LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Metal Massacre II), New Pillory Footage, And Much More Updates!!

With the last full week of April in full swing, let's tackle most of our remaining backlogged stories today, including some assorted recent updates, new videos from the Blood Shed Weekly YouTube channel, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a house party sequel, so here's what you should know!

After the success of April 14th's Metal Massacre house party show, promoter/Twistory frontman Josh Amendola is bringing it back for an encore on Saturday, May 7th (next weekend, in other words!) Yes, Metal Massacre II will return to the residence at 124 Anna Street three weeks later with an expanded lineup, so who can you expect? Largely the same lineup, but with Rotopsy out and local doom metal trio AlgomA in for their first local set since the Black Tremor/punk rock bingo event, and they should melt many faces next Saturday! The remaining performers include local thrash/death metal trio Pillory, new local death metal duo Twistory (who still lack an online page), and new local death metal quintet Kaepora Gaebora, so if you liked them 11 days ago, or missed out entirely, keep this house show in mind! Josh also noted on the Facebook event page that more guests and a daytime acoustic set of some kind may also be added to the lineup, but neither has been formally elaborated on since.

As well, Metal Massacre II may be moved a day earlier to Friday, May 6th pending AlgomA's availability, which is definitely a sign of their value as headliners: Why replace them if they can't make the original date when you can change the date instead? If the date is moved, we will let you know. Either way, this is another "pay what you can" show with no announced age limits, and presumably to accommodate the potential acoustic daytime set, a 4:00 PM start time is listed. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more on Metal Massacre 2 at 124 Anna Street!

Next up, here's a new video of the aforementioned Pillory from April 14th's inaugural Metal Massacre show, courtesy of the Blood Shed Weekly YouTube channel on Friday! Arguably our best and longest look yet at Pillory with any lineup, the video (filmed by Brutally Fatal's Austin McCrae) features Pillory playing their new songs "Angst of Existence" & "Sculptor of Cadavers", a new song whose name wasn't announced, and then songs that appear to be called "The Passing", "Aboard Apprehension", and "Affairs of Eternal Sickness" to seemingly cap their set, though the names may be incorrect. Afterwards, an encore is started where Robert, Jordan, and Bret jam some very familiar sounding instrumentals, so click the above links to go to each song! It's worth noting that Pillory didn't play any songs from their 2013 debut EP "Cringe at the Cross" that night, though whether this is a casualty of their death metal transition, lineup changes & reunion, unhappiness with the disc, or just how the night's set shaped up isn't clear.

In any event, Pillory sound nice and brutal on this video, with Robert Sartini's growling definitely improved with time, and Bret Shuttleworth's drumming is on point, but the post-effects on the video (including colour changes, spinning and wave effects, and captions) don't add anything practical to the video. Still, this is a great look at the new and heavier Pillory lineup, so check out the full set below!



Also today, here's an update video from Blood Shed Productions co-founder/Brutally Fatal frontman Austin McCrae on the aforementioned Blood Shed Weekly channel from April 15th, where he updates fans on events with the local grindcore/rap label, so what should you know? Hyped as "another update" (referencing a video that isn't listed on the channel anymore), Austin starts by referencing the success of the aforementioned Metal Massacre house show and his Pillory & Rotopsy videos from it (complete with explaining why he didn't film the other bands.) He next noted that the label is planning to start using forms and agreements regarding music releases and rights for label departures and commitments to Blood Shed, and among other assorted notes, he referenced looking into buying newspaper advertising, and establishing permanent staff roles for the label. Austin also referenced a couple of planned summer concerts that the label is hosting, but neither has a confirmed venue yet.

