LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Scarkazm & Banned) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we cover some newly announced concerts (including a big tribute show in March), let's tackle our first hard rock concert previews of February 2019 to end this month! Due to the amount of shows, we're bumping our preview of Saturday night's Chase Wigmore concert at The Rednecks Saloon to tomorrow's post, which will also (in theory) allow an extra day for public information on the lineup, as updates haven't been quick since the postponement. Now, let's kick off this weekend's previews with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE!

Kinross, Michigan classic/hard rock trio Banned will make their first live appearance of 2019 when they rock the beer tent at the annual International 500 snowmobile race in Sault Ste. Marie TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed this gig via it's Facebook event page on Friday. In spite of the ongoing polar vortex and frigid temperatures, the show must go on, and Banned are still slated to rock the I-500 pre-race festivities, as they previously did in 2016, not to mention their rare mid-week Kewadin Casino gigs timed with the I-500 in 2017. This will be Banned's first concert outside of Manistique since the fall, so if you've missed the Traynors and Wayne in recent months, and can withstand the cold, head to the I-500 beer tent at the race site at 984 West 4th Avenue! Much like Project 421 did last year, Banned are on TONIGHT at around 8:00 PM after the Woody’s Challenge race, with their set coinciding with the annual I-500 downtown pub crawl, so keep that in mind if you're so inclined.

Musical entertainment is not advertised on other days for this year (usually, the beer tent only has a band on the Thursday), but click here for the full schedule, and follow necessary links there for details on the race proper and potential admission fees where required. Of course, the I-500 race begins on Saturday morning, and I believe 1230 AM will call the action for those curious. Visit the above links for more details, hopefully Banned put on a great show in spite of the temperature TONIGHT, and here they are live!



Next up, we'll stay in Sault Ste. Marie, where Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm will rock The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, but that's not all from their camp, as they've announced more 2019 dates for the E.U.P. via a spree of Facebook event page postings last week! We already knew of local gigs from Scarkazm and sister band Peril in the first quarter of 2019, but as linked en masse here, we can now confirm the rest of Scarkazm's Kewadin Casino slate for this year, so where and when can you see them in the coming months? At the aforementioned Rapids Lounge, you can see Scarkazm on May 17th-18th, September 27th-28th, and November 29th-30th, while they'll return to The Northern Pines Lounge in St. Ignace for concert weekends on June 21st-22nd, August 9th-10th, October 4th-5th, and December 20th-21st. Aside from April and July, E.U.P. fans will get their Scarkazm one weekend a month for the rest of the year!

Of course, don't forget about tomorrow & Saturday night's Scarkazm gigs in the Soo, and with convenient timing during the I-500, that should be a nice attendance boost, so consider a run to The Rapids Lounge for some hard hitting tunes this weekend after each day's festivities! All of these Kewadin gigs from Scarkazm have 21+ age limits, 9:00 PM start times, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for full details, and here's Scarkazm live!

Now, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where local acoustic hard rock solo artist Tym Morrison will continue his long-term arrangement at Gliss Restaurant with matinee concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY! Unlike the next two weekends (where he has a nighttime concert elsewhere), this weekend's bookings are solely the usual Gliss ones, but his unplugged covers are always worth a listen, especially with his prolific setlist, so don't bypass Gliss on Spring Street for all of the action this weekend! If you'd rather see him at nighttime, be at Room 21 or The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on each of the Fridays after this week. As usual for Tym's shows at this downtown restaurant, both of these shows are 6:00 PM evening events with no announced cover charges or age limits, but mind the locale. Visit the Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tym live!



