LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Full Circle) And This Weekend's Concert Previews, Including Whitesnake!!

It's time to preview this weekend's concerts on the heavier side of the local spectrum! This weekend is short in volume of shows (at least right now), but there's some big name bands playing this weekend, including a major Kewadin Casino concert (possibly a Tym Morrison solo show too, but he hasn't confirmed a possible Service Grill concert for Saturday yet.) To start though, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this weekend!

Local classic hard rock quartet Full Circle are on the scene this weekend for a Saturday night concert at Foggy Notions! Previously unlisted on the now deleted Turner Up Facebook group's concert listings, the band are only playing on Saturday, as the previously announced show for tomorrow night has been cancelled for unannounced reasons (for what it's worth, I haven't heard of a concert or event of any type for Foggy's tomorrow, in case that was why.) So if you want to end August with Full Circle, you'll have to go Saturday! Admission should be free for this show (there could be a nominal cover charge though), you must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at 10:30 PM on Saturday night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Even if their usual weekend is halved, Full Circle will have a great set of rocking hits for their fans on Saturday, so head down to Foggy Notions for all the excitement! For a preview, click here and move to 13:20 of the video to see Full Circle cover of Heart's "Alone" from their set at this year's Rotaryfest!

Now to the previously announced shows, and first, it's the 30th Roosevelt Hotel metal night!! Intentionally for this milestone or not, Dismembertainment have booked a stellar lineup of metal bands for TONIGHT, so here's who to look out for! Winnipeg death metal sextet Laika will headline tonight's show with a melodic and folk influenced brand of death metal that's guaranteed to melt faces and impress musically at the same time! Don't miss them, you'll absolutely enjoy them! Backing them up on this stop on their "Tour of Redundancy Tour" will be Winnipeg extreme progressive band Annex Theory, who you may recognize as being the current band from former Quo Vadis singer Trevor Birnie! Very technical and creative sound amidst the wall of brutality they'll bring tonight, so definitely check them out as well! Also playing tomorrow in the midst of their own summer tour are local favourites Thekillingfield! The North Bay tech metal trio are sure to be eagerly welcomed back to the Soo tonight for another high impact set of extreme sounds and hopefully some huge pits, so let's welcome them back in style! Finally, local grimecore trio Shit Liver will add some local flavour as the concert's openers tonight, so get ready for some crust and death metal to kick things off in a heavy fashion!

A $6 cover will be in effect for this show, but for these 18 talented musicians, 3 awesome out of town bands, and one rising local band, that cash will be well spent at The Rosie tonight! Shit Liver will open the concert at 9:30 PM, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an awesome and brutal concert, and here's hoping I can make it out! If not, you guys have a devastating night, and kill August with some death metal! For a preview, here's the video for Laika's original song "Dead March"!



Speaking of big shows, we have a huge one taking place TOMORROW NIGHT at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino across the river, and if you're into some classic 1980s metal, get ready, as Whitesnake are coming to town! The British hard rock legends (as led by the one and only David Coverdale) will hit Kewadin Casino tomorrow on their Forevermore tour in support of their new album of the same name, in what I think is their first ever show here in the Sault area! Of course, Whitesnake have sold millions of records worldwide, and will be sure to play hits like "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love", "Fool For Your Loving", "Still Of The Night", and "The Deeper The Love" for their fans at this concert! This should be a great show, and their newer stuff is really good, so if you love Whitesnake, you'll wanna see them tomorrow night! I don't know if there will be an opening band, and even though I've seen nothing to suggest one, I have been wrong before (as in the Ace Frehley concert), so if I hear about an opening band, I'll let you guys know! Luckily though, if you don't have your ticket yet, I have good news, as they are still on sale!

Tickets are still available for $54 American at this location, at the Kewadin box office, or by calling 1-800-KEWADIN. When I checked, there was still reserved seating, but all general admission tickets are taken save for standing room only, so make note of that if you try and get a ticket. The show starts at 7:00 PM tomorrow night, and as this is a Dreammaker's Theater show, it should be all ages. Check the above links for more details! Whitesnake should deliver a great set tomorrow, and hopefully lots of fans are there to see this legendary band in action! Stay tuned for more on this show and it's aftermath, and for a preview, here's Whitesnake's video for their classic single "Still Of The Night"!



And finally for this weekend, we have a couple more shows at Kewadin Casino this weekend, as local hard rockers Monkey's Uncle will hit the stage at The Rapids Lounge tomorrow night & Saturday night for some solid sets of covers and possibly originals! If you're in for some more music after Whitesnake, or just want some free entertainment at the lounge, Monkey's Uncle will surely have you covered this weekend! The talented quartet should be on at roughly 9:00 PM both nights, there's no cover charge, and you must be 21 to enter The Rapids Lounge for either night. Check the above links for more details! Monkey's Uncle will surely deliver a solid weekend of hard rock to their fans over the next couple of nights, so if you're across the river, don't miss them! I just wish they updated their pages more, I'm sure there's new developments and media we could check out! Oh well, hopefully one day! For a preview, here's Monkey's Uncle covering Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" in 2008 in St. Ignace!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more soon, including maybe a review of tonight's Rosie metal night (I hope), our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Infathom, our review of Sykotyk Rampage's "Zombies", and more! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Laika), Upcoming Concert Updates, And More!!

