LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Return For Refund), More March Mash-Up Videos, And More!!

Before we tackle this weekend's concert previews, here's a new news post for you guys to check out, if you are so inclined! This post contains some new videos from a recent concert, and some assorted recent updates, but let's kick things off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!

Toronto hard rock quartet Return For Refund will make their local concert debut on Thursday, April 6th when they headline at The New American Pub! Harbouring a 1990s-feeling blend of genres like grunge and alternative, with even some bluesy touches, Return For Refund are touring in support of their new CD "Lift You Up", and they should prove to be a well-recieved and entertaining attraction at The New A in three weeks! Local support will come via newer local pop punk quartet A Dire Setback and former Pixo Control frontman Mike Mikus (in his solo debut at this venue), and while neither are a "hard rock" act, their talents speak for themselves, and they should prove a nice compliment on the 6th! Note that I'm unclear who's promoting this show, as Live705 nor Mike are claiming it, so it may have been through the venue. In any event, this is a 19+ show with a $5 cover charge and 9:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for more on this intriguing concert!

Next up, here's a pair of new videos posted to the aforementioned Live705's Facebook page during this past Saturday's March Mash-Up at The Canadian Nightclub, showcasing two bands from that day's events. One is of local death/thrash metal trio Pillory, as uploaded during their set, albeit posted twice when promoters weren't sure if the first copy went through. This was one of the band's first songs during their set, though I'm not 100% certain of the title, partly as this is is just 41 seconds long and doesn't feature a part with vocals. Still, this is some quality side-stage devastation from Robert, Jordan, and Bret, so give it a look below!



Live705's other video is of new local alternative hard rock quartet Bizotic playing a song during soundcheck before the concert proper actually began, though given my still light knowledge of their songs by name, I can't title this one. Given that this is from soundcheck, Bizotic are lacking the spontaneity and atmosphere of their actual set (not to mention, their plasma clock), but they sound good here, and the trumpet is largely audible! Check it out below!

 

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

• Project 421 frontman Blair Burch is "looking for an outlet" where he can play guitar in a hard rock or metal setting, though he doesn't want to play in a band with death metal growling vocals, and he has lots of available time and a jam space. What this posting means for the future of Project 421 (who indicated that "we aren't going anywhere" on their Facebook page three weeks ago) isn't clear, but he's a talented guitarist, so message Blair at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Sunday if you're interested in jamming with him!
• I have deleted former Gore Street concert venue GLOW (a.k.a. The Other Place, Nite-Life Dance Club, etc.) from our inactive concert venue links due to the deletion of it's last known surviving Facebook group at some point in recent years. Also, it's old FreeWebs page has since been "frozen" itself too, and I doubt Mike would revive it at this point, so there goes the backup plan. The GLOW location always felt like a quality locale for concerts prior to it's ultimate closure in 2010, and hopefully it finds a new long-term purpose!
• It's official: Sunrise Records is taking over HMV's spot in Station Mall later this year! The Soo location was among the first 29 new branches announced for the Ancaster-based record store chain's takeover of at least 70 HMV stores, and this has since been confirmed via local news media. I hope Sunrise Records does well in the Soo, and can at least match the decade-long runs that Music World and HMV had in this location of the mall, so stay tuned for when they open hopefully later in the spring! For reference, HMV liquidation sales are now at least 40-60% off everything in store, and they must close by the end of next month.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

Skull Fist Concert Lineup News, Sebastian Bach's Soo Weekend, And More!!

We're back with some more news and notes on this Tuesday morning, and if you're waiting for news on the battle of the bands at the Chippewa County Fair on Thursday, that's coming, I'm just waiting for word on the complete lineup if possible. Today, we have new material from a local guitarist, some updates relating to links on the site and their connection to a recent feature post, and all of the latest from a notable metal musician's recent weekend in the area, but first, here's some news on the bands playing at the next metal show in Sault Ontario!

The lineup for Friday night's Skull Fist-headlined concert at The Canadian Nightclub has taken a lot of hits in the last few days, with two band dropouts, leaving only the returning Late & Loud as a confirmed local opening band. One of the dropped bands is local deathcore quartet The Valentine's Day Massacre, and though an official reason for their exit hasn't been revealed, frontman Steve Rhodes' personal Facebook page indicated that he was leaving for London (where the band are collectively moving for college) tomorrow, which is earlier than we'd previously heard, so that's likely connected. It'll be disappointing to not see the guys one last time before they head down south (if you saw them at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem, nice work!), but hopefully they'll be back on holidays & breaks & what have you to melt more local faces, and best of luck to the guys in London until then! The other exited band is local punk trio Redundant (who had replaced Frightlight on the bill initially), as per their quiet removal from the event page, though I have no idea why they're out. I was hoping to see them too, but they'll be back for some more shows sooner or later, especially with the recent frequency of them!

