LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Pseudo & Bay Mills Bands Together), Darsombra Concert Preview, And New Videos!!

For the first time in almost a week, we have a news post on the site that isn't primarily focused on concert previews or inactive bands, though there is one concert preview to note for a rare Monday night concert in a couple of days. Alongside that, we have some recent tour videos from a prominent local band, and to lead off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this fall, so here's what you should know on this Saturday evening!

The third Bay Mills Bands Together fundraiser concert in nearby Brimley, Michigan has been announced for Saturday, September 2nd with a special Labour Day event that's unlike any that the non-profit organization has held yet! This benefit event will be in honour of recent Brimley High School graduate Brandon Mills, who was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year and has been undergoing treatments in Detroit. You can find out more about Brandon's fight at this link, and while there have been fundraisers already this summer for him and his family, this has to be the first one that's a joint concert and softball tournament! Instead of Pickles, this event is to be held at the Bay Mills Ballfield (roughly across from the Police Department building on West Lakeshore Drive) in order to facilitate the "Labour Day Rock & Jock Softball Tournament", and for full details on that aspect of the fundraiser, visit the official Facebook event page or the event poster on your right.

The only confirmed band at the moment is hard rock quartet Project 906 as headliners, returning from the last two B.M.B.T. concerts, with remaining sets intended for acoustic performers, including an afternoon open mic block. If you're interested in playing either, contact organizers via the above links! Timeslots aren't out yet, but the event will begin at 8:00 AM, with softball ending at 10:00 PM and Project 906 playing into the night. Food, a bat raffle, and a 50/50 draw will also be on hand for this FREE (competitors aside) & ALL AGES benefit, though donations will surely be accepted. It's great to see another huge fundraiser like this for Brandon and his family, so stay tuned for updates when they roll in!

Next up, here's one of three new Halloween weekend concerts that was recently announced (the other two are coming, but they lack a public venue at press time), as Live705 will host their first ever Halloween event on Saturday, October 28th at The Canadian Nightclub! As of this writing, the show only has out of town headliners confirmed to perform, but if you saw the February 21st Six, Two, Oh. concert at The New A, consider this a sequel eight months later, as Toronto punk trio Pseudo and Peterborough doom rapper Garbageface will return to the Soo for this event! Evidently, the two acts left a huge impression earlier this year to get re-booked together, and Garbageface similarly made many fans at the Vaultry show earlier this month, so prepare for another night of punk and rap action on October 28th!  Local opening acts have not been announced yet, but for reference sake, both A Dire Setback and Mikey Thomas opened the aforementioned shows in February and this month, alongside other acts in the latter case.

Given the Halloween weekend timing, expect a costume contest, drink specials, and giveaways during this concert, which has an advertised 8:00 PM start time, though ticket prices, voucher or advance ticket availability, and a prospective age limit (or lack thereof) are not public knowledge yet. There are a lot of unanswered questions as of yet, but Live705 have delivered regularly with their local concerts so far, and hopefully they can conjure up a scary good time on October 28th, so visit the official Facebook event page for current details, and stay tuned for updates!

Also today, here's our preview of a special concert taking place THIS MONDAY NIGHT, as Baltimore, Maryland psychedelic hard rock duo Darsombra will make their local concert debut with a headlining set at The New American Pub! An exceedingly creative and unique instrumental duo, don't expect singing or drumming from Darsombra, whose guitar/synth attack lends itself very well to their audiovisual stage show, replete with 10 minute+ extended jams that can be heavy, psychedelic, or droning at any given moment, so be sure to watch some Darsombra videos to see what's in store! Do not just listen, trust me! Local openers will include alt-hard rock quartet Bizotic alongside new local drone/noise trio Pointless (featuring Treble Charger's Bill Priddle alongside The Peach Thieves' Jordan Leach & David Peredun), so don't be late for their own unique original material! Promoted by Six, Two, Oh., this concert has a 19+ age limit, $7 cover charge, and 9:00 PM start time.

This rare Monday nighter should deliver a very intriguing and diverse blend of genres at The New A, and Darsombra need to be seen to be fully understood, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on this night of trans-apocalyptic galaxy rock, and here's Darsombra live!



Finally for today, here's some overdue videos from local alternative punk quartet A Dire Setback's Facebook page last week, as they filmed some pre- and post-show videos from their Timmins road trip when they played there on July 8th! Apologies for the delay in these making the site, this busy concert weekend took up a lot of time. Three videos are considered parts of a series called "The Road to Timmins", with part #1 (embedded below) features an interview of sorts where bassist Matt Quinn asks guitarist Chris Nielsen about the show and trip while he drives one of their tour vehicles. Part #2 is about "the search" for frontman Larry Babic and drummer Nick Kainula during a stop, and without giving anything away, the search doesn't take very long! Part #3 features an amusing exploration of trees along the highways, and discussions about what a cockle is, while an epilogue video features Matt talking directly to the camera about how the show went, what the guys dodged on the road, and their trip home.