The shows in question will be headlined by Winnipeg punk band Grave Party on June 20th and Victoria death metal band Iskra (in their second local show of the year) on August 2nd, and while The New American was teased on the event pages linked above,we'll hold on adding them to our concert listings until everything is finalized. Austin closed by noting a new webseries called "BreakingSh!tWithBloodShed" which is exactly what it says on the tin, and we may note that on the site soon as well. Informative, if geared to Blood Shed's official staff and crew, so check the above links and watch below for more!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or series name:

• The aforementioned Kaepora Gaebora have been added as the fifth and final local opening band for THIS SATURDAY'S Motherfuckers-headlined concert at The Oddfellows Hall, as per promoter J.D. Pearce on the official Facebook event page on Saturday, in what will be their second concert and first ever show outside of a house party. They'll be opening at 7:00 PM, so if you're curious in seeing how Joey, Dan, Daeson, Jeph, and Kevin sound, be at The Oddfellows Hall on SATURDAY NIGHT, and stay tuned for updates!
• Though it's tough to gauge their active status given their minimal online presence, we've moved local/Toronto indie punk veterans Treble Charger to our inactive band links, as the Juno nominees haven't made a visible public statement since their Mill Square concert last February. With that said, Greig & Bill may very well have new material and shows in the works, so if anything is publically announced through news media or official sites, we'll be sure to let you know!
• The newest episode of SooToday's (migrated from the outgoing Local2's) music webseries Tuned with Donna Hopper spotlights the recent Record Store Day festivities at The Rad Zone, and within, you'll see interview clips with the likes of Rad Zone owner Paul Muncaster and staffer/Garden of Bedlam bassist Evan Belleau on the day's importance, sales, and finds. Local doom metal trio AlgomA's recent split vinyl EP with Chronobot is given a heavy feature by Evan, heavily praising it for being a new local contribution to Record Store Day. Solid episode with lots of deserving vinyl love, so check out the full episode at the above links!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Hard Rock Band, Sykotyk Rampage's New Music, And More!!

In our last news post of the month, we have new media and plans from a local punk project, plenty of new material from a popular veteran hard rock band, and first, a new local band, so here's what you need to know! (Updated at 2:07 PM)

We have a new local hard rock band to add to our listings, and they are Long Shot! A newer local quartet that formed as early as January of this year (months prior to their Facebook page's launch), their lineup is mostly comprised of artists that are largely unknown from other recent bands, including singer/guitarist Evan Dawe, guitarist Nathan Muto, bassist Adam Dawe (presumably Evan's brother?), and drummer Jeremy Ganuelas. Long Shot have largely played at unfamiliar venues and corporate events so far in their run, including debuting at a Sault Community Career Center function in January (Evan and Nathan both work there), playing private gigs in Heyden & Echo Bay, and even playing at two functions relating to the Soo's new ultimate frisbee association, most recently at LopLops. For a taste of Long Shot's sound, the band has uploaded six (generally incomplete) cover videos onto Facebook, including bass-less covers of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman", Velvet Revolver's "Fall To Pieces", and The Darkness' "I Believe In A Thing Called Love"  at their debut in January, so click each link to see them!

The videos are rounded out by a cover of The Who's "Baba O'Riley" at The Bellevue Park Bandshell to launch the SUPA ultimate frisbee association, and covers of the Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" and "Baba O'Riley" again at a private birthday party in Echo Bay (both sans Jeremy, but with cowbell for the former clip!) From what I've heard so far, Long Shot have a good sound that doesn't stick to predictable covers, and Nathan's a very solid guitarist, but Evan's vocals could be a bit more forceful on louder songs. I'm curious to see what Long Shot are up to next, so check them out above, and here's their Darkness cover from January!



Next up, local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage released their newest "albums" to their Reverbnation page between August 11th & 13th! I apologize for the delay on these, as we were both waiting to make sure the songs went up in full, and making sure that every album went up. Originally, Sykotyk Rampage had indicated plans to release seven albums in February, but 4 of the previously announced albums ("Wyrd Radio", "Padre Pwj with Ready for Revival", "Santa's Night Out", and "Double LIVE) have either been cancelled or postponed for unannounced reasons. The three of those albums that actually did come out this month (the band's 44th-46th) are "Kitty Farts & Other Play Full Noises", and two sequels to earlier concept releases, those being "Environ-Mental Suits 2: Anvil of Antioch" & "Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy Episode 3: Who's Driving Spaceship Earth?", though I'll note that a fourth separate release that wasn't announced in February entitled "Bring The Heavy", is still listed for a September release, but has no online songs yet.

