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!