Whether new bands will be added to replace The V.D.M. or Redundant isn't known yet, but knowing how big Skull Fist shows here tend to be, there's already visible interest from some bands in potentially jumping on board! Besides, we still have Late & Loud opening (even with some disappointing news I'm waiting for more confirmation on before mentioning here), so keep posted for more on this show in a couple of days, and I hope to see you guys there!

Next up, here's more notes and information from ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach's weekend jaunt to Sault Ontario for the "Swearnet" film shoot with The Trailer Park Boys cast! Beyond just filming scenes for the movie, some lucky Saultites were lucky enough to see Sebastian at some local bars over the weekend, including a stop at LopLops Lounge on Saturday night to see local country band The Wild Turkeys, and I heard he stayed for their whole set too, which is awesome of him! Before leaving, Sebastian also shared this Last Supper-esque photo from the Soo on his Facebook page of him with Swearnet/T.P.B. stars John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, and Mike Smith, along with two more familiar guest stars in the movie (comedian Tom Green and Pat Roach, a.k.a. Randy from The Trailer Park Boys), so it sounds like the deck is being stacked for names in "Swearnet"! For the record, I heard that Tom Green was at LopLops on Saturday too, which would have been cool in & of itself! Finally for our Sebastian Bach notes, while he didn't play a live solo concert while in town, lucky fans at The Canadian Nightclub on Friday night got the next best thing, as Sebastian stopped by for karaoke night, and there's video footage online to prove it!

Filmed by YouTube user sisuunicorn705 and uploaded on Saturday, this is of Sebastian and Bubbles himself, Mike Smith singing AC/DC's "T.N.T." in honour of Mike's early birthday, and though the quality isn't great (dark lighting, extremely loud, and staticy audio), it's great to see this footage, and it must have been something else to see Sebastian live (and doing karaoke at a local bar no less!) I'm still kicking myself that I missed this, as I live right near The Canadian and really enjoy Skid Row's later work with Sebastian, so this is like missing Michael Moore at Sault College all over again. Still, this must have made many a night this weekend, so check out Sebastian Bach singing karaoke in the Soo below, and trust me, turn your volume down!



Thirdly, here's a couple of notes relating to some research and links that I took in for our profile of As It Stands drummer John Mignacca's YouTube channel on Wednesday. First, I've added a new link to our Other Local Metal Links section on the left of the page, that being the MySpace page for John's old concert promotion company Infamous Productions! John promoted concerts (mostly of the hardcore variety) from roughly 2006-2007 under this banner (including the 2006 Blind Witness show promoted in this commercial), though as far as I can tell, the company itself fell inactive by 2008. There's not a whole lot on their MySpace page beyond some old concert advertisements & lineups, but there's some neat looks back in the comments and so on, so check out Infamous Productions at the above links, and stay tuned for future concerts that John puts on! The other note is a link removal from that section, as the Facebook group for GLOW Nightclub has been taken down for unknown reasons. The Gore Street bar/concert spot previously known as The Nite-Life Dance Club & The Other Place was last used in November 2010, but the closure of the Facebook group came much later than that, and it probably wasn't a huge surprise. Still, it's a nice venue that I'd love to see restarted, but who knows what the future holds!

Finally, here's a brand new solo performance video from local solo guitarist and AudioFumes podcast host Mike Cliffe! Though he's been busy with his podcasting over the summer, this video is Mike's real solo performance clip in 3 or 4 months, so if you've missed his original music, rejoice! Entitled "SoundBacon", it's a work in progress experimental instrumental that Mike adlibbed and filmed, and while he notes the mistakes, it has promise and creativity! It ranges from what sounds like progressive rock elevator music to some more melodic and heavier melodies later on, and Mike shows his skills well here even if refinement is needed! Why play so far off to the left though, and in the dark? Uploaded to his YouTube channel on Saturday, you can check out "SoundBacon" below, and also, you guys should check out and submit original material to Mike's AudioFumes podcasts! He's increasing his local playlist selections for Audiofumes streams, which are sort of like an internet streaming radio show without a station if you're not familiar with podcasting. Mike gets worldwide airplay and he plays a wide variety of bands and musical partners from all over on AudioFumes, so listen in and get schedules at this location, message Mike at this link if you wanna submit any songs to play on air, and AudioFumes are now in our Other Local Metal Links!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon, including weekend concert previews and our review of Oddfellow's only CD! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Caveman Morrison), The Return Of Stillbroke, And Some Stuff From The Past!!

Hey guys, I've cobbled together some stories for a new news post! Things have slowed down since the weekend, but I try by best to make sure something new is up every three days (or sooner), so I've supplanted two new stories about returning bands (including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS) with some new "old" discoveries I thought I'd share. Let's get things started!