Good morning, metalheads! It's time to get you all caught up on some more recent news and notes in the local metal/hard rock scene, so here's what's on tap for today! We have our latest weekly classic video, the newest solo material from a local musician, the full lineup for an upcoming concert, and the latest news concerning Half A Man, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

It looks like metal nights at The Roosevelt Hotel are gonna continue well into 2011 (very luckily, thanks Rich!) as I recently came across an out of town band that looks like they'll be on one this summer! The band in question is Laika, a six man melodic death metal band from Manitoba, and they've announced a stop at The Rosie for August 25th, which just happens to be a Thursday! It looks like this will be a part of the band's Eastern Canada tour cycle in August, though specific details on the local date aren't known yet. I assume it will have a 9:30 PM start time, no cover, and a 19+ age limit like other similar shows, but nothing else is known at present. I imagine openers won't be known until the summer either, but you never know! Laika aren't too bad, they definitely make the most of the "melodic" tag in their genre mixing synths with some nice extreme death metal! Vocals are a bit higher toned than I expected going in, but Laika are pretty good, and they should attract a crowd in August! Stay tuned for updates on this show as they come in, and check Laika out at their official MySpace page!

Now to some concert updates, and we'll start with TOMORROW'S punk night at The Roosevelt Hotel, which does apply to the SMS given the participation of Sykotyk Rampage! Two weeks ago, we knew about their participation thanks to a Facebook event page that they launched, but the remainder of the lineup wasn't known at the time. Well, on Monday, promoter Typhoid Meagan finally posted an official event page for this self-described "semi-rushed (and super awesome)" second punk night! So, who's joining Sykotyk Rampage? Well, the headliners will be (oddly enough) local hardcore quartet Changing Waves, fresh off their Rosie debut last week at the last metal night! I honestly wouldn't consider Changing Waves "punk" at all, but hey, this will still rock, and they deserve a headlining slot! Sykotyk Rampage are second on the bill, and the openers are going to be stoner rock quartet Whiskey Skidoo, who are known to cover a punk song here and there (even Nirvana and The Queens Of The Stone Age!) I still don't know how they sound live, but hopefully they'll impress tomorrow! Same house rules apply as at most Rosie concerts. Stay tuned tomorrow for more details on this show in our weekend concert previews!

Meanwhile, here's a double shot of news from Brimley hard rockers Half A Man! Firstly, their announced concert on March 26th at The Merchant's Bar has been pushed up 3 weeks to April 16th. Why? I don't know, the band didn't go into detail on their Facebook page, but I imagine it was a schedule conflict. It should be noted that Mikey Bishop was stating there that he couldn't play the original March date due to prior family commitments, but whether this was related isn't specified. With that said, Mikey has officially announced that he is now the band's full time drummer, replacing Doug Reed in that position. Again, no reason was given on band pages, but Mikey is more than qualified, and I imagine Doug's personal problems are connected to this change. Still, best of luck to Doug, he's a good drummer! This may seem out of character given Mikey's past work in death and black metal bands, but if you've heard his live work with Half A Man, you won't see any problem! Check the above links for more, and remember to go see Half A Man at "The Merch" in April!

Fourthly, here's the latest original solo material from local guitarist Mike Cliffe! He's posted three new songs onto his Reverbnation page in the past little while, so here's what you should know before checking them out! One is entitled "Winter Takita Bird", and it takes a different approach featuring synthed orchestral-sounding music and unique drumming, with no real guitar until the last minute of the track. It's not what I'm used to, but it works for it's style! Has sort of an East Indian feel at points, if that's accurate. Another newly posted song named "Mud Sandwich" is closer to what we're used to from Mike's solo work. Nice riffing and solid solo sections, it has an old school feel at points, while still being heavy and retaining a unique quality! The third song is simply called "Name This Song" because Mike literally wants you to name this song! If you have a suggestion, you can post it on Twitter with the hashtag "#audiofumes" and Mike could select it as this song's title, or use it on a future track! Musically, this is the most different of the three new songs, with an atmospheric and very light feel throughout with techno flourishes. Hard to explain, but it's very unlike most of his past work. Click here to check out all three new songs, and the rest of his posted solo stuff! His talent and diversity shines again here, and though I like "Mud Sandwich" the best, all are valid songs that should be heard! Check the above links for more!

And finally, here is this week's classic video! In honour of their return to the stage on Saturday, I have uploaded a new video of local grunge trio No Arrow onto The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! Now most No Arrow videos have made it to YouTube through frontman Dann Pichette's YouTube channel, but here's one that never got posted there, despite other songs from said performance being uploaded there already. This comes from (I think) a set the band played on June 16th, 2007 at a Sault Area Wrestling card at The Elks Lodge. I believe the card was called "Revenge's Warpath", and if you were there, you may have recognized Energy Rock Radio's own Ryan McQueen as one of the wrestlers (source here, 3rd picture.) I love wrestling, but I couldn't make this card, so I can't verify if the above information is 100% accurate, but I tried! This video in particular was filmed by an attendee, and was later uploaded by Dann onto Facebook, and you can check the original video out at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=4833374126. In this video, No Arrow covered The Stooges' "Search & Destroy", and didn't do a bad job of it!

It was effectively grunged up, and they made it their own! The video quality isn't spectacular, but the audio's better, so that's good! Also nice to see former bassist Harley Syrette on stage again here, he's a great bassist! I just wish the full song was included, only 3 minutes of video were filmed. Still, check out our latest classic video below, and go see No Arrow in their return on Saturday!



That's all for now, but stay tuned tonight or early tomorrow for weekend concert previews! Thanks everyone!