Finally for today's previews, we'll head to The Machine Shop, where this year's Bon Soo Winter Carnival will welcome back local bands via the first annual Soolebrity Showcase SATURDAY concert event! Promoted by (Choose) Maxx Entertainment, this will be an indoor event unlike Bon Soo's old Marquee series, and it will unite live bands with local artists of various media (like painting, crafts, and photography), while local craft brewed beer will also be on tap to purchase, so this should be a prime chance to support varying local talent! Visit the official Facebook event page for full details on the artists and brewers you'll see at The Machine Shop on Saturday. Country rock cover quartet Bone Yard are headlining on Saturday at 10:00 PM, preceded by classic/hard rock veterans Soundcheck at 9:00 PM for the night's only heavier kick, and their Machine Shop debut.

The opening bands are both acoustic country duos, namely Bone Yard side project The Bearded Lounge at 8:00 PM & The Jeff & Jeff Show at 7:00 PM. Yes, all four of these bands played at Toystock in both 2018 & 2017, so if you want an encore/spinoff, you know where to be this weekend! Admission is free with the purchase of a Bon Soo button from local merchants or at the door, and despite the craft beer angle, this is an ALL AGES event. While I wish The Marquee lived up to it's potential, it's great to see Bon Soo trying a local-centric concert again, and hopefully this is a big hit for the festival! Check the above links for more, and here's Soundcheck live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Redundant & The 3 Day Millionaires), Weekend Concert Previews, And Project 906 Updates!!

Happy February, everyone! With a new month now upon us, it's time to dive into the first weekend concert previews for it, but due to the length of this post and related news items for one band playing this weekend, I am holding our previews of this weekend's Tym Morrison shows at Gliss and The Roadhouse for tomorrow's post, though it could go up later tonight too. They're coming though, don't worry! Now, here's what you should know to start this weekend, including SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Local punk quartet Redundant will play a rare acoustic concert TOMORROW NIGHT when they debut at Room 21 above Low & Slow! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced via it's official Facebook page on Sunday. Fans may have seen Redundant in an acoustic setting at Coch's Corner back in 2012, but a show of this nature isn't common for this veteran act, so keep the more reserved sound in mind if you take a trip to the new Albert Street West venue for this one TOMORROW! This should also be another chance for fans to see Redundant with new second guitarist Yannick Casavant, but for full disclosure, pictures posted to their Facebook page from the Joni Radford benefit last month don't show Yannick performing with the band. In any event, this one-night-only show has no announced cover charge, a 10:00 PM start time, and a 19+ age limit. See above for more details, and here's Redundant live and unplugged six years ago!



Next up, local classic/hard rock cover quartet The 3 Day Millionaires will return to Reggie's West for shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced via their Facebook event page on Tuesday. Fresh off of a pair of gigs at The Rockstar Bar, this will be their first stop at the former Roosevelt Hotel in three weeks, and their third concert weekend out of four where they had shows booked. Fans have had lots of chances to see Steve, Jeremey, Bill, and Scott live so far this year, so if you want more or haven't been able to yet this year, you have two more chances TOMORROW and/or SATURDAY! As was the case last month, these shows have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no announced cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Millionaires live!

Closing with a previously announced concert, we'll take a detour to Sault Michigan next for local hard/blues rock quartet Project 906's special outdoor set TONIGHT at the beer tent at this year's International 500 snowmobile race! Bands under the beer tent are nothing new for the I-500 (remember when Banned and Power Slug played there?), but this will be Project 906's first turn in this setting, and hopefully they sufficiently warm things up before the race itself kicks off on Saturday! As far as I can tell, their set will be the entertainment during the I-500 stop of their annual pub crawl, so click here for full non-musical details on the ongoing race week and other events. Regarding their recent drummer switch, Project 906 confirmed that their new addition is Prizym Designs co-owner Tommy Korcal, though they still have not indicated a public reason for Will Storey's departure. Hopefully nothing bad happened, and that we see Will again soon!