Caveman Morrison are finally returning to the stage! The prolific metal cover trio will play their first concerts in over 4 months next weekend (November 25th & 26th) at The Roosevelt Hotel in what will surely be some entertaining nights of music! These will also be their first concerts with their new lineup, which now includes Redundant bandmates (and brothers) James White on bass & Rick White on drums, himself returning to Caveman Morrison around 18 months after leaving the band's bass position. How will their new lineup sound after 4 months away from the stage? Next weekend, we'll know! Admission is likely free both nights, you must be 19 to attend, and a 10:00 PM start time is listed for both shows. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's awesome to see Caveman Morrison back, and if you've missed them this year, next weekend's as good a time as any to witness their return! I completely missed the band's brief mid-2011 stint with Jacques Marceau & Willie Bellerose in their lineup, but hopefully the White brothers can rock as hard or harder in the newest version of Caveman Morrison! Stay tuned for more from Caveman and Tym Morrison as it comes in!

Next up, it looks like local hard rock quartet Stillbroke are resuming activity! The 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands winners have largely been dormant since the spring of 2010, with only their bassist changes & a brief scheduling for a private birthday concert this January showing any signs of life. That said, the recent news I've seen indicates that there's been yet another lineup change, as it looks like Stillbroke have parted ways with guitarist Chris Villeneuve. A reason for his departure hasn't been publicized, but the band's pages are for the most part badly outdated anyway. Chris originally joined Stillbroke in February 2010 during their major lineup overhaul, though I think he only played one concert with them. I remember he had talent, but hopefully nothing bad happened, and best of luck to Chris in the future! That said, bassist Mitch Sirie has apparently moved to guitar to replace him (just like in The Bear Hunters), so once again, Stillbroke are looking for a new bassist. Both Mitch & frontman Jesse Frigault have been openly looking for a new bass player on local musicians' Facebook groups, so click here and here for details if you're at all interested in playing bass for them.

Mitch also said in his post that Stillbroke are hoping to resume playing live in "a month or so", which would be awesome (and long overdue) if this holds up! It's about time that Stillbroke come back, as they were a talented and easily listenable hard rock outfit that definitely had momentum on their side before they faded from activity! Hopefully they can pick up where they left off almost two years ago, and when new band details come in, I'll absolutely have them here! Check the above links for more!

We'll close today with some newly discovered blasts from the past, and first, here's a neat find I came across relating to local classic hard rock quintet That's Chester! An old website of theirs from circa 2004 can still be accessed via an archive copy at The Internet Archive Wayback Machine, and it features some good information and biographical notes from their mid-2000s era with singer Ritch Fullerton (including their Chester-referencing stage names), so it's definitely worth checking out for old band info. However, the neatest find of all relating to this now-deleted website is that there's an audio/video page that actually features two audio recordings that you can still listen to seven years after the fact! Though the present links are mostly dead (including three deleted videos from Local2's predecessor LTV News), two live audio clips remain online via an old personal Shaw page from guitarist Gabe Tessaro, and they're of That's Chester covering Kiss' "Detroit Rock City" and Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down"! Nice quality, and it's good to hear some older That's Chester audio, so if you missed the Ritch Fullerton era and wanna hear That's Chester rock some heavier stuff from the mid-2000s, give their proficient takes on these classic songs a look at the above links!

And finally, here's an old website for a closed local concert venue that some of you guys might be interested in! Off and on, you may remember that 119 Gore Street housed a concert venue under varying names and owners through last fall, such as GLOW and Nite-Life Dance Club. From 2007-2008, the bar was known as The Other Place, and it filled a niche as a more metal-friendly bar during it's short run under this ownership, largely thanks to booker Mike Gaetano, who maintained an official website I've only just found for The Other Place during it's run! The page includes info on bar specials, events, photos from inside, and details on upcoming concerts at The Other Place between April and June 2008, including concerts featuring Garden of Bedlam, No Arrow, defunct local metal band Heresy (anyone know anything about them?), and the later cancelled show to be headlined by Winnipeg metal band Dreadnaut that June. I don't know why The Other Place dropped from local view in late 2008, but at their peak, there was a lot of good things going down at the future GLOW, and it's cool to come across this site after 3 years! Give it a look, and maybe down the road, another bar will return this Gore Street spot!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our next poll and more news over the next few days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Turner Up & WinkStinger), Gates Of Winter's New Drummer, And More!!

Here's one more post before concerts kick in, and this actually clears out my cache of older news, clearing the way for our pile of concert reviews this week! Today, we have news on the apparent end of a local concert venue, a prominent local metal band's new drummer, and more assorted news, but first, here are some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

First, we'll get to two shows that are VERY short notice, so my apologies right off the bat for having these so late! Oh, and consider this a preview of the shows too! This morning, Turner Up drummer Scott McClurg posted this Facebook event page for shows that they'd be playing TONIGHT and TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Odd that they'd be playing shows on a Monday and Tuesday, but I'll assume that they wanted to rock the stage for shows that weren't over the holiday weekend, so they went with the next closest days that weren't holidays. Both shows have announced 10:00 PM start times, with no cover charge and a 19+ age limit. I know these are short notice, but if you don't wanna go to Foggy Notions tonight or The Canadian Nightclub tomorrow, and want a more classic hard rock sound, then Turner Up will be ready to grind your mind on one of their final shows of 2010! Check the above links for more, and if you miss them tonight or tomorrow, remember that they'll be at The Nicolet Tavern on New Year's Eve to end 2010 on a high note! Oh, and if anyone has video or audio of Turner Up's current lineup in action, let me know!