The second batch of new Sykotyk Rampage original songs with current bassist Tony Briglio, each album is fairly long as far as SKR releases go, with none having less than 17 songs, and "Who's Driving Spaceship Earth" having 24, so that might make up for the dropped albums! "Kitty Farts..." appears to be a general new release, while the other two albums exploit the conceptual nature with between song "scenes" to explain each album's storyline, and both are humorous and irreverent, just like long time Sykotyk Rampage fans should expect! Of the songs I've heard, fans can expect Sykotyk Rampage's usual improvised crash stylings, and like on prior releases, drummer Paul Becker appears to sing on most tracks. Now, like Sykotyk Rampage's other post-2011 albums, all three of these are available for free streams without a full album purchase option (though certain songs can be bought), though I will note that according to a recent e-mail that Reverbnation users (like myself) recieved, Reverbnation's store is being discontinued on September 30th, so a sale posting there wouldn't have done much good anyway.

The reason for the move is due to Reverbnation's new relationship with MerchOutfitters, who they encourage bands with stores on Reverbnation to switch over to for merchandise sales, but it's unclear as of yet how many local bands will launch presences there. Regardless of the release nature of Sykotyk Rampage's new "albums", fans have a lot to like, so give them all a listen at the above links, and stay tuned for more new Sykotyk Rampage song uploads on Reverbnation!

Finally for today, here's the latest media from the revived local pop punk solo project For July! Frontman Dave Hunter uploaded a work in progress clip of a new original song onto their Facebook page on Tuesday which has a definite emo/power punk sound going for it, and a bit more aggression to it than some of For July's earlier songs! Also, Dave's YouTube channel has been recently updated regarding For July, which included a video looking for donations to crowdfund their debut album, but it's since been privatized for unknown reasons (though I'll note that Dave was very hard to hear in the video.) I liked the idea of a Kickstarter-esque funding model, hopefully Dave still pursues that for an album! Instead, embedded below is their new YouTube posting of their original "The Emo Song", which is basically what is says on the tin, but fans of mid-2000s pop punk should be right at home with it, and it's well recorded! Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more on For July!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's CD review TOMORROW, and I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar for Soo Band Roulette, the most unpredictable battle of the bands that Sault Ontario has ever seen! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Hard Rock Band, Plus Shit Liver's Album Release!!

I know many of you guys are expecting our review of Saturday night's Dank Fest, and it's coming, but I thought I'd put a new news post up first just to keep things rolling, as yesterday was a lost day due to uploading 10 videos (which can be a slow process with Facebook.) Also, I know that Jack Spades' album saw it's digital release yesterday too, but as I don't want it to get buried in this post, we'll give it full coverage in our next news post to give it proper attention (pick it up at this link though, it sounds great!) Now, we have another local album release and a new band to mention, so here's what you need to know!

We're pleased to officially add newer local alternative/grunge trio The Pixo Control to our official coverage on the SMS! Though active since October of last year, we had stalled a bit due to many of their older song postings and shows being acoustic and softer in tone, but as you saw at Dank Fest on Saturday night, they rock hard and have enough aggression to go around! Originally named Junkie Nation, their lineup features Fever Tops frontman Michael Mikus on vocals & guitar, Steve Edwards (who replaced Anthony Marcello) on bass, and Social Suicide alum Keeghan Rosso on drums, and some fans may recognize them from a number of appearances at Superior Heights Collegiate's Funnplugged concert series since their December live debut. In the past two months, they've also played a number of dates at Gusto's Bar & Grill in the Wellington Square Mall, while the guys also rocked the east end mall on Saturday afternoon before Dank Fest as part of The Rad Zone's Record Store Day festivities.