I'm not familiar with Tommy from other local bands, but he is a past drum instructor at Grooves Music, so he has the chops! Also, it's worth noting that Tommy actually broke his left foot Saturday morning before their show in Strongs, and he had surgery for it on Tuesday, but will not miss any future shows. He played on Saturday with his foot on a stool, and will be at the I-500 and at the Laith Al-Saadi concert next week, so kudos to him for toughing it out from the get go! The above posting on their Facebook page implied that they did not play at the Superior Cafe's musicians competition/battle of the bands that evening, but guitarist Joe Jenkins has since confirmed that only he and singer Billy Bernier performed, and the band was erroneously advertised by organizers (Thanks Joe!) Sponsors Crooked Music featured photos of the 9 competing acts onto their Facebook page, and while they unfortunately didn't tag each performer by name, they did confirm that former Intrepid guitarist Nick Pavlat's new alternative rock quintet Midnight Logic won first place. Congratulations to them for sure!

FYI, that event also featured two solo performers (one being Dead Water Tapes alum Garrett Chevrette), while half of classic rock veterans Stuck In Reverse played an acoustic set as well. As for Project 906's I-500 beer tent show TOMORROW, expect a 21+ age limit, an 8:30 PM start time, and while there isn't an advertised cover charge to attend just their sets, follow the I-500 website and sufficient local media for details on admission fees and rules for the race and surrounding events just in case. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Project 906 live!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Tym Morrison concert previews and more on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned), New Videos, And Much More!!

Make it 7 in 11 for our run of posts largely geared towards the Sault Michigan area, which is very nice to see, and hopefully the E.U.P. scene continues to grow in the coming months! Today on the SMS, we're tackling some assorted recent notes, new videos from each side of the border, and first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next month, so here's what you need to know!

Kinross, Michigan classic/hard rock trio Banned will rock The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino over the I-500 weekend on Friday, February 3rd & Saturday, February 4th! Announced yesterday on Banned's Facebook page (the venue has yet to publically confirm 2017 shows online), the shows are great timing to coincide with the annual snowmobile race, with Banned having also played last year at both Kewadin and inside the beer tent at the race proper, so hopefully there's some great crowds next weekend to take in Banned's varied but often heavy originals! No word yet on who'll be playing in the beer tent this year, or on if these shows will officially be a part of the annual I-500 pub crawl. Aside from the I-500 timing, next weekend's shows have 21+ age limits, no announced cover charge, and 21+ age limits. For more details, check the above links, and stay tuned for more updates on their 2017 concerts soon!

Next up, here's some new videos from Sault Ontario death/thrash metal trio Pillory! Drummer Bret Shuttleworth (under the name "Bret Martin") has launched his own YouTube channel featuring 6 Pillory videos, and while four are re-postings of videos from their Facebook page, one of those is new on either source, and there's also two exclusive concert videos too! The new clip is of a new "song" entitled "Juicebox", though the video is just of Bret playing a drum solo with his shirt over his head. Considering he's playing blind, the solo works out even better! Of the re-uploads, their drum-cam performance of their newer original "Exhaustive Incarnation" is especially worth mentioning as it's angle has been fixed (remember how it was sideways when posted on Facebook originally?) As for the concert videos, those were quietly uploaded on Halloween, as filmed by an attendee when Pillory opened for Norilsk at The Oddfellows Hall on October 28th, so what should you know on them?

The videos feature Pillory playing their originals "The Passing" and, as embedded below, "Abhorred Apprehension", but the video quality of these leaves something to be desired. The audio is alright, but the picture is grainy, the venue lighting gives odd tints with this camera, and the filmer switches from portrait to landscape view during the songs (halfway through the former, a minute into the latter.) Still, it's nice to see some new Pillory live footage, and the audio works, so give these a look above & below!



Also today, here's a new video from Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night's YouTube channel, that being a rough draft of a new original song named "Break Down These Walls". Uniquely filmed at a top-down angle with only Craig Harrison's hands showing (and shot in black and white), the song is apparently "about those you are trying so hard to help", so I'd have to assume there's a personal meaning here. The song (so far) is somewhat morose, yet also orchestral, and it's true to that side of Theatre of Night, so check it out below!