The other new concert is one that I've alluded to in the past on here, as we waited for additional confirmation. There's no Facebook event page yet, but we have enough confirmation from the bands to call this, so here's what you should know! On New Years Eve at Foggy Notions, three local metal bands will take the stage to mosh away the last hours of 2010! The bands are local hardcore metal quintet WinkStinger, and two of the newest death metal bands in town, The Bear Hunters and State of Misery! Bring The Fallen were also originally announced for this show, but have since dropped out for unexplained reasons. My sources for this information are the bands' Facebook pages and promoter Rich Moreland's personal Facebook page. It looks like there will be no cover charge, I'd assume a 9:00 or 10:00 PM start time would be in order, and you must be 19 to enter. If there's a more brutal way to end 2010, then I haven't heard about it! WinkStinger are set as one of the premiere new metal bands in Sault Ontario, while The Bear Hunters and State of Misery are gaining fast recognition in their own right, and adding to the death metal scene in town that used to be pretty lacking! It'll be tough for me to get out of family commitments for any New Years Eve concerts, but if I can weasel out, I'll try and get to Foggy's! Check the above links for more on this show and the announced bands!

Next up, here's some lineup news concerning a major local metal band! I've actually missed this news since late last month, but blame Facebook's layout for wall posts for that, as you can't see what "others" have posted without specially clicking for that. On November 28th, Gates of Winter frontman Lee Maines announced the addition of Sault Ontario native Jon Morrison as the drummer on their forthcoming second full length album. No word on if Jon's now officially a band member (he's not listed as such on Gates of Winter's Facebook page, where the news was broken), but Lee lists him in the "Gates of Winter" friend group on his personal Facebook page, so make of that what you will. Jon is the first drummer the band has enlisted since Woods of Ypres' David Gold parted ways with the band following their last live shows in 2008. Sounds good to hear that they have a real drummer again, but what does Jon have to offer? Well, he is from Sault Ste. Marie initially, but now lives in Vancouver, where he currently drums for area metal bands Parallel Truth and Alpha Trion, with past credits including Nylithia, Avatara, and Game-X. Plus, he studied drums at the Berklee College of Music, which is awesome! He has the skills to back it up too, very technical work, and I think we have some great material for our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile Series now too! Stay tuned for more on Gates of Winter's new album as I hear it, and give a listen to some of Jon's work, cause there's some quality stuff, especially Parallel Truth for you Opeth fans!

Fourthly, have you noticed a lack of news lately from GLOW Nightclub, the oft-renamed Gore Street concert spot that only recently reverted to it's classic GLOW identity? So have I, and it looks like it may have closed again. Why do I say that? Well, former events manager (and veteran local bassist) Nathan Bouliane told me that GLOW had closed at last month's Total Chaos show, but I held back on mentioning it here until online word came out, so I'd have a source to back up the information with. Well, there was never an official statement as such, but the last publicized event to happen there was a Halloween party on October 29th, as per their Facebook group, with no updates since on events there. Plus, the old GLOW Facebook page has since had it's name and purpose changed to serve as a Facebook page for Madison's Pub, the Pine Street bar that sporadically hosts concerts (notably Garden of Bedlam's show there last December.) If you don't believe they're the same account, then check the photos, as GLOW pictures are still posted. Looks like the GLOW page creator moved the account to a Madison's-centric account following the ceasing of activity at GLOW, which only appeared to be active for two months (and just one metal show) under it's new ownership and name.

We may never hear public word on the closure, but it is a shame, as this location has seen numerous names, owners, and designs over the past few years. I wonder why nothing can stick for the long term? Well, hopefully someone can put the location to good use in the future, hopefully as a bar/concert spot, as it used to have a great amount of shows and events! If I hear more, I'll let you know, but I have moved GLOW to our "Other Local Metal Links" due to their apparent end.

And finally, here's three quick news items in alphabetical order by band name:

• Sault Michigan hard rockers Bad Side announced on their Facebook page last week that they were working on a retrospective CD/DVD combo to feature their music videos, live footage, interviews, demos, and more. It's supposed to come out next year, but little else is said yet. Sounds exciting, but I hope this won't be their "final statement", so to speak! I'll keep you posted!
• Phatstick frontman Jason Taillefer is playing an acoustic solo show tonight in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie. His solo stuff isn't metal, so why mention it here? Because he's playing at a new local concert venue, Joey's Twisted Italian Grill & Pub! This is the newly renamed and moved Joey Calzones, which has moved to the former UBetcha location at Station Mall, and despite being smaller, it now features a stage for bands to play on! Might metal or hard rock bands be there soon? Time will tell!
• Woods of Ypres' frontman David Gold was ranked #13 on a top 50 list of favourite male metal singers on the metal blog named The Number Of The Blog! The author gushingly praises David's ability to sound mournful and master his tone, even saying "Goddamnit I love David Gold" twice in the same paragraph! Nice to see this kind of praise, click here for more!
  