We'll cover full thoughts on their Dank Fest set tonight, but if you like bands like Haggith and No Arrow, The Pixo Control should fit right in! They already have a solid slate of original recordings via Michael's YouTube channel, including original songs like "Quick Little Quarter" and "Tall Ships", plus Michael's solo material and some older Fever Tops songs, and there's a nice freewheeling alternative sound that definitely benefits in a live setting with an audience, but they tone things down well for softer settings. There are some rough patches at times, but they have a solid sound and energy, and as they're still young, they have plenty of time to shore up things! In fact, they already got some recent press via the new episode of Local2's web series Tuned with Donna Hopper, which leads off with Record Store Day interviews with The Rad Zone's Paul Muncaster & Evan Belleau (a.k.a. Garden of Bedlam's bassist) and store patrons (including Toronto radio host & Saultite Andrew Keachie), so be sure to check those out if you're love vinyl, as it's a huge day every April 19th!

A short clip before the episode-capping bloopers covers The Pixo Control's aforementioned Record Store Day set, which definitely shows some Nirvana influence in the featured songs, though it'd have been nice to have some interview clips with them. Another solid episode of Tuned (there's also some rap footage and non-metal concert calendar mentions midway through), but for some new full live footage of The Pixo Control, here's the guys live at Superior Heights earlier this month playing their song "Land of the Moles"! Far camera angle and scratchy audio, but it has a folksy alternative nature that works well, so check it out below!

Finally, no less than two local metal albums came out yesterday (adding to Rotopsy's demo EP from Friday, it was a huge weekend on that front), and one was the expected release of Shit Liver's self-titled debut album! Two years after sessions began, the local/St. Catharines grimecore trio posted digital copies of their self-titled album to their new Bandcamp page yesterday, as well as posting streaming copies of the album (in individual song & full album files) onto their YouTube channel. This is the final cover (the full artwork can be seen here), and the half hour album features 15 songs (more than previously indicated), and they are "You're Scared", "Shit Liver", "Sooer Livin'", "Hellen Kellers", "Shift Liver", "Pennotration", "(Friendly Old) Uncle Joe", "Fabricated Nonsense", "It's Not My Problem", "Survival of the Shittest", "Hateroleum", "Or What", "Contribute or Perish", "Drowning In Shit", and "Shit Will Prevail", with "Liverated" and old OBCD covers like "You Speak of Weak" as notable omissions.

The band said on their Facebook page yesterday that a physical release is delayed due to the holiday weekend (no word on possible release shows), but the Bandcamp digital copy is available on a "name your price" model (a'la Insipid Brutality's album), so you can pay nothing or anything you want! Though it's a little odd that they don't credit their local ties much on Bandcamp (or list any album credits there), it's great to finally see Shit Liver's album come out, as it's been far too long! Check out the full album's YouTube posting below, and pick it up at the above links, or keep posted for news on local physical availability!



That's all for now, but stay tuned TONIGHT for our Dank Fest review, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profiles tomorrow, and full coverage of Jack Spades' EP release and more in our next full news post! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stiffler's Mom), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Four posts in two days, we're off to a fast start for 2014! Today's post mostly relates to weekend concert previews, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for Saturday night, but we also have lineup notes and debuts for two hard rock bands playing this weekend, and some more assorted notes to round out today's post. As for Tym Morrison's weekly arrangement at The Harp, while I assume it'll continue tomorrow night, I am currently awaiting official confirmation, but when announced, that will be up on the site as soon as possible. Now, let's begin today's news/preview post!

Local party/hard rock mainstays Stiffler's Mom will kick off 2014 in style with a headlining concert THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only just announced on Monday, and I held it until today to avoid a redundant re-post. The first local concert date for Stiffler's Mom since we officially rolled them into our full coverage, Greg, Mike, and Jobn were last seen upstairs at The Rockstar Bar six weeks ago, and if you're familiar with their fun live concert dates and skilled experience, you'll know they'll be up to their usual tricks again in their first date of the new year! A $5 cover charge is likely for Saturday night, a 10:00 PM start time is likely as well, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the above links (as for one reason or another, this show doesn't have an event page like their late-2013 shows.) This should be an entertaining and often heavy show, so keep it in mind for THIS SATURDAY, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train"!



