This Weekend's Local Metal & Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

It's time to preview this weekend's metal and hard rock concerts in the Sault Ste. Marie area, and the next three days are notable for a number of beginnings, debuts, and ends for local bands in the area, including a new band's debut, another band's rebirth, a new lineup's first shows, and a local band's last shows in the Sault area. What all should you know for your weekend concert plans? Read on for all the details!

Firstly is TONIGHT'S 40th Roosevelt Hotel metal night, which is also the third under booker Stephane Vincent and (reportedly) the final one of 2011. Once again, three local metal bands are lined up with a mix of new and old to be seen, including headliners The Bear Hunters & Shit Liver in their record 17th respective appearances at Rosie metal nights! Be it a melodic death metal onslaught or a grimy and crusty brand of death metal, these two talented local bands will be sure to deliver some moshing good times tonight once again! Also joining them tonight is a brand new local band (the first to debut at a Rosie metal night in six months) and they are General Striker, a possibly one-off metal trio made up of the members of Late & Loud (minus Brendan Christie.) How will they sound? What's their setlist like? There's only one way to find out, and that's to head to The Rosie TONIGHT! As usual, there is a 19+ age limit tonight, there's no cover charge, and everything should start at around 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! And remember, there will not be a Rosie metal night on the current bi-weekly schedule on December 22nd for unknown reasons, so if you love this Thursday metal tradition, be at The Rosie TONIGHT!

This should be a very good concert with lots of heaviness in store for fans, and it will sure be interesting to hear General Striker in their debut as well, so definitely keep TONIGHT's show in mind! Be it death metal or some more classic old school metal, you'll find something to enjoy for sure! For a preview, here's The Bear Hunters playing their song "Karma" at The Rosie earlier this summer!



Also in concert previews, while we have a band debuting tonight, another local band makes their long awaited return to the local stage this weekend, as Caveman Morrison will rock The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT & SATURDAY NIGHT! After a 5 month hiatus & a concert cancellation two weeks ago, this talented local metal cover trio will play their first concerts since July in Goulais River this weekend, in what will also be the debuts of their current lineup! Since their last shows in the summer, bassist Jacques Marceau has been replaced by James White of Redundant, while drummer Willie Bellerose was replaced by James' brother Rick, who himself returns to Caveman Morrison over a year & a half after leaving the band's bass position. How will the new Caveman Morrison lineup sound this weekend? I've heard positive things, but the only sure way to find out is to head to The Roosevelt Hotel tomorrow or Saturday night! There's is no announced cover charge for either stop this weekend, you must be 19 to attend, and a 10:00 PM start time is announced. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

It's about time that Caveman Morrison returned to the stage, and I know that their new lineup has a lot of promise for their fans, so definitely consider heading to The Rosie this weekend to take the new lineup in! Besides, if you're used to frontman Tym Morrison's solo shows, The Rosie isn't far from The Service Grill, so it's no issue for location either! Best of luck this weekend for sure, and for a preview, here's an older Caveman Morrison lineup featuring Tym and Rick covering Metallica's "Seek & Destroy" in 2009!



Amidst all the lineup debuts this weekend, there is a notable end in the area as well, as Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Splitshot will make their final local concert appearances tomorrow & Saturday night at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino. As previously reported on November 23rd, bassist Kyle Beaumont had told me that Splitshot were disbanding at the end of the year for unannounced reasons, with most of their lineup (save for Dave Menard & Gary Beaumont) moving on to Trail's End full time next year, leaving just their previously announced dates in the U.P. on their schedule, with their last shows in Sault Michigan lined up for this weekend. Note that these are not the last Splitshot concerts, as they'll be rocking the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace over New Years' Weekend, but St. Ignace is just out of our "local" range. Still, keep those dates in mind as well! Details are mostly scant for this weekend's shows, however, but I'd assume a 10:00 PM start time, a 21+ age limit, and no cover charge will be in effect as usual. Check the above links for more details! Though the end of Splitshot isn't here yet, it is disappointing to know that these are their last local concerts after over a year of successful and well recieved shows in the Upper Peninsula.

Despite never having media to share from their concerts, I know that the members of Splitshot have carried the torch from Nixxon Dixxon well over the past year, and we'll be sure to follow Trail's End next year as most of the band continues their musical journey! For one last chance to see Splitshot live in Sault Michigan, head to Kewadin Casino THIS WEEKEND, and also keep their New Years' Weekend shows in St. Ignace in mind as well, and if I hear anything more, I'll definitely let you guys know!

And finally for this weekend, it's the rebirth of Turner Up this Saturday night at Feedback! Nine months after the original Turner Up morphed into what is now Full Circle, the classic hard rock quintet has been reborn as a new band separate from Full Circle, and that means that for the first time since May, a band named Turner Up will grace a local concert marquee this Saturday! Their new lineup includes founding guitarist Robert Brown, longtime drummer Scott McLurg, and returning frontwoman Krista Marshall alongside new guitarist Jason Roy & bassist Travis Sharpe, and you know they'll have a great setlist of classic hard rock covers for fans at the former Foggy Notions on Saturday night! This is a one night only show this weekend, so don't miss the rebirth of Turner Up on Saturday, where there will likely be a 10:00 PM start time, a 19+ age limit, and probably no cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Turner Up back, and even if they're not as frequent of a sight as Full Circle, the talent will surely be there when they do take the stage, so don't miss their return this weekend! For a preview, here's the old Turner Up covering Guns N' Roses' "Mr. Brownstone" in January!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news by the weekend, along with this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles on Garage Inc. & Savage Roar on Saturday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Bear Hunters & Turner Up), A New Local Band, And New Videos!!