That's all for today, but I will see you guys TONIGHT at Foggy Notions for The Nightmare After Christmas Party! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Frightlight), Browbeat's New Lineup, And More!!

Happy October, everyone! We're kicking off the month in style with lineup changes in a local metal band, some more assorted news, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! Here's what you need to know!

(UPDATE: 2:12 PM) I just recieved word from Jay Perron that tonight's Infract concert at The Canadian Nightclub was cancelled. No reason was given as to why, and Turner Up are still on for tonight, so there will still be live music! To be fair, The Canadian Nightclub never mentioned this show in Facebook group e-mails, but there was enough confirmation from radio and MySpace to call it. Sucks that Infract are off, they're a good band, hopefully they'll come back one day!

The famous Coch's Corner Halloween party is back this year for it's fifth installment! Going strong since 2006, three bands will descend upon the Days Inn bar/concert spot on October 30th (a.k.a. Devil's Night) for a night of music and Halloween entertainment! A list of bands has yet to be publically announced, but I'm reasonably certain that local horror punk/metal quartet Frightlight are headlining, like they did at last year's Halloween party when they made their public debut! I can surmise that cause frontman J.D. Pearce is putting this on again, and guitarist Rick White confirmed he was playing that night, so it's a safe assumption. The other two bands have yet to be announced on the event page. I'll note that last year's Halloween show featured local hard rockers Half Past and a one-off cover band named Glamoween, might we see a similar band layout this time? When I hear the confirmed lineup, you'll hear it here! This show will be at 10:00 PM on October 30th, with a cover charge of $5, and this will be worth it given the nature of the show, so don't complain too much! This sounds like it should be fun, I'll hopefully be there if I'm in town! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and I'll have more on this show as it comes in!

Thirdly, we have some lineup notes to make for a local band, so here's what you should know on that front! Local hard rock trio Browbeat have finally found a complete lineup again, with some familiar faces from the local scene! Only singer/guitarist Dutch Vanderploeg remains from past lineups, following the departure (again) of bassist Tiffany Emmerson, but check out who Dutch has in the band now! Browbeat's new bass player is James White, best known from his work in the Blind River classic hard rock band The Disciples of Rock! Nice to see him back in a band, this should work well! And on drums, conveniently, is James' brother Rick White on drums! Yes, that Rick White, of Frightlight and Fitswitch fame! Isn't it ironic that Rick's now in a band with Dutch, who replaced him in Caveman Morrison? I wonder how the new lineup will sound? Early word has been positive, but we'll have to see. Dutch has put a ton of work into getting Browbeat back and active again, and I really wanna see him find a lasting lineup, he deserves it! Check the above links for more, and as news on Browbeat rolls in, I'll have it!

Finally for today, here's some assorted news stories that I've bypassed over the last while that you should be aware of! We'll go quickly through these in alphabetical order by band/venue name:

• Sault Michigan hard rockers Elipzis have announced four more out of town dates for shows in Battle Creek, Warren, Chesterfield, and Grand Haven, starting with their show in Battle Creek TONIGHT! These dates stretch through November. More on Elipzis soon, and if you check their page out, you'll see what I'll be talking about next from them in a little while!
• In case you didn't notice last month, Garden of Bedlam announced on their MySpace page on September 12th that they have new merchandise for guys and girls coming soon. Nice to see, maybe it will have art from their new album? Time will tell!
• The recently relaunched local concert venue GLOW Nightclub now has two brand new Facebook pages to check out, including a normal Facebook page (befriend them by clicking here) and a brand new Facebook group (the old one was deleted), which you can join at this location! Stay tuned for more from GLOW as I hear it, particularly where it concerns metal shows!

That's all for now, but stay tuned tomorrow, as we ask a familiar question once again: Where are the new albums? Our third monthly post where we check on the statuses of various local metal/hard rock albums will return tomorrow, so stay tuned for that tomorrow, and more news very soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (2112 & Grady) And New Local Concert Videos!!

Well guys, we have a packed post today that's full of interesting news and notes, including brand new local metal concert videos, and kicking things off, two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS that you should know about! So here's what you should know in this packed update, but first, remember to check out this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on Lower S.E.S. in the post below!

Firstly, we have a very short notice concert, and I apologize for not having this earlier, but this band is not on Facebook or MySpace, so it slipped me by until today. Burlington's 2112: A Tribute To Rush will make their way to Sault Ontario THIS FRIDAY for a show at The Canadian Nightclub! This was confirmed by The Canadian's Mary Lou Johnson by an e-mail sent today to members of their Facebook group. You may remember that 2112 were originally advertised to play at The Canadian in June, but the show was cancelled a day before, and the band had never announced the show themselves on their website. Well this time around, there's no dispute: 2112 ARE COMING! They list the show on their concert listings page, so both band and venue have confirmed it! This show will take place on FRIDAY NIGHT at 10:00 PM at The Canadian, with a $5 cover and a 19+ age limit. Check the above links for more! Rush are a very hard band to cover, but 2112 do an admirable job, and fans should enjoy their live concert, cause they pull off their sound pretty well! Check them out, and again, sorry for the short notice!

