This Weekend's Local Metal/Hard Rock Concert Previews, And More!!

With the weekend upon us, it's time to preview this weekend's slate of metal/hard rock concerts, and hopefully I haven't missed any (but I'll get them up on here A.S.A.P. if I did!) Note that I'm waiting to preview Monday's cancer fundraiser The Crusade until the weekend, as it's too soon yet, but we will cover it! Today, we have previews of four shows on both sides of the border, including some long awaited returns and an out of town headliner (plus some assorted other updates at the end of the post), so read on below for what you need to know!

We'll start at The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT, where Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands winners The Suicide Kings will play their first show since their battle win! Likely a rescheduling of their planned April debut at The Rosie, it'll be great to see the guys hitting this popular Korah Road venue for the first time, and if you've missed them since their well received battle sets last month, why not come out tomorrow? Note that this is a one-night-only gig due to another concert happening at The Rosie on Saturday night that we'll mention in a bit, but The Suicide Kings will also be at The Canadian Nightclub on Monday for The Crusade cancert fundraiser, so keep that in mind! As for tomorrow's show, they'll be on at 10:00 PM, with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit in effect. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a fun time to me, especially with new covers and a much longer set in store, but I'll have to see if I can make it to this one (either way, I'll 100% see them on Monday!)

Head down to The Rosie TOMORROW for The Suicide Kings' energetic hard rock sounds, and for a preview, here's the guys playing their song "King of the World" at the Rockstar Bar Battle Semifinals last month!

In a quick detour to Sault Michigan, newer local hard rock/metal quartet 415E will make their first ever appearances at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Referred to online as their "first show" despite actually debuting at the Sebastian Bach concert in January, these will be the first solo headlining gigs from 415E, whose lineup features ex-Nixxon Dixxon guitarist Chris Hubbard, his old Splitshot bandmate Dave Menard on vocals, and Highest of Fives bandmates Jack Slater & Devin Anderson on bass & drums. Surely ready with a set full of originals from their upcoming debut album (and plenty of covers, likely with lots of Van Halen to go around), fans of the members' older bands should be amped up for their debut gigs, so keep them in mind for this weekend! Admission should be free for tomorow & Saturday night's 21+ shows, and 10:00 PM start times seem likely. For more details, visit the above links!

It's great to see 415E back after 4 months, and hopefully they pick up where bands like Nixxon Dixxon left off to carve a big and successful name in the Eastern U.P.! For a preview, here's 415E playing their self-titled original song at the Sebastian Bach concert at The Dreammaker's Theater in January!



Finally for the known weekend metal/hard rock concert schedule, a death metal concert hits The Roosevelt Hotel THIS SATURDAY (which is different in itself), but there's a lot of familiar faces on the lineup! The headliners are Cambridge doom/grindcore duo Greber (featuring Fuck The Facts bassist Marc Bourgon), and while they're small in number, their experimental, guitar-less, and sludgy sound should attract a positive notice at The Rosie this weekend! Different sound, but very heavy! The local openers are definitely no strangers to The Roosevelt Hotel, as local melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters and grime/crust trio Shit Liver will play local support! This will be The Bear Hunters' first local show since their 5th place run at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands last month, while Shit Liver (who are putting this show on) haven't been seen since Axed Theory Night at The Rosie in February. With hard hitting and brutal originals from both of these popular local acts, you won't wanna miss a minute of this concert on Saturday night!

A $3 admission is in effect for this 19+ concert, and a 9:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! If you've missed the Thursday Rosie metal nights, this should be a nice throwback to that dormant series (if two days later), and while a two man, no guitar sound may seem odd, bands like Sue Inside and The Fury pulled off each well locally, so come in with an open mind and give Greber some great mosh pits! For a preview, here's 20 minutes of Greber live in Toronto last year!



Finally for today, here's three recent shorter news stories, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Barring a return to musical activity by Tuesday, I'll soon be moving local electronic/hard rock project Candle Hour to our inactive Sault Ontario band links. While their Facebook page is continually updated with links to mainman Hugh Stephens' claymation films, he's made no band-specific updates since May 21st of last year. I like Candle Hour's hard-edged techno material & album, and hopefully Hugh works on more Candle Hour music down the road!
• Local grunge/alternative rock band Haggith are looking for a keyboardist to add to their lineup, as per a post by drummer Mike Haggith on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group yesterday. The Rockstar Bar Battle runner-ups have a number of songs with keyboard accompaniment on their latest albums, and would encourage songwriting ability as well. If you're interested in trying out, message the band at their official Facebook page!
• If you were curious about info on new local band Jack Spades (who are opening for The Dayglo Abortions at The Rosie in September), they feature T-Rex Manning frontman J.D. Pearce & guitarist Tiffany Stocco alongside Asylum Country drummer/local metal band alum T.J. Case, with a bassist (and sound) to be determined. Promising lineup so far, I can't wait to hear more! My source is personal conversations with J.D.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a likely news post either tomorrow or Saturday, probably including our preview of The Crusade! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Greber), New Videos, And More Recent Updates!!

