Before we get into this post, we have the public go ahead to say that Soundcheck will be featuring guest singers Elly McWatters (ex-Re:Born) and Valerie Powley (Generations) for their short notice show at The Esquire Club TOMORROW NIGHT! Regular singer/guitarist Cameron Oliver will be on vacation out of town, and thanks to him for posting this in comment replies on our Facebook page this morning, as the band/venue hadn't publically confirmed anything prior! Both Elly and Valerie have great voices, and with Valerie helping out TOMORROW, could fans get a mini-encore of their show last year featuring most of Obsession's lead singers? Cameron will be present for tonight's Soundcheck show before he hits the road.
Now, today's post otherwise looks at this weekend's remaining weekend concert previews, a couple of new videos, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Sault Michigan hard rock trio Tarnished will play their first show of the year on Saturday, February 24th when they return to The Fraternal Order Of Orioles Nest in Kincheloe! This will be Tarnished's second appearance at Nest 311, having headlined the Orioles' New Year's Eve party this past December, and clearly that went well for them to get re-booked already, let alone without any apparent ties to club events! For the record, the order's Facebook page hinted that Tarnished would be back in February, but we didn't hear a date until Tarnished gave it themselves on their Facebook page yesterday. Expect this to be an 8:00 PM event next Saturday with no announced cover charge and a 21+ age limit.
As for the Orioles Nest, it is located at 4916 West Curtis Street in Kincheloe, which is only a 20 minute drive south from Sault Ste. Marie. Fingers crossed that Alex, Parker, and Josh have a solid encore for fans at this somewhat atypical locale next week, and visit the above links for more details!
Now let's dive into the remainder of this weekend's hard rock concert previews, specifically via two Saturday nighters that had advance notice, starting with veteran Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Project 906's return to The Strongs Tavern in nearby Eckerman TOMORROW NIGHT! After a three month winter break, this will be Project 906's first show of 2024 and their first at The Strongs Tavern in over seven months, which is a very unusual gap for them given how often they've played there over the years. Hopefully their hard rocking array of covers find another solid audience out in Eckerman tomorrow night! Expect an 8:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new video of Project 906 live! This is from an undated Strongs Tavern show from no later than July 2023, unless there was a private gig since that I was unaware of.
The 31 second clip (as uploaded to their Facebook page two weeks ago) sees Project 906 and an uncredited guest singer covering Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name". A good (if very overplayed) song gets a strong rendition from what we see here, so check it out below, and don't miss Project 906's first show of the year tomorrow!
Lastly for known hard rock concerts this weekend, we'll head north to Sault Ontario, where newer local hard rock quintet HeadFirst will rock Shooters Downstairs Lounge for the first time TOMORROW NIGHT! After exclusively playing at Reggie's in recent months (aside from Toystock), this newer quintet will finally spread their wings to some other nightclubs this month, with Shooters first up tomorrow for new and existing fans alike. Hopefully Red, Raine, Liam, Claire, and Anthony leave a strong first impression on a new (to them) venue tomorrow with their hard rocking and classic covers, along with their current original material! A one nighter due to Shooters' DJ nights on Fridays, tomorrow's concert has a 9:30 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's HeadFirst playing "The Walk"!
We'll close today with new videos from newer local pop rock cover quintet Bourbon Blue, whose general setlist isn't heavy enough to make our full coverage, but they'll be no strangers to many readers. Bourbon Blue are basically the successors to the short-lived 2021 cover band Lockdown, with singer/guitarist Jules Cote, vocalist Nicole Ambeault, and guitarist Randy Russell now joined by ex-Band Camp Rejects bassist Ryan Bell and new drummer Alvaro Scheid (replacing Turner Up/Settle For Silver alum Brent Royer). Yes, you'll also know Jules and Nicole from The Soo Fighters and Nicky & The Southpaws. In between their recent drummer switch, Bourbon Blue kept gigging with guest drummers, one being Soundcheck's Glen Thomas during their shows at Jay's Piston Broke Pub over the Christmas weekend (this was the same weekend where Double Down's Ric Datson drummed with Soundcheck in lieu of Glen).
Glen had fourteen videos shot and uploaded to his YouTube channel from one of his two gigs with Bourbon Blue, and while most don't cross our genre radar (hewing closer to Jules' old band Cherry Crush), the two newest videos are SMS amenable, including covers of The Interrupters' "She's Kerosene" and (as embedded below) Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me". Strong renditions that clearly attracted a good crowd to the floor, and while they don't lean heavier in setlist contents, Bourbon Blue can effectively add some rock to the likes of Miley Cyrus and Bruno Mars where need be, so don't bypass Glen's other dozen videos! Check out Bourbon Blue above & below, and they'll be at Reggie's tonight & tomorrow!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes over the Family Day long weekend! Thanks everyone!
After a couple of single topic posts the last two days, here's a mix of stories on this Monday morning, including a local solo project's return with new material, lots of new YouTube videos from a prominent local cover band, but let's start with a new and very promising group to check out!