The other new concert I have today marks a long awaited metal return to a local concert venue! On November 16th, Grady make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario, in their first local date in over a year! Their last stop here, in October of last year, was dogged by a low turnout from both a weekday placement and that whole threatened boycott, but this time, there hopefully will be no issues! Based out of Austin, Texas, they'll bring their unique brand of country-influenced metal to... The Grand Theater?! Yes, a metal band returns there for the first time (I believe) since May of 2009, when Sense of Truth took part in the free Skate4Cancer fundraiser show there! It's been a LONG time coming for a heavier concert there, and it's great to see something up our alley there again, cause The Grand's a very nice venue! This show, presented by Beyond Borders at LopLops, will be at 8:30 PM on November 16th. No word yet on if this will be all ages or not, or on admission prices. The Facebook event page says that tickets will be on sale at LopLops' official website, but forms for Grady tickets have yet to be posted. Expect them to be no less than $5 though, and admission at the door should be available. Check the above links for more!

This should be a great show, Grady are a great band who effectively mold gritty metal with some nice Southern tinges to create a unique sound! I had fun at their show last October, and, as Facebook says, this show will definitely "rock you into December"! Check them out if you haven't already!

Closing today's post are some new local metal videos, and firstly, we have brand new videos from new local metal trio Sativa Rose! These come from their concert at GLOW Nightclub this past Saturday (the first metal show at GLOW since the renaming), and they are two more performance clips of some of their covers! Both of these videos come courtesy of YouTube user John Veale's YouTube channel, and both feature a guest singer in place of Adam Veale and Andrew Angelic. The guest singer is Jason Roy, and he doesn't have a bad voice, though on heavier stuff, he does get a bit more chaotic and messy. This is especially evident on their cover of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell", but it's well played, even in what sounds like a different tuning. The video I'm embedding below works better, it's Sativa Rose (and Jason) covering Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me"! They have the song down better, Jason's voice matches up more, and it sounds good! They have definite talent, and I can't wait to see them live! If it wasn't for my cold, I'd have been there on Saturday! Oh well, check out the videos above at the relevant links, and "Talk Dirty To Me" below!



And finally, remember on Saturday when I featured the newly uploaded YouTube videos of Garden of Bedlam's headlining set at the Rotaryfest Second Stage? Well, only six of the eight performed songs were online when I first discussed them, with "Your Disgrace" and "Around The Bend" absent. I had feared that there was a technical or sound issue with the recordings, but never fear, the band uploaded them to their official YouTube channel later on Saturday! Both are again soundboard quality recordings, much better soundwise than the ones I filmed were, but are far from the stage compared to mine. Great audio, and great songs too! "Around The Bend", the band's newest public original, sees them exploring ballad territory for the first time, while I've embedded the heavier and catchier "Your Disgrace" below to check out! Definitely a great show, and it's nice to have a better take on their full set online! Check the above links for more, and here's "Your Disgrace"!



That's all for today, and I know I promised a couple things for today's post, but I wasn't expecting a lot of major stories to flood my newspile over the last many hours. So tomorrow, look out for a newly discovered local metal band, a band looking to play here, and a couple more local metal videos! That is, if nothing major comes out before then. Stay tuned for that, and more, as well as our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profiles on Fifth Way and Marky Lion by Thursday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Weekend Concert Previews, And Two Cancellations!!

Good day, metalheads! I was hoping to have more updates on the SMS this week, but I got saddled with too much homework and studying, so I'm a bit behind. There's a bunch of concerts this weekend to preview, more than we typically see, so today's post is mostly dedicated to previewing them, with some notes about two cancellations. But first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison has scheduled another acoustic solo concert for this fall! Once again, Tym will be playing a set of acoustic rock hits at The Bottoms Up Lounge on November 6th, so if you wanna enjoy some unplugged metal classics, and more, in a more intimate setting, you know where to be in November! Like his past shows there, there will be no cover charge, a start time of 10:00 PM, and a 19+ age limit. This is Tym's only public solo show currently on the horizon, so make note of this concert and head on out! Tym's a great guitarist and is ever improving vocally, and who said metal always has to be plugged in? Click the above links for more news and updates on this show and info on Tym Morrison's solo project!

Now, on to this weekend's local metal and hard rock concert previews, and firstly, I should note that there are two concert cancellations from previously announced dates. Luckily, they intertwine, and you'll see why they do in a second. Firstly, it appears that tomorrow's scheduled Mama Kin show at The Canadian Nightclub has been cancelled. No reason as to why was announced, but it was confirmed that they were replaced on The Canadian's Facebook group. And to be completely fair, Mama Kin never announced this show on band pages, so who knows how far this show got before it was cancelled. Coincidentally, the planned Turner Up show at The Vibe Lounge for tomorrow night has been called off as well, due to circumstances beyond their control. This was confirmed on it's Facebook event page. So we have a local venue without a band and a local band without a venue for tomorrow night... see where this is heading?