We have another news post for you guys this afternoon, but remember to read our memorial post to late J.A.B. guitarist Jean-Paul Fecteau below this post, as he suddenly passed away on Saturday. As of this writing, details of his arrangements have not been posted, but I'll let you guys know if I hear anything regarding them or any other tributes. In today's news post, we have new videos from acts on each side of the border, and some more recent news items, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month in Sault Ontario, so here's what you need to know!

A new death metal concert is hitting The Roosevelt Hotel next month, though on a Saturday night (May 18th) for a change, and it'll be headlined by a different (yet familiar) band from Cambridge, Ontario named Greber! A sort of death/experimental metal duo, they feature bassist Marc Bourgon from Juno nominated Ottawa/Gatineau grindcore favourites Fuck The Facts, and he and Greber drummer Steve Vargas have a drum & bass-only set of metal originals in store for what should be an interesting concert which might call to mind two-person metal bands like Mares of Thrace or Sue Inside at older local shows! They'll be joined by a familiar lineup of local death metal bands, including melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters & grindcore trio Shit Liver, who are both no strangers to The Rosie! While this will likely be The Bear Hunters first show following their Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands appearance(s?) later this month, it'll be Shit Liver's first public local concert in almost 3 months, following their headlining set at "Axed Theory Night" at The Rosie in February.

Shit Liver (who appear to be promoting this show) were also reportedly nearing completion of their debut EP last month, but could it possibly surface in some form on May 18th? This 19+ concert has a 9:00 PM start time, but admission prices have yet to be revealed. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an interesting show, and it'll be good to see Marc back following the most recent Fuck The Facts dates, while the two local death metal bands are very well matched, and should provide ample & brutal support come next month! Stay tuned for show updates as they roll in!

Next up, we have some new videos to share, starting with the latest video from Sault Michigan metal band The Highest of Fives! On Friday, a new 5 minute "short film" was posted onto member Devin Anderson's YouTube channel, which is similar in theme and composition to their initial preview video from December 2012, but what's in it? Well, I can confirm that drummer Mike Pascoe is back in the fold after a brief absence, with Devin (his old Free Refill bandmate) shifting back to guitar, a fact that's lampshaded in the video with some joking testimonials from members about why Mike left and related band tensions. The rest of the video includes numerous assorted clips of the members playing instruments (or pretending to play them), hype & promotion of their sound and their planned debut album "Bang!" (such as guitarist Marcel Grengs promoting album packages for amusingly high prices), a guest appearance from Marcel's former Analog Deficiency bandmate Cody Reed, and samples of two original songs (one improvised one named "Sweet Apple Pie", and one unknown studio track from the album.)

There are some genuinely amusing moments in this video (especially the interviews on Mike's departure and return), and this type of comedic video is something I'd like to see more local bands do! However, like their past previews, we see a lot without learning a lot in the process, and there's not a lot of samples of their original material there, but it sounds like they're slowly getting a lot done from what I can tell. I'm curious to see/hear more, so check out The Highest of Fives' newest short preview video below, and stay tuned for more Highest of Fives updates as they roll in!



Also in new videos, veteran Sault Ontario solo guitarist Mike Cliffe posted a new solo video for his original song "Dream of Insomnia" onto his YouTube channel yesterday, and it's a jazzy progressive hard rock instrumental that features inset videos of him playing the song overlayed with trippy visualizations, logos for his AudioFumes podcast, and even dancing stick men. It's well done and does sort of have a floating dream atmosphere at points, so give Mike's newest solo video a look/listen below!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by artist or promoter name:

• If you're wondering where Sault Ontario horror punk/metal quintet Frightlight have been since their Halloween 2012 shows, they've been taking a break at least partly due to bassist Mike "Eddie Fright" Gingras' move to Toronto late last year, where he's currently back in college. Frightlight are still together, and we should see them back later this year, so keep an eye out for any news on their return!
• Frightlight frontman/local concert promoter J.D. "Johnny Pints" Pearce is looking for bands to play a proposed all ages cancer fundraising concert later this year, with all proceeds going to the Canadian Cancer Society. There's already visible interest, but if you're want in, message J.D. at this link or reply to his post on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group from Friday!
• Local solo guitarist Shane "The Shaner" Solomon posted three newer solo demos onto his Reverbnation page at some point late last year, including in-progress samples named "Toast Master", "Emo Hemophilia", and "Riftworn Take B", and while the former two are visibly unfinished and short, "Riftworn" has mid-tempo heavy promise and good riffing, so check out Shane's newest songs at the above links!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow morning for our preview of Wednesday's second night of the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands Semifinals! Which of this week's newer local rock bands will join Late & Loud in the finals? The preview's on it's way tomorrow! Thanks everyone!