Let's get back to some big news today, and we're loaded with some cool stories tonight, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next few days, including the continuation of a local concert series and another band's rise from the ashes, plus some new videos, details on a new local band, and more, so here's what you need to know!

There will indeed be a Roosevelt Hotel metal night THIS THURSDAY, continuing the bi-weekly schedule under new promoter Stephane Vincent, making this the 40th Rosie metal night overall and third under it's current form! Three local bands are signed for this week, including metal night mainstays The Bear Hunters & Shit Liver in their 10th appearance together at a Thursday metal concert at The Roosevelt Hotel! It's always good to see them share the stage again, and you know their proficient yet different takes on the genre of death metal will always be welcome to mosh to, so don't miss them! However, the opening band is a debuting local metal trio of sorts (the first band to debut at a Rosie metal night since Bring The Misery), and they're named General Striker, but what should you know about them? From what I understand, they're essentially Late & Loud minus singer/guitarist Brendan Christie (I take it he's unavailable on Thursday), so the other three members have formed this potentially one-off band to play this week. They have no band pages yet, so thanks to guitarist Jonathan Tiberi for the General Striker details! Will they have different material or a different sound than Late & Loud? There's only one way to find out, and that's to head to The Rosie in two nights! There's no cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at around 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Sounds like a solid night of metal as we've come to expect from the Rosie metal nights, so for some melodic & grimy death metal, plus your first (and only?) glimpse of General Striker, be at The Rosie THIS THURSDAY! Also for motivation to go: This is apparently the last Rosie metal night until 2012, as indicated on the Facebook event page linked above, meaning that the next Thursday of the bi-weekly schedule (December 22nd) is off. A reason for that isn't known, but I assume it's related to holiday commitments of some type, though I'll note that Christmas week is usually quite busy for concerts, so it strikes me as sort of odd. Stay tuned for more on this Thursday's metal night when we preview this weekend's metal/hard rock concerts!

Also for new concerts, it's the rebirth of Turner Up, whose new formation will debut THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at Feedback! As you may remember, the original Turner Up morphed into what is now Full Circle in March, officially changing their name in May, but longtime members Robert Brown & Scott McLurg have relaunched a new version of Turner Up with a much heavier sound than Full Circle currently employ, and they'll make their debut/return after seven months on Saturday night! Along with Robert on guitar and Scott on drums, the new Turner Up will see the return of frontwoman Krista Marshall (who last sang with the old Turner Up in February), along with new additions Jason Roy (Havadder) on second guitar and Travis Sharpe (Carbon Black) on bass, which should make for a very talented new lineup! A 9:00 PM start time is listed for their return (they'll likely start later than that though), you must be 19 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and thanks to Scott for details on the new lineup!

It's great to finally see Turner Up back on an event marquee for a concert, and I know fans of their 2009-2011 run will be happy to see a return to heavier fare, so get ready to "turn 'er up" on Saturday night at Feedback! If I hear of any changes or updates, I'll let you guys know when we preview this weekend's metal and hard rock concerts on Thursday!

Next up, here's another new video of Sault Ontario deathcore band View To A Kill from bassist Adam Veale's dad John, who posted this video onto his YouTube channel yesterday. Also filmed at their headlining show at Feedback this past Saturday, it's of View To A Kill covering the Lamb of God song "Black Label", and they sound fairly good here, just like on the video of their Parkway Drive cover, but the lighting still seems off. Not a whole lot to add different, it's a solid cover and I prefer Lamb of God, so I approve! Check out the new video below, and stay tuned for more from View To A Kill as it all comes in!



And finally, here's this week's classic video! This week's notable for a lot of beginnings & ends in the local scene (the debuts of the new Turner Up & General Striker, and the final local shows from Splitshot, for example), but also new this weekend is the debut of Caveman Morrison's new lineup after a five month hiatus! I decided to focus this week's classic video on them this week, more specifically on new members, Redundant bandmates, and brothers James & Rick White. Before James re-entered the local music scene last year, he & Rick (along with his former Disciples of Rock bandmate Jamie Labreche) took part in a jam at a birthday party at The Sinton Tavern in Thessalon circa June 2009. The song they're jamming here was later named "Thin Air", as that's where the song came from that night, but it has a nice groove and great bass work from James! Rick's guitar playing flows nicely too, and Jamie shows his drum chops well, so it's a solid jam that would be interesting to see morphed into a fuller song! This video was uploaded onto Facebook by Jamie Labreche on June 22nd, 2009, and you can view the original video at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=136058755760, though I did make some minor colour saturation edits after uploading the video to YouTube.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to the White brothers and Jamie Labreche, as they did all the work with this video, I'm just sharing it with a wider audience like it deserves! It's a solid performance, so definitely give it a look below, and stay tuned for more on the return of Caveman Morrison this weekend!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on Thursday, our next Defunct Local Band Profiles on Saturday, and much more news and notes to come! Thanks everyone!