As well, a video posted by Chris' wife Heather onto her personal Facebook account was shared by A Dire Setback publically , and it features Chris & Matt singing a song about a little black crow on the side of the road. Nice to see some light and fun videos from A.D.S.' successful road trip, which I hope is repeated on future runs, so definitely give them a look above & below, and I wonder if anyone got any footage at the concert proper?



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in the coming days as we continue getting caught up post-Rotaryfest! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Pseudo & Tym Morrison) And New Videos!!

Keeping things moving on the SMS, here's another new news post, which is half devoted to new videos, and half to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one being SHORT NOTICE! Here's what you need to know!

Local acoustic hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will have one more show this weekend, as he'll make his debut at The Barrelhouse Wine & Whiskey at 476 Queen Street East TOMORROW NIGHT! Profuse apologies for the short notice, this event was only just announced via it's Facebook event page last night, after our weekend concert preview post went up. This show brings Tym back to a Queen Street location years after his old Bottoms Up Lounge & Foggy Notions runs ended, and if you're not familiar with The Barrelhouse, it's a tapas appetizer-centric restaurant that opened last spring in the former Embers Grill/Ming's Buffet location, with the restaurant sharing ownership with both Embers and the former Chicago Cookshop, where Tym played a one-off show in 2015. The Barrelhouse has hosted live acoustic musicians and DJs almost since opening, including local hard rock band alums Greg Beharriel and Jim O'Leary on multiple occasions.

It'll be interesting to see how Tym does there TOMORROW, and while The Barrelhouse is unfamiliar for our coverage, think of all of the venues that we didn't typically cover before Tym played there (in a weekly arrangement or not), so give this one a look if you're free TOMORROW NIGHT! This show takes place after his previously announced Gliss show at a more regular 10:30 PM start time, I'd assume this is 19+, and while there's no announced cover charge, remember that this is a restaurant. Check the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!



Next up, here's one more new concert announcement, as Six, Two, Oh. are uniting punk and rap for an intriguing hybrid concert at The New American Pub on Tuesday, February 21st! The punk portion of the night will include the local debut of Toronto punk trio Pseudo, whose energetic, upbeat, and lyrically varied blend of sounds should pique the interest of local punk fans in attendance! The same can be said for local alt-punk quartet A Dire Setback, who will make their New A debut in just over two weeks' time, and they should be on form following their January Jam set last month as well. This concert will be bookended by rappers, with the adveritsed headline act being Peterborough doom rapper Garbageface, while fast-rising local rapper Mikey Thomas will kick things off. Both are solid rappers, with Garbageface's industrial tinged sound a nice diversion from the genre norm, so keep both in mind come the 21st! This show has a $5 cover charge, 19+ age limit, and 9:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Six, Two, Oh. have been no strangers to merging disparate genres in some of their New American concerts (remember the ones with comedians last year?), so if you have an open mind or a wide range of musical appreciation, this show should be up your alley, especially with two talented punk bands and rappers each to take in! Stay tuned in case there's updates!

We'll close today with new videos, starting with a new performance video from Banned frontman Alex Traynor! Eric Cairns of Third Cinema Productions filmed this video of the Kinross, Michigan product performing an instrumental passage for the second annual Frozen Cherry Jam & Hot Licks Guitar Competition, a Traverse City-based competition between regional guitarists, notably sponsored by Northern Michigan classic rock station KLT (their Petoskey simulcast at 98.9 FM gets fringe reception here.) This competition is unique compared to what we see in the Twin Saults, with four music professionals judging two solo guitarists at a time in individual head-to-head guitar solo battles, where they are limited to sets of 97.5 seconds (why so specific? KLT's home station is 97.5 FM.) The winner will win a new guitar and studio recording time, while prizes will go to the top 6 guitarists when all is said & done.

The event proper takes place on February 18th & 25th in Traverse City, but will Alex compete? We'll apparently find out over the weekend, but he performs strongly in the video, so check it out below, and we'll let you know if he's selected to compete at the Frozen Cherry Jam in two weeks!



Finally, here's a new "Throwback Thursday" by Sault Ontario alternative hard rock trio The Din! Posted yesterday to their Facebook page, this came from the writing sessions for The Din's debut CD "Give In To The Din" early last year, and the 56 second clip is quite random and freeform in nature, with the band even admitting that "we don't know what it is" (though look for "La Cucaracha", believe it or not.) It's a fun watch, and more of a loose look at their songwriting sessions, so give it a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news, notes, and updates this weekend! Thanks everyone!