We have a new local hard rock band to add to our band links, namely Raincourt, a high school-age group that launched in August of last year! Raincourt's social media presence is spotty at best, so it took a bit of work to glean the information here, but you can get more on them via their Facebook page. Named for their lead guitarist Raine Rancourt, the lineup is comprised of current White Pines Collegiate students, all members of their school band The Pine Tones, and Raine is joined by singer/guitarist Elijah Russell, bassist Owen Dearing, and drummer Jakob Kuiack (a.k.a. Jakob Fice-Lesage). Curiously, their lineup is not given on their Facebook page, I had to get the credits from this video interview that Raine took part in with the local podcast series The Boar's Nest with Don Lewis last month. For the record, The Boar's Nest doesn't appear to be music-centric (wrestling moreso), but it's cool to see Don give Raincourt some early promotion!
Raincourt first posted on Facebook last fall via video covers (complete with face masks) of Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" & Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" at White Pines, resurfacing in March to tease the release of their debut original single "Penny Arcade" (embedded below), though again, curiously not linked on their Facebook page. This was recorded at Mission Control Studios with producer Dustin Jones, so Raincourt are aiming high and working with the right people from the start, and you can watch more from those recording sessions in January via this video on their new YouTube channel. Official band t-shirts are also now on sale, for the record. Raine's interview on The Boar's Nest will be the best source of information on Raincourt so far (it's 57 minutes long, FYI) where you'll learn about how the band formed, Raine's future aspirations in music, the inspiration of "Penny Arcade", the support from White Pines students/faculty so far, ...
...their songwriting process, aimed local concerts to play at, recording at Mission Control Studios, musical inspirations, future plans, and much more. For hearing just one song, Don sure shows his fandom for Raincourt so far, which is cool! "Penny Arcade" will appeal to modern hard rock fans with it's catchy guitar riffs, strong production, and tight structure, and as Don often noted, you can be very surprised that this song was recorded by teenagers! That said, this is one song, so unless you're a Wolverine, you'll have only seen this and the above covers. Hopefully we hear much more from Raincourt in due course, but give their videos a look above, and here's "Penny Arcade", which is also on Spotify!
Next up, let's take a somewhat overdue look at videos of local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck that have been uploaded to drummer Glen Thomas' YouTube channel since the fall! While some of these were uploaded to the band's Facebook page at the time, not all of them were, and it's odd that many have lived here without Soundcheck giving them a public push. Ten videos of Soundcheck (with Paul or Rob on bass) have made their way to Glen's channel in the past six months, including them covering The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" at The Esquire Club & The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" at Reggie's Place. From Shooters Downstairs Lounge, you can see Soundcheck cover Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman", John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good", Kenny Chesney's "Young", and ZZ Top's "TV Dinners", while the other four are from Reggie's West shows, including two from a Thursday jam night & an overhead camera angle!
These include "Young" & "TV Dinners" again (the latter video uploaded twice), plus Harlequin's "Thinking of You" and David Wilcox's "My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble". Singer/guitarist Terry Eaton sings lead on all but the Black Keys, John Mellencamp, and Kenny Chesney songs, which were handled by Cameron Oliver, and notably, Cameron was not featured in any of the Reggievelt clips except "Young". For the wide screen resolution and Cameron's presence, I'll embed the Shania cover here, believe it or not, but all will deliver for fans of Soundcheck's workmanlike and diverse set with some good hard rock bits along the way, so give these a look!
Finally, let's head to Sault Michigan, as local metal solo project X's & Y's is back in action! Led by former Life's Eclipse guitarist and Werehold Records founder Jason Mills, the project's Facebook page had been quietly deactivated in mid-late 2020, but it came back by December of that year (apologies for not noticing that until now) with a teaser video of a Casio DG-20 guitar synth. Updates were extremely sporadic afterwards, but last night, Jason uploaded a full track from the planned debut X's & Y's EP (title now anglicized from “Þe Obsidian Sömnen” to "The Obsidian Dream"). The song is named "Solid Glass", and it's a very djent-heavy instrumental that Meshuggah fans will take to, and this comes honestly to Jason if you followed his Werehold-era music, or saw his prior upload of playing all of the songs from Meshuggah's new album "Immutable" simultaneously.
The technical brutality is great, but given all of the planned Werehold albums that never got a formal paid release, who knows when "The Obsidian Dream" will go on sale, but hopefully it bucks old trends! Give this a listen below, and X's & Y's are back in our active band links!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
Hey everyone, I'm still in Detroit, but I do have some more local metal news to share today! This is mostly a compliation of recent stories that I haven't reported on lately, but some newer stories are in the queue for at least one more post before I return home, hopefully. So for today, we have the latest news from Woods of Ypres and an upcoming hard rock concert, and some more assorted stories, but first, here's the latest updates on a major upcoming concert festival!
