LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Powerslug), Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Before I head to The Oddfellows Hall to rock out at the second annual Sewer Swampstravaganza, here's an all Sault Michigan post featuring this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews across the river! We've also slotted some extra stories at the end relating to tickets for an upcoming show and a video from a local band, but let's begin with the previews, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! (Updated on Saturday at 10:53 AM)

Local hard rock trio Powerslug are returning to The Bird THIS WEEKEND! This will be their second straight concert weekend at Golanka's Bar, and once again, we missed last weekend's shows for coverage on here, but that's the joy of late announcements by a band with no online pages. I apologize once again for missing those dates (I need to get better on the ball), but I caught these latest ones, which were announced by guitarist Chris Gurnoe on his personal Facebook page on Monday. The guys should have a great weekend of hard rocking covers in store for their fans tomorrow and Saturday night, so absolutely keep them in mind for your weekend concert plans! Both TONIGHT & SATURDAY NIGHT's shows should start at around 10:00 PM, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no advertised cover charge. It's good to see Powerslug back out there, and hopefully you guys can make it out to chug your mug with Powerslug, so keep their shows at The Bird in mind for the next couple of days! For a preview, check out this unembeddable Facebook video from a recent show in Ludington!

Next up for the weekend concert previews is the return of Muskegon hard rock quintet RedStone Riot to Sault Michigan! In what is called their "annual show" in Sault Ste. Marie (implying that they won't be back until 2013), this will be the band featuring Elipzis alumni Rachel Kiger, Ryan Harrison, and Wally David's first local concert appearance since their live debut last August, and they'll rock The Corner Pub Bar & Grill's parking lot for a special outdoor "biker bash parking lot party" tonight and tomorrow night, which should be interesting! I understand they've had a few other bands playing outdoors recently as well, like Powerslug, and this will add a unique ambiance to the event! However, disregard any allusions on Facebook postings and event pages to this being a Friday only event, the band's website and The Corner Pub's Facebook event page confirm they're playing tomorrow as well. There's no announced cover charge for this weekend's shows, which have 10:00 PM start times and I'll assume 21+ age limits, though with the outdoor setting, I don't know how that'd be regulated. For more details, click here or visit the above links!

It's great to see RedStone Riot back in Sault Michigan for two more local shows, and any old Elipzis fan or hard rock lover should consider a trip to The Corner Pub tonight or tomorrow night! I have no embeddable video media to share here (I removed my upload of "Lifeless Disguise" by band request despite being a free file on their website already), but if anything pops up to show RedStone Riot in action, I'll be sure to let you guys know! Don't miss them this weekend!

Lastly this weekend is the return of Charlevoix metal trio Peril to the Eastern Upper Peninsula, as they have two nights of classic metal covers lined up for The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino tonight & tomorrow night! Though certainly not rare stops for this talented and hard working band, Rapids Lounge regulars won't see Peril back there until October, so unless you're up for a drive to St. Ignace (or further), seeing them pump out some entertaining covers this weekend isn't a bad idea in and of itself! If you're up for seeing Peril this weekend, they'll be on at around 10:00 PM tonight & Saturday night, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Peril are definitely an entertaining and talented band, and their classic metal stylings will fit right in at the Rapids Lounge this weekend, so if you're missing RedStone Riot or Powerslug this weekend, consider a trip to the casino to check out Peril tonight or tomorrow! For a preview, here's Peril covering an Ozzy Osbourne classic a few years back!


Finally, here's a couple of news stories from the Sault Michigan side of things! First, tickets are officially on sale online now for August 13th's Buckcherry/Fuel concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, so if you've got $35 to spare for next month's big show, head to Kewadin Casino's brand new ticketing page to get hooked up, or call 1-800 KEWADIN, or head to the physical box office. Plenty of tickets are still available, including some second row seats, so act now before they're gone, and stay tuned for more news on this concert as it all comes in! And lastly for today, local classical metal trio Theatre of Night have uploaded a new promo video for their brand new album "The Dawn's Early Light" onto their YouTube channel, and it features samples of many of the album's tracks along with scattered band, album, and patriotic photos. It's more or less an extended variant on their earlier promotional videos for this album, but with more music and album information. The biggest news is that they've added a new song named "Dixieland" to the track listing, while combining all 5 of the U.S. Military theme song covers into one track, but people who've already bought the album knew that already.

I have my copy ready to review this month (hopefully as soon as our news cache is generally cleared out) so keep an eye out for that, as this should be a very intriguing album, especially if you love America and what it stands for! Check out this newest promo video below, get more at the above links, and pick up "The Dawn's Early Light" on iTunes at this location!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for my review of TODAY'S second Sewer Swampstraganza tomorrow, and I hope to see you guys there! Thanks everyone!