That's right, Turner Up are the replacement band at The Canadian Nightclub tomorrow night! I believe this booking came up after losing the gig at The Vibe Lounge, as they said on the Facebook event page that they couldn't let their fans down. Nice to see them back there, it seems like they've only been rotating through Vibe, The Nicolet Tavern, and Foggy Notions lately. Never fear though, if you were hoping to see them at The Vibe Lounge this weekend, they've booked a new date there for THIS SATURDAY, so in a sense, this is a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT because it's technically a new show. So if you wanna hear some classic hard rock hits, you know where to be this weekend! Their show at The Canadian tomorrow night starts at 10:00 PM, the Saturday show at The Vibe Lounge has a 10:30 PM start time. Tomorrow's show should have a cover charge, likely around $3, while the Saturday show has no cover charge announced. For more details, the above link has info on their show tomorrow night, while Saturday's Vibe concert's event page is at this location. Should be fun shows, nice to see them playing more this weekend, and they'll do fine filling in for Mama Kin! Click the above links for more, and here for the first video footage of Turner Up's current lineup!

Meanwhile, at Foggy Notions, the metal will be brought, as Caveman Morrison make their way there for a pair of concerts this weekend! They'll be there tomorrow night and Saturday night for their first ever shows at Foggy's with their new lineup, including Browbeat's Dutch Vanderploeg on bass and The Bear Hunters' Johnny Belanger on drums! Both shows will start at 10:00 PM, you must be 19 to enter, and expect a cover charge of around $3. Expect a night full of heavy metal and hard rock covers that will be sure to get your horns in the air! Get more details at the Facebook event page! These should be fun, and I already have plans to be there one of the two nights to see the new lineup in action! Probably Saturday, but regardless, I'll have a review, photos, and video up on our various pages this weekend! It's been too long since I last saw Caveman Morrison, so this'll be fun! Click the above links for more, and as a preview, here's a short video of their live renditon of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" from a show at Foggy's in January!



The other double weekend dates from a hard rock band this weekend are in Sault Michigan, in a pair of shows that we've listed here for around six months! Lots of advance warning, so here's what you should know! Cheboygan hard rock trio Driven will be playing at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino tomorrow night and Saturday night! They've played up north a few times in the past, and should deliver this weekend! Now I can't tell you much about Driven's sound, just that they play "anything with a groove thats gets people off there ass and party." No audio or video samples, but I'm almost positive they play a form of hard rock. Regardless, check out their MySpace page for more band info! Like past Rapids Lounge shows, this has a 9:00 PM start time and no cover charge. Check the above links for more, and if you go see them this weekend, let us know more about Driven!

Two more shows this weekend, both taking place on Saturday night in Sault Ontario, and we'll head back to The Canadian Nightclub to start, as the other scheduled tribute show is definitely on! Mama Kin may not be here this weekend, but Crush: The Best of Bon Jovi will be! The Toronto based Bon Jovi tribute band will make their first ever stop in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday night in what amounts to the third Bon Jovi tribute concert at The Canadian in the past seven months, following two shows earlier in the year from Keep The Faith. Crush are a very good tribute to Bon Jovi with a nice grasp of their sound and look, so if you're a fan, head to The Canadian on Saturday night! There will be a cover charge of $5, the show starts at 10:00 PM, and you must be 19 to enter. Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more details on this show! I'm not a huge Bon Jovi fan, but if you are, you'll enjoy this show, so consider going on Saturday! For a video preview, here's a live video of Crush playing the Bon Jovi classic "Bad Medicine" at a show last November in Toronto!



And finally, a new local metal band will return to the stage, as Sativa Rose will rock the newly re-renamed GLOW Nightclub on Saturday night! This is not only Sativa Rose's first set outside of Foggy Notions, but the first metal show at what used to be Nite-Life Dance Club in a few months! And of course, it's the first metal show at GLOW following tomorrow's grand re-opening party, which you can get more details about at this location! So really, you have two reasons to go see Sativa Rose on Saturday: The newly refurbished venue, and great heavy metal covers from a rising young band! These guys are very good, and will have lots of metal covers in store on Saturday, some of which you can check out at YouTube user MrJohnveale's channel! There will be a $3 cover, a 10:00 PM start time, and a 19+ age limit. Should be a fun concert, Sativa Rose have lots of promise and should deliver well at GLOW on Saturday! Check the above links or the Facebook event page for more, and for a preview, here's a clip of Sativa Rose covering Iron Maiden's "Two Minutes To Midnight" from a Foggy Notions jam night in July!



That's all for today, but stay tuned over the next while for our new poll, updates from Garden of Bedlam, Riverin, and much more!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sativa Rose), Stillbroke & Elipzis News, And More!!