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

• Sault Michigan concert promoters Allstar Promotions asked on their Facebook page yesterday what people thought of Orlando hard rock quartet Alter Bridge, best known for hit songs like "Isolation", "Open Your Eyes", and "Rise Today". They didn't firmly say if they were considering booking Alter Bridge for a show here or not, but it'd be huge if they did, so comment above if you're interested in voicing support! For reference, Alter Bridge are playing a couple of midwestern U.S. gigs in May.
• Former Fitswitch/Sense of Truth bassist Curtis Beauchamp is looking for a singer for a new metal band that he's working on, and they play heavier stuff than we've previously seen him in, like All That Remains, Children of Bodom, and Trivium. It's great to see Curtis back in the scene, but if you're interested in trying out on vocals, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from yesterday!
• Shaw TV Sault Ste. Marie will premiere a new series TONIGHT at 9:00 PM called On Stage, which is intended to be a weekly series featuring full local concert performances. The premiere episode will feature The Din's CD release concert at The Tech on August 12th with openers Gnaeus, so if you're wondering what would become of Christian Lemay's full footage of that event, here's your answer. Ironically, the premiere comes during tonight's January Jam at The Canadian (which both The Din & Gnaeus are playing, and I'm attending), so I can't watch the premiere live, but I'll try and tape it so I can give it a review!

That's all for today, but again, I'll see you guys at The Canadian TONIGHT! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stiffler's Mom, Banned, Mourning Wood, And Tym Morrison), And Weekend Concert Previews!!

Before we get into our first weekend concert preview post of the month, we have a cancellation to mention, as local classic metal quintet Project 421 are not playing at The Rockstar Bar tomorrow night due to "a very serious family issue" that has came up for an unidentified band member. As a result, Paul Dellavedova's new blues band will replace them tomorrow night, and Project 421 are dropping out of "all commitments" for the time being, though tomorrow's planned show was the only upcoming gig that they had announced. Our thoughts are with the band at this time, and hopefully they're back in full force when the time is right!

Now, let's dive into our weekend concert previews, and all are SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, all courtesy of announcements in the last few days, but let's start in Sault Michigan, where Kinross classic/hard rock trio Banned have a busy weekend ahead, including a set TONIGHT during the winter pub crawl in the leadup to this year's International 500 snowmobile race (or I-500), which they'll follow with returns to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on all of these, Banned only announced them on their Facebook page on Monday and this past Friday respectively. Though not announced by name, Banned are the "live music" at the tent at I-500 headquarters (984 West 4th Avenue) during the event's annual pub crawl, which will see pre-race festivities and drink specials at numerous local bars, so click here for full details on that side of things TONIGHT! Remember, Power Slug were in Banned's shoes for this event last year, so this isn't new territory.

As for TOMORROW & SATURDAY at the Soo Kewadin, the shows replace a planned road trip to the Christmas Kewadin this weekend for unannounced reasons, meaning Alex, Wayne, and Don will rock The Rapids Lounge for the second weekend in three weeks. Despite the late notice, Banned should be on their games for their varied & often heavy song selection this weekend! Each show has 9:00 PM start times (though the I-500 gig may be earlier), none have an announced cover (but be cognizant of potential I-500 button fees), and the Kewadin shows are 21+. Check above for more details, and here's Banned live last year!

Next up, Sault Ontario hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison announced his latest Gliss Steak & Seafood shows for TONIGHT, TOMORROW, and SATURDAY on Tuesday (apologies again for the short notice), so now that those are confirmed outside of his website, we'll add his other February concerts to our concert listings as usual! With that said, look for the former Caveman Morrison frontman at the Quality Inn's restaurant once again for Thursday through Saturday evening matinees on February 11th-13th, 18th-20th, and 25th-27th, so if you're up for some unplugged hard rock hits in a more intimate setting, keep these in mind as well! As usual for Tym's lengthy run at Gliss, these shows have 6:00 PM start times, no announced age limits, and no announced cover charges, but remember, this is a formal sit-down restaurant. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's Tym live a few years back!