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: RedStone Riot

Hey guys, I apologize for the delay on this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, but I was busy with some family stuff most of yesterday. Now it's up though, so here's our monthly look at a metal or hard rock band from outside of the Soo that just happen to feature a past or present Saultite in their lineup! This month's choice is a long time coming, mainly due to a wait for online material, but now we're giving them a deserved look in this feature series on the SMS, so here's what you need to know! (Updated on November 26th, 2014)
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RedStone Riot (Muskegon, Michigan)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics)

Rachel Kiger (vocals)
Tony Hulings (guitar)
Dexx Brown (guitar)
Ryan Harrison (bass)
Wally David (drums)

Brock Warber (guitar)
Ryan Fluharty (guitar)

Official website: http://www.redstoneriot.com
Official Facebook page: http://facebook.com/redstoneriot

Local Info: Two former Sault Michigan-area residents were in RedStone Riot's most recent lineup, those being former Elipzis bandmates Rachel Kiger and Ryan Harrison. Though well known respectively from earlier local music projects (like Rachel's solo work and Ryan's stint as frontman for Riot! By Night), they attained much greater recognition locally with Elipzis, whose 2010-2011 run saw them record some entertaining original material and play numerous high profile concerts both locally and in the Lower Peninsula, including a memorable early set at the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival! Last year, Rachel & Ryan moved to Muskegon and dissolved Elipzis shortly afterwards, but they soon found themselves in RedStone Riot!

Band Bio: RedStone Riot were launched in July 2011 following Elipzis' disbandment, with Rachel, Ryan, and final Elipzis drummer Wally David joining forces with Muskegon guitarists Brock Warber (Kill Tomorrow) and Tony Hulings (Wally's ex-One Past Mars bandmate) in this new group. They made their first live concert appearances at The Corner Pub in Sault Michigan over the August 12th, 2011 weekend, but news slowed for the remainder of the year. RedStone Riot resurfaced in February of this year in Muskegon, before focusing on some studio work, which helped result in their first original song "Lifeless Disguise". From mid-2012 to mid-2013, the band saw their biggest activity yet, including sets opening for Pop Evil & Smile Empty Soul, a return to Sault Michigan in July 2012, and the beginnings of recording sessions for their debut CD. After a year long hiatus related to health concerns, the band returned to the stage in July 2014, but singer Rachel Kiger left the band the following month, briefly signalling the band's demise, but as of August 16th, they're "down, but not out."

Though there isn't a lot of media from RedStone Riot online yet, the members' work in bands like Elipzis and One Past Mars are good harbingers for their melodic female fronted hard rock sound, and their song "Lifeless Disguise" is a nice glimpse of what to expect! It's not the heaviest song, but it demonstrates RedStone Riot's collective talents, including Rachel's melodic well-ranged singing, nice guitar work, and a catchy melody, though the production doesn't help the guitar volume much. I imagine we'll hear and see a lot more from them soon, but check out the members' older bands for a preview of what's to come if you can't see them live imminently! Among a few other live videos, here's one of RedStone Riot covering most of Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" at the Muskegon Rockstock Festival in June 2012, and though there is some vocal shakiness, it's a solid cover, so check out RedStone Riot live below!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month, we'll look at prolific Saultie (and current Windsor resident) Ash Richtig once again, this time for his recently inactive metal project Under Earth, which should be interesting despite the project's lack of activity, so look out for it between July 23rd and 29th! That's all for now, but stay tuned for a new news post later today! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Sault Michigan Concert Previews, Including The Sugar Island Festival!!

Finally, we complete our trifecta of weekend concert preview posts, as we focus on the hard rock and metal shows in Sault Michigan this weekend! This weekend, we have a couple bands (one local, one with locals) playing weekend sets, but first, we'll start with this year's Sugar Island Music Festival, so here's what you need to know!

Yes, this year marks the 11th annual Sugar Island Music Festival, a yearly music festival featuring local talent of varying genres convening at nearby Sugar Island for a family friendly weekend of entertainment! There's activities like kids games, crafts, dancing, campfires, vendors, and much more, so click here for all festival details! Music-wise, there's entertainment from today through Sunday, so let's start with TODAY's lineup, where two young local hard rock bands will grace the stage! The highest slotted is the returning hard rock quartet Free Refill, who play their first show of the summer after a months-long hiatus to rock Sugar Island with their brand of covers! It's nice to see Free Refill back, hopefully they tear it up in their return! They're on at 7:00 PM tonight, with new local hard rock trio Banned immediately before them at 6:00 PM. They've been keeping busy with bookings since their debut, and hopefully they have a great set this evening as well! The rest of today's lineup includes classic rockers The Hixx at 9:00 PM with Joe Schutz & Top of the Hill before them at 8:00 PM. Another band named The Highest of Fives has been added recently as openers at 5:00 PM, who I believe share some other members of Free Refill, but I'm not positive enough to call anything definitively.