This year's edition of Hempfest has a new timeframe for when it will take place. The bad news is it was pushed back two weeks, but the good news is it's now gonna be A FULL WEEK long! The festival will now take place from August 8th to 15th at it's familiar location in nearby Ophir, Ontario. The reason for the change is due to issues securing a sound man for the original dates. Hopefully the lengthening of the festival will counteract that! According to the e-mail that organizer Robert Neron sent to Facebook attendees on Wednesday night, the festival will now consist of 3 ½ days of camping, and 3 ½ days of partying, which likely implies that entertainment will take place from 12:00 PM on August 11th through the end of Hempfest this year. As such, the new ticket price for the festival will be $15 a day or $100 for the full week, which will be a $5 savings from buying 7 individual tickets. The on-sale date of June 3rd doesn't appear to have changed. As for the scheduled bands and performers, as of right now, their schedules and days to perform are unchanged save for being moved two weeks earlier. I imagine alterations could be made if the new dates conflict with prior engagements, but we'll likely hear about this as it comes. In the off chance a performer sees this and didn't hear the news, contact Robert Neron at this location to confirm what you need to confirm!
For full current details, visit the official Facebook event page. Hopefully this date change doesn't throw too many people off, but hey, it had to be if they wanted a good sound guy! At least now, it's a longer festival, and I can safely say that Robert's putting a ton of work into this, so you know it will come together well! Stay tuned for Hempfest updates as I hear them, especially concerning the metal and hard rock bands announced for this year!
Secondly today, here's the latest news on a notable hard rock band's local debut next month! Once only advertised on Reverbnation with information to be announced, the March 4th concert headlined by Kitchener hard rockers The Saigon Hookers now has full details to share! For one, the opening band has been announced, and it is Brad Example & The Role Models! This is the band fronted by Inner City Surfers bassist Brad Lacell (a.k.a. Brad Example), and I assume they play punk, I'm not entirely sure. Though the Facebook event page says that this is their first show, I have located evidence that a band of the exact same name played at Foggy Notions on December 30th, 2006 (source here), so if nothing else, they haven't played a show recently! The house rules that I previously assumed appear to be the same, so expect a 19+ age limit, no cover charge, and a 9:00 PM start time (likely later though). And yes, this is the show poster on your left, not too bad! Sounds like a fun time, hopefully I can make it out! Also, notice all the Lion Ride connections with this show? Lion Ride bassist Carmine Romano was a long time member of The Saigon Hookers before leaving last month, and frontman Mikey Hawdon drums for The Inner City Surfers with Brad Example, so this show should feel familiar in a few ways! Stay tuned for updates if they come in!
Thirdly today, here's some new Woods of Ypres news! Firstly, the band's Facebook page now features some new t-shirt designs to soon be sold, including a girl's baby doll t-shirt and a normal style shirt, both of which are indeed black! These aren't available to order or pre-order yet, but if you want to pre-order anything from Woods of Ypres' new merchandise, click here! Secondly, the band have announced five new out of town concert dates for shows in Ottawa, Fredericton, Kelowna, San Antonio, and Seattle! Check out their official forum for details, and yes, these shows are now in our out of town concert listings on your right! Also on the Woods of Ypres docket for tonight, here's some of the latest reviews of the "Woods IV: The Green Album" re-issue! Dejon Turner from The Aquarian Weekly gave the album a B, describing it in one word: Arboreal. He praised it's beauty but found it hard to get into, which I can agree with. Click here to see the full review! New York-based music blog Brooklyn Rocks gave "W4" an overall positive review, but it seems to be more of a description of it's sound than a critique of what the author thought. Still, he sums it up well, check it out at this location!
Finally, though not a full review, Vince Neilstein from the amusing metal blog Metal Sucks posted a short article about Woods of Ypres on there on February 9th! Despite an uncertainty of how to pronounce Ypres (it's ee-pray, but he settled with "Woods of Awesome"), Vince highly praises Woods of Ypres, referring to their sound as "Type O Negative at their darkest, doomiest, slowest, and saddest". I'd agree for "W4", but I don't think he's heard their earlier albums much. Still, it's great press, so check it out (and more from this awesome site) at this location!
Let's close today's post with three shorter stories, in alphabetical order by name:
Local hardcore quintet As It Stands will headline a metal concert in Windsor, Ontario on March 26th! They'll be back at The Coach & Horses with area metal and punk bands, and you can get full details on this show at this location! Sounds good, nice to see them spread their sound further, but remember to check them out at The Rosie on March 3rd as well!
Metallurgy, the solo metal project from local guitarist Neno Jovanovich, has posted a new 20 second clip of some riffs he wrote onto his Reverbnation page! I have to say, it sounds really promising in a groove metal sort of way, but I'd like to see it expanded on for more of a song! Still, click the above links for that and more!
I've added the inactive local recording studio Swallows Nest Productions to the "Other Local Metal Links" at the bottom left. Active in the spring of 2010, it was a home-based record studio that would have brought "professionalism to the working musician". Local concert promoter & bassist Nathan Bouliane worked as a production designer with Swallows Nest during their brief run, which seemed to dry up in May. It'd have been interesting to see this succeed! Still, if you wanna check it out, the link's above!
That's all for today, in all likelihood, but I should have more news by Tuesday, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone, and go to some concerts tonight!