Also this weekend, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Mourning Wood will return to The Esquire Club for shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed the dates via their Facebook event page yesterday, though there had been personal Facebook teases of a return to the venue (sans finite dates) beforehand. Just a week removed from Stiffler's Mom's Esquire Club debuts, these will be this talented veteran quartet's first shows at the Second Line West venue since July of last year, and consequently, their first there with their current four-piece lineup. The Esquire Club still isn't a common venue for our coverage, but it's definitely came up a fair amount in 2016 so far, and hopefully Terry, Steven, Paul, and Glen knock it out of the park with their prolific cover base TOMORROW and SATURDAY! There's no announced cover charges for these shows, which are 19+ and at 9:30 PM each. See above for more details, and here's Mourning Wood live at Toystock last fall!



Finally for today's concert preview post, local party/hard rock cover trio Stiffler's Mom will return to The Rockstar Bar for one night only THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Once again, apologies for the short notice, we only first heard about the show via the venue's Facebook group on Tuesday. A one nighter due to Friday's Project 421-turned-Paul Dellavedova concert, this will be Greg, Mike, and Jon's first show at The Algonquin Pub's upstairs venue since November, and come fresh off of their Esquire Club debuts last week. Their fun and upbeat blend of hard and classic rock covers should be welcomed back at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, so don't bypass this popular trio's return this weekend! There's a 19+ age limit in effect for this concert, which has no announced cover charge (but have cash on hand just in case), and 10:00 PM start times are likely. For more details, visit the above links, and here's Stiffler's Mom live!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Power Slug), A New Local Band Addition, And Much More!!

With a busy concert weekend in store, we're slightly breaking up this week's hard rock and punk concert previews to spread them out, so a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TOMORROW NIGHT will take residence in today's post, alongside some more news and notes! We also have upcoming CD notes, some assorted updates, and first, a new band addition to our full coverage, so here's what you should know!

We have a local metal project to add to our band links, though we've alluded to them on here for the last few years in a series of posts. You may remember that we cover Sault Michigan metal label Werehold Records' Friday the 13th new music posting events (which return next week, by the way), and in some of the installments, you may have seen us mention The 1,000,000,000's Who Died (or The Billions Who Died), an extreme metal band that was billed from outside our coverage range in Isle Royale, Michigan, which has no permanent population, adding to their initial secrecy. Given that, we held from adding them to our full coverage... until now, as Werehold owner & Life's Eclipse mainman Jason Mills revealed on his personal Facebook page earlier this week that The 1,000,000,000's Who Died is his own solo project (albeit under the stage name Spizwizbanizz), and their Facebook page now bills them from the Soo as well! So, now that we know more on them, what else should you know on them?

Active since at least May 2012, The 1,000,000,000's Who Died have largely only shown signs of life for the Werehold Records Friday the 13th events, with 3 songs from them being posted on the Werehold YouTube channel ("Whispers Removed",  "Declaration", and last year's "Pile of Tongues"), though all are instrumentals. Their sound will be familiar to Werehold loyalists, though putting an extreme death metal slant on crunchy groove metal, and it'll be interesting to see what Jason has in store for next Friday! Give "Pile of Tongues" a listen below, and stay tuned for more from The 1,000,000,000's Who Died!

Next up, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TOMORROW NIGHT, as Sault Michigan cover hard rock trio Power Slug will be playing a unique concert set under the beer tent as part of the events leading up to the annual International 500 snowmobile race (or I-500) this weekend! Apologies for the short notice, the band only just announced their involvement yesterday on their Facebook page. Though not credited by name on the I-500 website, their set will be among the entertainment during what is billed as "the midwest's largest Winter Pub Crawl", and spectators are encouraged to visit bars and beer tents tomorrow night in Sault Michigan and at the I-500 track, which is based at 984 West 4th Avenue, a few minutes from Lake Superior State University. Power Slug should deliver a solid night of hard rock action during the pre-race events at the I-500 this year, and kudos to them for braving the elements too, as tent or not, it is outdoors.