For full lineup details, click here! Admission is $6 or $10 for a full weekend pass (there is no two day pass), but children under 10 years old are free. Camping has it's own costs, so click here for details on that front. Sounds like a good lineup of bands, hopefully lots of people head down to Sugar Island tonight! For a preview, here's some brand new video footage of Banned from last month's Music In The Park show in Rudyard! Uploaded by YouTube user Pacoheadley 3 weeks ago, these are of Banned covering Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone" & Bob Seger's "Turn The Page", and the band sound good on them, though I have a hunch they'd do better at the Metallica version of "Turn The Page", especially with no saxophone. The audio's good, but the video is shot very far away with no zoom, so it's not that great for a view of the band. Worth checking out though, so check the above links for more from Banned, and here's their cover of "Twilight Zone"!



As for tomorrow's schedule, there is just one verifiable hard rock band, as Free Refill will return for a set at 6:00 PM! Nice to see, cause they'll add some needed heaviness to tomorrow's lineup! The rest of the schedule includes headliners The Schutz Family Band at 8:00 PM, with The Hixx returning at 7:00 PM. Before Free Refill, there's solo artist Joel Choate at 5:00 PM, an indie band from Hillsdale, Michigan named AllArms at 4:00 PM, Gentleman George Snider and Friends at 3:00 PM, Rollie Mayer and Friends at 2:00 PM, Stockholm Slim at 1:00 PM, and two hours of open mic performers before the bands at 11:00 AM. Again, check the above links for full schedule details, and once again, tickets are $6 for Saturday, $10 for the full weekend, and free for kids under 10. Sounds like a good time, even if it's lacking in metal tomorrow! We do have Free Refill though, who will be sure to put on a great set! For a preview, here's Free Refill covering Metallica's "Enter Sandman" at last year's Sugar Island Music Festival!



As for Sunday, there are no metal bands (at least that I can prove), but the bands include The Schutz Family Band, Lise White & Friends, No Strings Attached, Gentleman George Snider and Friends, Rollie Mayer & Friends, The Knucklelickers, a five-piece act named Rudy, Jen, Bob, Evelyn, and Dave, and Stockholm Slim in descending order from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The same ticket rules apply for Sunday as well. Hopefully this year's Sugar Island Music Festival is a success, and if I hear anything concerning fallout from it (especially concerning the hard rock bands), you'll hear it all here! Best of luck to another successful festival!

Now to the shows in Sault Michigan itself that I know about, and first, new Muskegon-based hard rock quintet RedStone Riot will make their live concert debut TONIGHT & tomorrow night at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill! This is the new band from former Elipzis members Rachel Kiger, Ryan Harrison, and Wally David, which formed this summer after Rachel & Ryan's full time relocation from the Soo to Muskegon. With Elipzis guitarist Chris Webster not involved, their lineup is rounded out by two guitarists: Wally's old One Past Mars bandmate Tony Hulings, and a yet-unidentified guitarist who was in the Muskegon band Tracing Yesterday. I've heard very good things about RedStone Riot since their formation, though whether their sets will have Elipzis songs, new originals, covers, or some combination of the above isn't known yet. So RedStone Riot will be at The Corner Pub tonight & tomorrow night at around 10:00 PM, with no announced cover charge and a 21+ age limit. For more details, visit this location! Sounds like a great weekend for their debut, and hopefully RedStone Riot can make some real waves in Western Michigan and beyond! No material of theirs is out to preview them with, but of course, search for Elipzis on YouTube to hear some old performances from the past year!

And finally for this weekend, local hard rock quintet Splitshot are scheduled to rock The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino this weekend! The local band featuring half of the old Nixxon Dixxon lineup and family members are set to deliver a weekend of hard rocking covers to their fans this weekend, at least I think they still are! Their Facebook page hasn't been touched in over three weeks, but this is something I sadly have came to expect from a few Sault Michigan bands with sporadically updated pages. But with Kewadin's own entertainment page keeping us up to date, they must be on, though if I hear anything to the contrary, I'll let you guys know! Their concerts TONIGHT & Saturday night have no cover charge, a 21+ age limit, and a likely 9:00 PM-ish start time. Check the above links for more details! Splitshot are still an enigma in many respects, especially with no posted media, but hopefully they'll rock the house this weekend, as I imagine they will! Stay tuned for more from Splitshot if it comes in!