Now to the weekend's heavier dates that we knew about already, including the new Griphook lineup's public debut TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Roosevelt Hotel! As you may remember, the band officially replaced Ottawa-bound frontman Jim O'Leary with bassist Dan Beaupre's former 100 Gran bandmate Joel Syrette last week, so this weekend's concerts will be the local hard/classic rock quartet's first verifiable live gigs with Joel up front and their first public non-stag & doe appearance since the Ray Brown benefit in October (not counting 7 Year Itch dates.) Last seen at The Rosie in April, it'll be interesting to hear how the new Griphook lineup does, but Joel & Dan have chemistry from the 100 Gran days, and while Joel isn't overly similar to Jim musically from what I've seen, he is a very talented singer & guitarist, so this should work well! Admission should be free for this weekend's 19+ dates, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's Griphook's original lineup covering AC/DC last year!

Finally for currently confirmable heavier shows this weekend, prolific Sault Michigan hard rockers RamWagon will debut a new lineup of their own TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT when they make their first 2014 stops at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! These will be RamWagon's first dates since replacing the departed Marcel Grengs with former Monkey's Uncle drummer Ron Suchey, and given Ron's past work in that band with RamWagon bandmate Nathan Switzer, there should be ready-made chemistry for the new lineup's debut this weekend! Also in lineup changes, the band appears to have parted ways with guitarist Cody Reed at some point late last year, as per his absence from their currently listed Facebook lineup. Unlike with Marcel, a reason has not been publically announced for Cody's departure, but it sounds like it happened somewhat recently, as Cody's personal Facebook page still has RamWagon's banner as his cover photo. He has not been replaced as of yet, but hopefully the split was amicable, and best of luck to Cody in the future!

With lots of wide-ranging modern and older hard rock covers in store, kick off 2014 in good order for the first heavier shows of 2014 across the river with RamWagon! Like usual, there's no announced cover charge, a 9:00 PM-ish start time, and a 21+ age limit. For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's RamWagon's original lineup covering Cameo at LemmaFest last summer!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or company name:

• If you didn't hear any more formal word on why Colosimo's Music Store closed, it's likely related to the closure of it's original Thunder Bay location last August due to declining business as a result of online shopping, as per this news article. Info on the Soo branch (which replaced the relocated Case's Music on Spring Street in 2012) isn't given there, but it definitely closed around the same time last summer. At least nothing bad happened locally, but best of luck to the former staff!
• Were you still curious as to the identity of The Debts, the new punk band that headlined the Danger Cats-featured X-Mess acoustic show at LopLops last month? I assume it's safe to say now that their lineup includes prolific local musician (and Case's Music owner) Jay Case, Blues Harvest/Pesto Shirts alum Jake Rendell, and his former Garage Inc. bandmate Ryan Seabrook. I know they're not a metal band, but I just wanted to answer an open question from our coverage of this event! My source is personal Facebook postings.
• "The original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage have announced a new album for release in 2014, that being a sequel to last year's "Environ-Mental Suits" (subtitled "Anvil of Antioch".) It's album cover was posted on their Facebook page on Tuesday, and it's considered their 45th album, indicating that at least one more is in the works for this year (as they have 43 officially so far.) Release details are forthcoming, but this will likely be a free release like their other recent albums. I'm curious to hear more, and stay tuned!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow in case there's any late-notice concerts to plug, with other news also lying in wait! Thanks everyone!

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

New Song Uploads & Much More Recent Updates!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Today at the SMS, we're mostly tackling some smaller news stories, especially as a few big concerts are still awaiting either a venue confirmation, a public announcement that they're indeed happening, or this weekend's concert preview posts, as at least two were announced too late to warrant posting twice in a stretch of a few days. Along with some feature profile updates and more notes, we'll start with some new song uploads, so read on below to get caught up!

First, we have a surprise new live recording upload from defunct local metal band Faithless Sin! Bassist Ryan Gratton (now of Chronic Demonic) uploaded this to his YouTube channel yesterday, and it features their 2006 lineup covering "Die By The Sword" & "Black Magic" from Slayer's first album "Show No Mercy". According to his personal Facebook post on this upload, the lineup present here includes Ryan alongside Winkstinger's Jason Bourcier on vocals, guitarists Joe Falco & Frank La Tassa, and drummer Mark Parent. Ryan did apologize for the recording quality, but it's not unlistenable, just a little rough sounding, especially in terms of vocal clarity. The guys have these songs well in hand, and it's a nice sampling of the sound that Jason & Mark brought to Faithless Sin's late 2000s successors Time of Ruin! Check out Faithless Sin's Slayer combo below, and stay tuned for updates on the members' current & next music projects!