Now, we get back to local metal news, and we have some good stories today to keep you guys in the know for the Labour Day weekend, and before we get that going, I wanted to let you guys know that today's LOCAL CONCERT ALERT will NOT be the lead story because I have three threaded stories, with that a part of the thread, so if I mentioned it first, everything would be out of whack. You'll see in a second, so first, we have a lineup change in a notable local band, and we'll go from there!

Sault Ontario hard rockers Stillbroke have announced the return of former bassist Nathan Bouliane to the band, replacing the departed Kyle McKey. Nathan was Stillbroke's original bassist upon their local debut in 2008, notably playing with them at that year's Case's Music Battle of the Bands, where they won first place in the high school division! Nathan will likely be a very familiar sight to local music fans, from his past bass and guitar work in bands like Lorax, The Outside Lights, Moncton, The Crossed, As It Stands, and in the pre-Stillbroke group known as The Jesters! The news was broken on the band's Facebook page, but their MySpace page and band photos have not been changed to reflect this yet. Nice to see Nathan back in a local band, especially a heavy and talented one like Stillbroke! He's a very good bassist, and here's hoping that Stillbroke are back on stage very soon, cause it's been almost six months since we've last seen them live! I've also heard an intriguing bit of news about Stillbroke as a band, but I'll wait for word from them before saying something here.

Now we thread the stories, as we discuss some big news from a local concert venue! You may know that Nathan Bouliane has a lot more under his belt in the local scene besides being a band member, as he's the owner of concert promotion group Bonology Lights & Sounds, and now, the event manager and P.R. man at GLOW Nightclub! Wait a minute, didn't GLOW become The Other Place, and then become Nite-Life Dance Club? Yes it did, but now, they're reverting back to the GLOW name, or "GLOW Re-Invented" as they've been referring to it! Looks like there's some dislike for the old names of this long running Gore Street bar and concert spot on the Facebook group, but if I remember correctly, the original GLOW period saw more success than the later names did. The bar's currently closed, presumably for renovations, with a September 17th re-opening under the GLOW name being hyped. So to get ready for the re-opening and to get details on goings on there for when it re-opens, click here!

Remember, this venue has a good recent history for bands and concerts, no matter the name, and though bookings weren't as frequent for heavier shows under the Nite-Life name, we did get Bring The Fallen and Out Of The Mouth Of Babes for Algoma Hope4Haiti there, and AC/DC tribute band Who Made Who, not to mention the bands who played there before under it's old names! So don't let appearances fool you, metal will be back...

... no sooner than September 18th, a day after the re-opening, as here is that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!! New local hard rock trio Sativa Rose will play outside of Foggy Notions for the first time when they take the stage at GLOW on September 18th for a night of metal covers! You can tell by this poster that the booking was made before the name change announcement. The Facebook event page hypes a 10:00 PM start time, you must be 19 to enter, and there will be a $3 cover charge. Should be fun, I've enjoyed the YouTube videos I've seen so far, maybe I can squeeze in to see them that weekend! Depends what night I see Caveman Morrison. For more from Sativa Rose, check out their live jam night videos at this location, and I'll have more on them as I hear it!

There, those three threaded stories are now out for you guys to check out, now for something completely different, courtesy of Sault Michigan hard rockers Elipzis! While in Grand Rapids this weekend for shows in the area, they appeared on the TV show EightWest on area TV station WOOD TV 8, and the video is now online! It features hostesses Rachael Ruiz and Terri DeBoer talking with Elipzis frontwoman Rachel Kiger about the band, how they formed, and what they've done so far as a band! Aside from accidentally getting Chris Webster's name wrong (they said "Chris Weber"), it's a good interview, nothing mindblowingly shocking, but well handled! Afterwards, Elipzis played their original song "6 Shots", in what could be the first video footage of Elipzis online! Good stuff, I like this song and it's heavier qualities1 Great on them getting this exposure, and I like how they actually plugged their concerts on-air too! Check out Elipzis' appearance on EightWest immediately below!



And finally, I wanted to alert you guys to a local music forum that just launched this year, but isn't getting a lot of attention. Local news website SooNews.ca launched a local music scene section onto their official forum in February of this year, and I can see why it's flown under the radar compared to other local music forums and message boards. In the last 6 months or so that it's been active, it has only managed to gather 12 threads with 4 total replies. I know it can take time to get a solid userbase on a message board, but this could really stand to be punched up, don't you think? Getting a following like the 705 Video Magazine doesn't happen overnight, so I recommend registering and keeping this active! Forums are useful and can create some nice discussion if well handled, so if you want to help the SooNews.ca Local Music Scene forum, click here and post something! Note that you'll need an account to post, but it's free and asks nothing strange in order to get one.

That's all for today, but be on the lookout for more local metal news and updates very soon! Oh, and stay tuned by Tuesday for our latest local metal CD review, as we take a look at Sykotyk Rampage's newest album, "Bella Disgusta"! Thanks everyone!