That's all for concert previews this week! Three posts worth, that's definitely unlike us, but hey, the more concerts, the better! Should be a quieter weekend next week though. Stay tuned later today for more news and notes from the local scene, including a newly discovered posthumous page for a local band! Thanks everyone, and enjoy the Sugar Island Festival!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Black Moor & RedStone Riot) And Some New Videos!!

One more post for your Wednesday before we devote tomorrow to weekend concert previews, and before that, remember to check out our Defunct Profile on State of Misery and my review of Monday's Mares of Thrace concert in the posts below this one! Now, to the news, as we have three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, a new Woods of Ypres interview, and a new End of Existence song, so let's get things going!

Three weeks ago, you may remember attending an all ages concert at The Oddfellows Hall featuring local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters and Halifax classic metal bands Sanktuary and Black Moor. It was a great show, but if you missed it, then good news, as all three bands will be at The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW for this week's metal night! This will be the first Thursday metal night at The Rosie with out of town bands since The Dayglo Abortions headlined in June, and the first one with four bands since the week after that show, so this will be a Thursday night not to be missed! This time however, Black Moor & The Bear Hunters will flip flop the headliner and third spots on the lineup, with Sanktuary co-headlining again. The opening band will instead be Shit Liver, marking the death metal trio's second show of three this week, and they'll fit well as openers! This show will have a $3 cover (it's worth every penny though), you must be 19 to attend, and Shit Liver will open the proceedings at 9:30 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's awesome to see Sanktuary and Black Moor back so soon, and for $3 on metal night, how much more convenient could it be? I know this is short notice, but remember, this show is TOMORROW, and if you missed them three weeks ago, don't let this show slip by! We'll have more tomorrow in our weekend concert previews!

Also new for concerts is the debut of Muskegon hard rock quintet RedStone Riot, who will make their first ever concert stops in Sault Michigan this weekend! The new band from former Elipzis members Rachel Kiger, Ryan Harrison, and Wally David (plus members of Muskegon-area bands One Past Mars & Tracing Yesterday) will hit The Corner Pub Bar & Grill across the river on Friday & Saturday night for two nights of hard rocking originals and possibly covers! My source for this show is this blog entry on their website. No word yet on if any old Elipzis songs will make the setlist, but I do know that this will be the first time we'll see Rachel, Ryan, and Wally on the local stage since March, and it will certainly be interesting to hear the new band in action! A 21+ age limit can be expected, both shows should have 10:00 PM-ish start times, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! These shows should be really good, and I've heard very positive things about the new band, so don't miss RedStone Riot's debut this weekend! Again, stay tuned for more details on these shows tomorrow or Thursday when we preview the weekend's metal and hard rock concerts!

Thirdly today, here's a brand new original song from Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids metal quintet End of Existence, which is just their second original song featuring their full lineup. Uploaded onto their YouTube channel earlier today, it's entitled "Recurring Dreams", it's nice and heavy with lots of aggression with some nice melodies thrown in! Steve Giles' guitar work is really nice, and the presence of bass really helps their material! The video footage, which mixes what looks like surgical stock footage and heavy filters, works well, but doesn't give the vibe of the song to me. Promising song though, hopefully they have some more songs in the works, and now that they have a full lineup, maybe some live shows? Check out "Recurring Dreams" below!



And finally, local blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres were featured in the Calgary-based webseries Extreme Metal Television's fourth episode, as posted onto YouTube on Monday! The piece, which begins at 4:40 in the video below and runs for about 4 ½ minutes, includes short interview clips with frontman David Gold, where he talks about the band's signing with Earache Records & the recording and release of the "Home" vinyl EP, along with assorted live clips from the band's May 19th show in Calgary and some assorted remarks and plugs from the series' host. Nice to see, but it's pretty short as a whole. Give the new Woods of Ypres interview a look below (along with pieces on Cephalic Carnage & Sacred Ally), and stay tuned for some more cool news from the band pertaining to "Woods V"!



That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for weekend concert previews, especially pertaining to Hempfest! Not sure entirely how I'm going to approach this very busy weekend for preview purposes, but we'll work something out. Thanks everyone!

A New Local Band, Two Newly Broken Up Bands, And This Week's Classic Video!!

Yes, my review of last night's Mares of Thrace concert is coming, but the videos I shot are giving me a lot of grief. The timing's off on a few of the videos so the music doesn't line up, and these are large files to convert and upload as it is. They're coming though, stay tuned to our Facebook page today for the new videos and photos as they get uploaded!