Next up, here's a new song from local goregrind solo project Crucify the Whore! Expected to be on their forthcoming full length demo early next year, this song is called "People These Days", and it was uploaded to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel on Sunday. Compared to many of their earlier songs, the instrumentation sounds fuller and more complete (I like the guitar work), but it's fairly muffled in contrast to Ringsnaps Gibson's pig squeal vocals, which are still going to polarize listeners who aren't existing fans of the style. I like the musical expansion though! Check out "People These Days" below, and stay tuned for more from the label soon!



Also today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or store name:

• Local sludge/stoner metal trio AlgomA are looking for someone who can film and record their concerts for 62nd Chamber Productions film projects, as per 62nd Chamber's Facebook page yesterday. Experience with video camera & audio recording equipment is a plus, and for now at least, the position is a volunteer role. If you're interested in helping out, message singer/guitarist Darby Wigwaus at boydrendell@gmail.com!
• Spring Street music/lessons shop Colosimo's Music Store has apparently already closed. A statement hasn't been made, but their Facebook page & website are both down, and there has been no employee posts on their surviving Facebook groups since May, so I take it they quietly closed local operations this summer. It's disappointing that they couldn't succeed longer here, but with 4 established Sault Ontario music stores to compete with, they were already in a crowded market. I've moved Colosimo's to our "Other Sault Ontario Links", and best of luck to all of the former staff!
• Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night have posted two new instrumental demos onto their Reverbnation page, presumably towards their next albums, including a new version of "A Wintery Mix" and a brand new track named "Nosferatu's Dream". Very solid for both, dark and orchestral in tone (though "A Wintery Mix" is heavier), so give it all a look at the above links!

Finally for today, here's some updates to some of our monthly feature posts! Starting in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles, I added a link to the Fresh Magazine interview with Downtown Showdown winners Bring The Fallen in our profile of that battle, as the interview was a prize for their victory, while I replaced the recently inactive Daybreak Johnnies with the newer band The Hydra's Teeth (who also have Late & Loud members) when noting the later bands of performers at the Humane Society Battle of the Bands in our profile of it. Finally, I edited notes on the Battle for the Blood profile to note that the scoring for that battle was done by a paper voting ballot, not by crowd reaction, as a battle under similar rules and promotion is in the works (and we'll have more on that here when announced, so stay tuned!) Moving back to our YouTube Channel Profile Updates, I edited references on our profile of Stillbroke's YouTube channel to further emphasize their breakup last year (with Jesse & Sam moved out of town, it's more than a hiatus at this point) Lastly for now, I expanded the videos on all 2011 profiles & the remaining Sault Michigan profiles in this series. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews this week, including last month's poll results & this month's new poll on Friday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Suicide Kings & Peril), Sebastian Bach Preview, And Haggith Updates!!

Today's post is quite stacked, as we have a major concert preview to get to, some cool new updates from Haggith, and kicking things off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next month or so! Now, without any further adieu, here's what you need to know on this Saturday morning!

Sault Ontario hard rock quartet The Suicide Kings will finally play their first concert of 2013 this coming Friday when they return to The Nicolet Tavern! Visibly a one night only affair (but I'll correct this if it's not), this show follows the band's cancelled gigs at Docks and The Rockstar Bar over the past two weekends, and for the sake of everyone, I hope their show at The Nic on Friday goes off without a hitch! The guys have also confirmed that they'll have some new originals for this concert, which will be interesting to hear for sure! Admission for this show should be free, with a 19+ age limit and 10:00 PM start time to be expected. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Saying this doesn't get cancelled, this should be a great concert from The Suicide Kings, and hopefully their energetic alternative hard rock leaves a great impression to kick off the year on Friday! Stay tuned for more updates from them as they roll in!