Admission is via purchase of a button (a'la Bon Soo), and while it is $20, that guarantees you admission to see the actual I-500 race on Saturday, which is always exciting! Power Slug's set is at 8:00 PM tomorrow night, and given the time and connection to the pub crawl, it's likely 21+. For more info, visit the above links, and here's Power Slug live at The Bird!



Also today, here's some updates from Sault Ontario doom/punk trio The Revolution, who recently unveiled more details on their forthcoming debut EP! Last week, the guys revealed that their first release will be called "Roll Call", and it will feature 5 songs, those being "Prisoner of Hate", "Monsters", "Cold Temptress", "Into The Fog", and "Get High With Me". Most have been teased in earlier concerts and videos, but "Into The Fog" isn't immediately familiar, so it may be the new song that the guys teased in this Facebook video (unless one of the other songs was reworked.) Obviously, not all of their originals made the cut, including live songs and older preview tracks like "Murder For Sport", "We Are The Gladiators", "Mercury", and "Belly of the Beast", but if things work out, we might see some or all on a future CD. It sounds like the guys have things under control, and with PaperClip Productions behind them, things can only go up, so stay tuned for updates as they roll in!

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

• A new post by promoter J.D. Pearce on next month's VM Radio Battle of the Bands' Facebook event page strongly hints that local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters have signed up to compete at said battle, with J.D. noting that "things just got heavy in here", and that the battle may "end 'er with Render" (This Void). Will The Bear Hunters successfully defend their Viva La Battle crown from 2013 next month? Stay tuned for updates, and sign up A.S.A.P., as only 3 band packages are left!
• Oh! Right Arm! Promotions are apparently bringing Ottawa sludge metal band Biipiigwan back to the Soo on Thursday, April 30th, as per a post by co-promoter Jamie Vincent at this link yesterday. No venue or other details have been announced yet, but for reference, Biipiigwan last played here in November 2013 at The Moose Lodge alongside locals The Bear Hunters & Bad Back. Stay tuned for more as it comes in!
• According to their Facebook page on Monday, local punk/grunge solo project Telephone & Address have sent their new studio album "Rust Orchid" away for pressing of physical copies! No word yet on when we can expect CDs and digital downloads to be officially released (along with their teased "Early Tapes" compilation), but we'll keep you posted when more is announced!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more of the weekend's concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Nudge & Hammerspace), Concert Updates, And The SMS On Reverbnation!!

We're kicking off February in style with a packed news post, including possible upcoming concert, an official lineup change for another upcoming show, and a big SMS related story, but first, here's a bunch of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!!

Marquette hard rockers Nudge have announced TEN more local dates this year at The Satisfied Frog! A frequent sight locally, Nudge will be back at The Frog for Friday and Saturday shows THIS WEEKEND, April 29th-30th, August 5th-6th, September 23rd-24th, and November 11th and 12th! Each show will be preceded by a Thursday solo acoustic set by frontman Danzo McCracken, so if you're interested in chilling out with some acoustic rock, head to The Frog on the Thursdays before the above dates! Incidentally, thanks to Danzo for telling me about these concerts, as my usual source for their shows (their MySpace page) isn't updated. However, their full concert schedule is listed on their Reverbnation page, so there's a good online source! Looks like all of the above dates have 10:00 PM start times with 21+ age limits, and there is no announced cover charge for any of the above shows. For more details, check out all of the above links! Nudge are a talented hard rock band with good handles on their material, and they're absolutely worth checking out, first and foremost, THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY! I'll keep you all posted!