We have a new local band today, and it's a new Sault Ontario metal project named The Dead Kings! The band features 3/4s of the now broken up Skull After Betrayl (more on that in a second), with guitarist Mike Vincent, drummer Anthony D'Agostini, and bassist Adam Brett joining this new group. However, Adam will switch from bass to vocals in this new band, which should be interesting! I've found his bass skills needed a lot of work, so hopefully he can make his mark singing with The Dead Kings! Joining this new band on bass is Willis Tholberg (Mike and Adam's old bandmate in Despised Eyes), while Jacob Cere has also joined as their second guitarist. Will's a good pickup, but I admit not being familiar with Jacob as a guitarist, though me & him did both attend Bawating around the same time. How will The Dead Kings sound? Not sure yet, but their Facebook page hyped a death metal and hardcore sound, with influences seeming similar to those that influenced the members' older bands. With a new singer and lineup though, The Dead Kings will be interesting to hear once they debut, so stay tuned for updates, and become a fan while we wait for material at this location!

With that said, it's basically clear that Mike, Adam, and Anthony's old band Skull After Betrayal has broken up. Though no statement was officially made concerning their demise, their old Facebook page was quietly deleted recently, and The Dead Kings' Facebook page refers to SAB as one of their members' "past bands". I can say that the breakup did follow their split with guitarist Justin Polutanovich in late July, but rather than replace him, the guys opted to start a brand new band out of respect to Justin. This ends a five month run of public activity for Skull After Betrayal, which included a few high profile sets like opening for The Dayglo Abortions & Titans Eve at The Roosevelt Hotel, and being one of 11 local bands on the massive Sewer Swampstravaganja all ages concert in April. It's disappointing to see Skull After Betrayal end so suddenly, as they were definitely improving with each show they played, but I have a feeling that ending the band to move on to The Dead Kings will work out better with the new lineup and likely sound. We'll be watching, and of course, best of luck to Justin in whatever he moves to next musically, as he is a talented guitarist that would be a worthy addition to another local band!

The other newly broken up band is Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Elipzis, with an announcement posted on their Facebook page late last night. The breakup is due to the formation of a new Muskegon-based hard rock band named RedStone Riot that features Elipzis frontwoman Rachel Kiger, bassist Ryan Harrison, and drummer Wally David in their lineup. Guitarist Chris Webster is not taking part in the new band, despite his own Muskegon connections, with RedStone Riot enlisting two guitarists: Wally's old One Past Mars bandmate Tony Hulings, and a former guitarist in the Muskegon band Tracing Yesterday, though band pages have yet to confirm his name. Rumours had been flying on band pages concerning future Elipzis developments since Rachel and Ryan moved to Muskegon full time a few months ago, but now we know what the big news is. I have faith that RedStone Riot will be a successful and high impact hard rock band, but it is disappointing to see Elipzis end after such a promising run last year and this year, including TV appearances in the Muskegon area and a high profile appearance at least year's Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Festival.

When I saw Elipzis in Warren, Michigan in December, they put on a great show, and the guys were all class acts! That will surely be the same for RedStone Riot, and I have a feeling that even though they're not locally based, we'll be mentioning them on here again before you know it! Check the above links for more on RedStone Riot, and also, best of luck to Chris too in the future, he's very talented and we'd love to see him back out there in a new band!

And finally for today, here's this week's classic video! With Hempfest's local return coming fast, I knew this week's video had to connect to a band playing this year, and it was an easy choice, as the band we picked is Half Past! They're returning too after a six month hiatus while they found their new singer (Jordan Rains), and with that in mind, I found a video of theirs not previously on YouTube! This comes from former singer Luke LeBlanc, and it's of a June 2009 jam session where Half Past (then known as Fingerbone) covered "Hypnotize" by System of a Down! Though credited as a "drunken version", the band do a good job, though Luke definitely handles Serj's vocals better than Daron's when you compare to the original song. The video quality's good, but you only really see bassist Arthur Lacasse in frame, with Luke and guitarist Alain Fletcher only visible minimally on the sides, and drummer Chris Thompson isn't in frame at all. Good cover though, but remember, this is an old lineup, so go see Half Past 2.0 THIS WEEKEND at Hempfest, they'll be sure to impress!

Posted onto Luke's personal Facebook page in July 2009, you can view the original video at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1045003220450. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED! All credit goes to Half Past for this video, they did all the hard work! Good stuff, so check out Half Past's cover of "Hypnotize" below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned hopefully tonight for my Mares of Thrace concert review, and my Defunct Local Band Profile on State of Misery tomorrow! Thanks everyone!