Also in new concerts is the newest heavier concert announcement for The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino, as Charlevoix metal trio Peril will make their first scheduled live appearances in the region of the new year on February 22nd & 23rd! These local favourites were last seen in St. Ignace in November, and I'd look for a very similar onslaught of metal classics from Jeff, James, and Brooks once again when they melt faces at the St. Ignace Kewadin next month! I'll note as well that these were the only heavier shows among the newest additions on Kewadin Casino's entertainment page for the three regional Kewadin branches (unless Perry Hatch is a new hard rock act), so that's why we're not doing a post centered around new metal concerts at Kewadin Casino... at least not yet. Admission should be free on February 22nd & 23rd, these should both be 21+ gigs, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. Check the above links for more details! Peril always put on a good show, so don't miss their classic metal sets in St. Ignace next month!

Next up, here's a preview of the second major concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in a nine day span, as ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach is finally coming to the area for a full concert TOMORROW NIGHT! Five months after he filmed scenes for "Swearnet" in Sault Ontario (and years after his old band's completed & cancelled local dates), Sebastian will bring a night full of hit songs ranging from Skid Row classics like "Youth Gone Wild" & "I Remember You" to newer solo tracks from his latest album "Kicking & Screaming", and believe me, he's still got it live and in studio! Amazing singer and a very charismatic showman (as his TV appearances indicate), so don't sleep on this show, as Sebastian should deliver in his long awaited local debut! This concert will also feature a local opening band, that being new local hard rock quartet 415E, the band featuring Splitshot alumni Dave Menard & Chris Hubbard (ex-Nixxon Dixxon) alongside The Highest of Fives' Jack Slater & Devin Anderson, and expect a mix of covers and originals from their upcoming debut album in their opening set tomorrow! Hopefully it's a huge set for them, and may it lead to a banner year going forward! This concert is being promoted by Allstar Promotions in a rare concert headlined by an "older" act, but Sebastian should blow the roof off the joint, so don't miss out tomorrow!

Tickets are just $26.50, and there's still a surprising number available from the second row and back, so pick yours up A.S.A.P. at this location, at the Kewadin box office, and at 1-800-KEWADIN! This is an all ages show, and it starts at 7:00 PM tomorrow night, while I'd call ahead in case there's another ill-advertised meet & greet. Check the above links for more details! This should be an awesome show full of great heavy metal classics, so don't miss it if you can help it, and we'll of course have fallout from the show on the SMS as it comes in! Until then, here's the music video for the title track from Sebastian's new album!



Finally for today, here's the latest updates from the band you voted as your favourite new local metal/hard rock band of last year, that being Haggith! In one interesting update, the local grunge quartet have started an official store as of yesterday, where you can buy official t-shirts, hats, and even a hockey jersey(?), along with the band's 2012 albums "Dragon Joy Ride" and "Apocalypse", but possibly most notable is that their live album "Flight 75" is now on sale through there for $5! Apparently only available on a limited basis as a special order through January, it marks their third released album overall and first live release (as filmed at their Bushplane Museum show in November), so if you wanna pick it up, click here for ordering details online or by phone! For the record, this won't get an immediate SMS review, as it's too soon since we reviewed "Dragon Joy Ride", but I do project a new Haggith review in the spring. The other news is that the band posted their studio version of "Leon The Janitor" from their upcoming third studio album "Deuce" onto their YouTube channel on Wednesday!

A cover of a Mike Haggith solo track from last year's "Neighbourhood Watch", it's much faster paced than the original, though oddly muffled compared to it, so the Haggith band's version has plusses and minuses. I'm sure the preferred version will vary by listener, but give this newest version of "Leon the Janitor" a listen below, stay tuned for more updates on the "Deuce" album, and their store's now in our Other Sault Ontario Metal Links!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news tomorrow, and of course, all of the Sebastian Bach fallout from tomorrow's concert as it comes in! Thanks everyone!

Weekend Concert Previews, A New Local Music Store, And This Week's Classic Video!!

We're back to news and previews for today's post, and these include previews for this weekend's slate of hard rock/metal concerts! It's another light weekend on the heavier side of the spectrum, but if any late notice gigs come up, I'll let you know as soon as possible! Also stay tuned after the previews for notes on Sault Ontario's latest music store and this week's classic video, but for now, here's what you need to know!

