Living Colour's "Cult Of Personality" in October at Foggy Notions!



Also this weekend is another pair of concerts at Docks Riverfront Grill from local classic hard rockers That's Chester, in what's becoming a seemingly monthly run for the band! I still find it odd that they haven't played a venue other than Docks since last year, I wonder why that is? Still their music speaks for itself, no matter where it's played! This quintet of talented local music veterans will have loads of classic and newer hits to rock out with this weekend, including a bunch of heavier songs, so don't miss them! As always, these Docks shows (tomorrow & Saturday night) will have a $4 cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and everything starts at 10:00 PM or later! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds good to me, That's Chester should have a great weekend of shows this weekend, so if you're looking for come classic tunes to part with, Docks is the place! Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's That's Chester covering Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times" at Docks in March!



Finally for the hard rock weekend sets this weekend that I know about, Sault Michigan quartet Monkey's Uncle are apparently playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) this weekend for a pair of shows! Though not cited on their MySpace page (no Bird shows have been since before their name changes), new singer/guitarist Donny Newell confirmed with me via e-mail that they would in fact be playing at The Bird this weekend, and if a band member says it, there must be truth to it! I believe these are the band's first Bird concerts featuring Donny in the band, where he will share singing responsibilities with the band's mainman Henry Switzer. I'd expect these shows to have 10:00 PM-ish start times and 21+ age limits, and I have heard nothing about a possible cover. Check the above links for more on the band and venue! Though I don't know a great detail about these shows, I'd say head on out to enjoy some hard rock if you're in the mood for it across the river, and especially to check out Monkey's Uncle's new lineup! For a preview, here's a Jager-era lineup of Monkey's Uncle covering Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer"!



Finally, here's a big show on Saturday night that should get you Ozzy Osbourne fans excited! Continuing with their high reputation for bringing in quality tribute bands, The Canadian Nightclub is hosting Blizzard of Ozz: The Ultimate Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne on Saturday night! This Toronto based quartet features veterans of other notable Canadian tribute bands, and present a quality sounding version of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath classics to their fans! Though not perfect sounding compared to the real deal, especially vocally, they do a quality job and should deliver a good night of music for everyone at The Canadian on Saturday night! This show is a 19+ event, it'll start at 10:00 PM or later, and though a cover charge isn't advertised, I would bring $5 or so, as I expect admission to cost something. For more details, click here! This should be a fun show, and though this may be an unpopular opinion, I actually prefer Ozzy solo to his Black Sabbath work, so I might hit this show if I can fit it in! Check the above links for more, and for a preview, here's Blizzard Of Ozz playing "Bark At The Moon" in Etobicoke in 2009!



That's all for now, but stay tuned later tonight for our Destroilet EP review! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Farewell To Freeway) & The SMS March Mayhem Quarterfinals!!

Another packed month of local metal news continues today with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT & the latest SMS March Mayhem updates, including the launch of the tournament quarterfinals, so that's the topic of this first post of the day! Before we get to the news, I will say that our next news-centric post (likely coming tonight) will feature new As It Stands & Half A Man videos, and some assorted other stories, so keep an eye out! Now, let's begin this post!

Another Roosevelt Hotel metal night from Dismembertainment is now confirmed, this time for the show on May 12th! (No word yet on the May 5th lineup.) This time around though, it will be the first Rosie metal night (I think) to feature two out of town bands! As part of their All Or Nothing Canadian tour, two touring hardcore bands will hit Sault Ontario for this show, including headliners Farewell To Freeway! Signed to Victory Records, this hard hitting metalcore quartet will be sure to incite some fury when they headline this Thursday nighter! Also joining them will be No Bragging Rights, a melodic hardcore band from Southern California who are a great compliment to this show with their own take on hardcore mayhem! Check the above links to give both bands a listen! The local openers will be As It Stands, adding another high profile opening slot to their spring schedule, so make note of them as well! Typical Rosie rules apply, including a 19+ age limit, 9:30 PM-ish start time, and no cover charge. For more details, check the above links and the Facebook event page! Sounds like a solid concert, I'll of course keep you posted when and if updates roll in!

Now it's time to update the SMS March Mayhem bracket as we close down the second round and head into the final three rounds of the tournament! I notice some campaigns are growing to get votes out, and I thank you all for voting over the past week! So, how'd the last second round matchups score? Here are the results!

Mike Cliffe def. Sativa Rose 40-33
Shit Liver def. State of Misery 80-73
Sykotyk Rampage def. That's Chester 50-13
WinkStinger def. Woods of Ypres 26-22

What do you guys think? I'm really surprised at how many votes Mike Cliffe got, I'm pegging him as the Cinderella of the tournament! Who'd have thought he'd outscore Sativa Rose? Nice high scoring match though, you can tell both have devoted fanbases! The Shit Liver & State of Misery match sure was the battle of dueling vote campaigns, as both would have crushed any other band's total had they took on anyone else! Shit Liver ended up pulling out a narrow 6 vote victory in a match that I thought was a coin toss from get-go! Sykotyk Rampage's win didn't surprise me given the shorter time period that we've covered That's Chester on the SMS, but this was a thoroughly dominating performance! Who'd have thought? WinkStinger's victory over Woods of Ypres wasn't what I expected, but I did figure it'd be close. I'm surprised that it scored so low though, who'd have thought it'd be the lowest voted of the matchups? And finally, is it ironic that the first band alphabetically in each matchup won? Odd, if nothing else! So that closes out the second round, and here's the updated tournament bracket!

As you can see, the winners of last week's first two matchups and the winners of the last two matchups will face each other, starting TODAY, in fact! With that said, here are the matchups for the SMS March Mayhem Quarterfinals!

In the battle of hardcore eras, can As It Stands build on their momentum, or can Destroilet lock up a third straight blowout win? Will Frightlight's gauntlet run continue, or can Lion Ride defeat them and advance to the semifinals? Can Mike Cliffe continue his Cinderella run against Shit Liver, or will their crusty and grimy sounds prove too much? And can Sykotyk Rampage emerge from the cave with an upset over WinkStinger's extreme attack? The winners of the AIS/Destroilet match and the Frightlight/Lion Ride bout will face off next week, as will the Cliffe/Shit Liver and Sykotyk Rampage/WinkStinger winners in the final four! The voting for the quarterfinals begins today, the winners are in next week's semifinals, and you have just ONE WEEK TO VOTE! Let's see some enthusiastic results and high totals again, we're nearing the end of the tournament! VOTE TODAY!!!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a likely new news post later tonight! Thanks everyone, and GET VOTING!