The other absolutely confirmed new concerts that I know of are also in Sault Michigan, courtesy of local metal quartet Hammerspace! You hopefully already know about their backup slot at THURSDAY'S Half A Man show at The Bird, but thanks to their new Reverbnation page, I can confirm an additional two concerts for the band in Sault Michigan at two venues we don't see too many concerts for. One will take place on February 10th (one week from Thursday) at Zim's, which is a relatively newer local concert spot on Ashmun Street that has hosted Hammerspace before at concerts we regrettably missed here. Two days later, they'll return to The Merchant's Bar on Spruce Street for another night of metal! This is a another venue that is slightly new to the SMS, but they have a good following and is well known in the area, so you never know what shows could pop up there either! Of course, with either venue, shows have proven hard to source, so let me know if you hear of anything going on there! Both shows appear to have 10:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details!

Sounds good, but before I move on to another topic, I should add a couple more Hammerspace notes. A day or so ago, the band officially launched a new Facebook page to replace their now deleted old page, and with their new presence on Reverbnation as linked above, I can confirm a few new band details! Guitarist John Bergeron is officially singing for the band now as well, officially replacing Kirk Labadie in that position. Their Reverbnation page confirms that they formed in late 2009, and that Half A Man guitarist Denny Breslin was briefly a band member as well. No mention is made of their past singers either. Three songs were posted on Reverbnation as well, but all are instrumentals. Good promising stuff though, they're heavy charging tracks that sound like they'd be pretty good in concert! Check out their pages, and stay tuned for updates on their show on Thursday, as part of the fourth annual I-500 Pub Crawl!

Speaking of the I-500 Pub Crawl, I have an additional update related to that event to kick off this paragraph of concert updates for this week. Now if you don't know, the Thursday before the annual I-500 snowmobile race in Sault Michigan is the famous I-500 Pub Crawl, where concertgoers, social drinkers, and I-500 fans can crawl area bars and have a blast! Concerts tend to pop up at some of the bars at "Pub500", and one looks like it will feature Charlevoix metal trio Peril! The band confirmed on their Facebook page they'd be playing in Sault Michigan this Thursday, but they have yet to announce or confirm a venue. Common wisdom would suggest a return to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino, where they'll be hitting at least six times this year, but until they confirm it either way, I won't list it as an official concert on here. Stay tuned though!

The other concert update that I have relates to another Thursday concert, this one being the next metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel! State of Misery are now confirmed as the replacements for Bring The Fallen, who dropped off of the show yesterday. Solid choice for a band, hopefully the short notice won't affect their performance! They'll join Desbarats death metal band For All That Is Lost and locals The Bear Hunters for this heavy night of death metal on Thursday! Stay tuned for more details in our upcoming concert preview post!

And finally, I have news on a brand new SMS page, and honestly, we should have been on here years ago. I'd like to officially announced that The Sault Metal Scene is now on Reverbnation! With the growth of local usage of Reverbnation in recent years, it only made sense for us to have a presence there, especially with some people's arguments that it's better than MySpace for band pages. I find it's easier to get concert news there, a number of prominent local bands are there now, and it has some cool advantages for bands and musicians, like online stores, press boxes, and the ability to get material on external pay music sites. For us, I don't know if we'll prominently update and focus on it as much as I'd like, but Reverbnation is still largely unknown to me as a "member", so I have to check around and see what all it offers and what we can do through there. I'll update you guys as to what we do next on and with Reverbnation, but I've officially "liked" a number of bands there, and I hope to get an audience going over there, so click here to check our page out, like it, add it, whatever you want to do!

That's all for tonight, but stay tuned tomorrow for our latest "Where Are The New Albums?" post! And remember, our draw for the $20 Rad Zone gift card ends TOMORROW NIGHT AT 8:00 PM! Click here, scroll to our contest status from January 26th, and add your name A.S.A.P. to enter if you haven't already! We randomly draw a name at 8:00 PM sharp tomorrow for the gift card, so stay tuned to our official Facebook page to see if you won! Thanks everyone, and good luck!