First in our previews are the latest solo concerts from Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison, who will bring his acoustic sets to two local venues this weekend! First on his itinerary, Tym will play his first ever solo concert at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill at 743 Trunk Road tomorrow night, which is very eastern compared to most of Tym's past solo venues, but if you on the east end or around this venue, this might be convenient! Note that tomorrow's show is NOT at the similarly named Zone Roadhouse in Goulais River, which Tym has played at in the past. Saturday's concert will take place at The Eagles Club on Old Trout Lake Road, which will be his first show at this venue in over a year & a half. Once a regular there with his own bi-weekly concert arrangement, it'll be good to see Tym back up north for this concert on Saturday, so don't miss it either if you can help it! Admission should be free for both of these concerts, with 10:00 & 9:00 PM start times respectively and a likely 19+ cover charge. For more details, click here & here!

It's great to see Tym ramping up his unplugged solo concerts since their return last week, and hopefully his shows at The Roadhouse & The Eagles Club go swimmingly and encourage future returns there, so go check him out this weekend, and for a preview, here's Tym & former Half Past singer Luke LeBlanc covering Extreme's "More Than Words"!



Now to Sault Michigan for the last known hard rock concerts of the weekend, as local hard rockers Monkey's Uncle will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino tomorrow & Saturday night! Their first announced concerts since the Sault Riverview Music Festival (I stress "announced", as their online pages are rarely updated to plug likely shows at other venues), this veteran hard rock outfit should be raring to go with plenty of entertaining hard rock originals and covers in this latest concert weekend of theirs, so if you're up for some heavier live music across the river tomorrow or Saturday, head to the casino! Admission should be free for these 21+ concerts, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more information, click here! These should be some good nights of music from Monkey's Uncle, who do deliver from what I know, so don't miss them this weekend, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" a few years back!

Next up, Sault Ontario has a new music store, and it's in a familiar location! After a brief vacancy, the former Case's Music location at 173 Spring Street returned to the music instrument/lesson business in (I think) August as Colosimo's Music Store! As best as I can tell, this is a new branch of an existing music store in Thunder Bay that has seen it's own successes & longevity there, though I don't know if this is the beginning of a chain or just a small expansion. According to the local store's Facebook page, Colosimo's offers a wide variety of instruments, as well as lessons in everything from singing and guitar to mandolin and banjo, and Facebook features some photos of the interior so you can see some of the instrument stock. Their current hours are 10:00 AM-5:00 PM every day except Sunday, and their current number is (705) 450-4222, so check the above links for details! I wish Colosimo's the best locally, and they seem to have a good track record and everything together, but I wonder if their proximity to the other local music stores will affect them?

Though the Spring Street location is familiar to Case's Music regulars, Colosimo's are now competing with Northland Music, Music Depot, The Thomas Walls School of Music, and the new Case's Music location, all within 5 minutes of each other, and it'll be interesting to see how all 5 fare in the coming months. Still, hopefully Colosimo's does well, and I've added them to our listings of local music stores on the bottom left sidebar on the SMS itself!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! Returning to our general intention of tying these weekly uploads in with performers at upcoming concerts, I've opted to focus on Tym Morrison this week, specifically a previously Facebook-only video of his band Caveman Morrison from a couple of years ago. As you may know, Caveman Morrison are far more known for their covers than for original material (though they have covered Tym's solo originals for certain events), which makes this video from a Rockstar Bar gig on December 11th, 2009 a bit surprising, as it's of Caveman Morrison playing an improvised original song! It's just 77 seconds in length, but it shows their then-lineup (Tym, then-bassist Rick White, and then-drummer Jeff "Shrek Ogre" Richards) in solid form playing a very catchy little number, and it's be interesting to see Tym adapt this to a complete solo track!

This video was filmed by an attendee and later uploaded by Rick to his personal Facebook page a week later, and the original video can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=235603496302. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Caveman Morrison, I'm just trying to share it with a wider audience! It's a fun little clip that would be interesting to see more of from Tym & company, so check out this improvised original below!



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