LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tidal Records Xmas Showcase) And Sault Ontario Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, here's our weekend concert preview post for what's shaping up to be a packed holiday season in the twin Saults, but be sure to check out the results of last month's poll and our newest poll in the post below this one! We'll touch on any short notice confirmations tomorrow on the site (and Saturday if necessary), but for now, here's what's going down tomorrow & Saturday for hard rock and punk fans in Sault Ontario, starting with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! (Updated at 5:18 PM)

A special Christmas showcase concert from local independent punk/roots label Tidal Records will take place THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Apologies for the short notice, we were waiting for confirmation of the scheduled bands, which only came in a public form this week. Saturday night's long-teased Christmas show will feature three of the bands from the similarly formatted Tidal Records launch party show at the same venue last November, and also like then, a newer band will close the night, that being a debuting local quartet named The Cover Up. No word yet on their genre or potential online pages, but their lineup features Wing-Its bandmates Dustin Jones (also of The Rising Tide) and Marco Pedalino, plus his Sinners bandmate Clint Wilson (also of Late Shift), and former Room 206 frontman Mike Yorke. I don't know yet if this band is replacing the recently inactive Wing-Its or not (or if the name implies an all-cover set), but come out on Saturday for your first taste of The Cover Up!

Local Celtic punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide are slated for their second of three local shows this month as the co-headliners (they'll be back on Boxing Day too), while the Jaaskelainen brothers will pull double duty with their folk band The Boot Hill Crooners as well! Local roots singer/guitarist Frank Deresti is listed to open (no sign of The Lake Effect), but his Facebook page implies that he will join The Crooners during their set, so keep that in mind also! This 19+ event has a likely $5 cover charge, and should start at around 9:00 PM on Saturday. For more details, visit the above links! This sounds like a great showcase for Tidal Records, so keep it in mind for your holiday season concert plans, and here's The Tide live at Searchmont!

Moving to previously announced concerts, we'll head to a unique venue TOMORROW, as local grunge/alternative trio The Pixo Control will play an acoustic gig at Low & Slow Smoked Fusion BBQ at 113 Gore Street (Remember, that's the former Grazia's Italian Restaurant, not the old GLOW building at 119 Gore!) Still riding high off of their successful Toystock set, this unplugged show isn't unfamiliar territory for Michael, Steve, and Keeghan, as you may remember their run of acoustic sets at Gusto's Bar & Grill earlier in the year. Look for an entertaining (if more reserved) set of originals from this talented young trio tomorrow night, and it'll be curious to see how Low & Slow fares as a concert venue if this is successful! Note that The Pixo Control announced on their Facebook page on Tuesday that "we're pretty damn excited right now and we aren't allowed to tell you why", though it's not clear yet if they'll reveal what they're getting at tomorrow or not.

Promoted by Boxes of Boom frontman Sam Decter, there's no announced age limit or cover charge for tomorrow night, and the show starts at 9:00 PM. For more details, visit the Facebook event page! Hopefully this is a successful show for The Pixo Control that  opens more doors in their fast development, and enjoy some slow cooked barbeque ribs too if you're hungry! For a preview, here's the guys at Lopstock earlier this summer!

Also this weekend, local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to The Harp Bar & Grill for his last shows of the year, barring a New Year's gig of course! Despite the recent deletion of all future gigs on his website's calendar (and most past Harp gigs, including all after February), his year-long run at the former Madison's Pub will continue for at least this weekend as per this Facebook event page, but were the calendar updates a sign of what's to come, or just a formatting error? We'll let you know if we hear anything, but the listing of weekly dates through the 2020s did seem excessive. Look for an entertaining mix of hard rock covers at both TOMORROW'S weekly jam night and SATURDAY's usual solo gig, so keep Tym's Harp shows in mind this weekend! Remember, Tym is not playing there on Boxing Day weekend, as those dates were removed before the recent schedule wipe.

There are no cover charges, 19+ age limits, and 10:00 PM start times for both tomorrow and Saturday night. Check the above links for more details, we'll let you know regarding Tym's next solo show plans, and for a preview, here's Tym covering Metallica!

Finally for known hard rock & punk concerts this weekend, we'll head back to The Algonquin Hotel THIS SATURDAY NIGHT, and as the Tidal Records Christmas show entertains upstairs, a different punk show will rock The Algonquin Pub downstairs, that being the second annual X-Mess acoustic punk revue! Promoted by local concert promoter J.D. Pearce in his last promoted show of 2014, this is a sequel to his successful X-Mess event last year at LopLops Lounge, though the event has moved to The Algonquin since, with LopLops instead booking That Nineties Band on Saturday (I'll have to find out more on them!) Though this year's X-Mess installment is smaller for advertised bands, there's solid entertainment afoot, including local funk/hard rock quartet The Elements in a rare acoustic set, a one-off unplugged band named Sleigher (formerly Mistlechode) featuring members of Jack Spades, and a one-off Distillers acoustic tribute named Ms. Tillers from Danger Cats frontwoman Kate Drew (replacing Greg Callaghan.)

This 19+ concert has a $5 cover charge and a 10:00 PM start time. For more details on X-Mess 2, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a fun change of pace once again for your seasonal concert plans, so get ready for a night full of punk action on two floors of The Algonquin on Saturday night! For a preview, here's The Elements live at Rock For Dimes last month!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for possible short notice show announcements and more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Havadder), The End Of Pillory, And Much More!!

As we continue to clear out our recent news cache, we have an inactive band to take note of, big changes for a yearly music event, and some more assorted notes, but first, here's SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for THIS WEEKEND! (Edited at 10:49 AM)

Local classic hard rock cover quartet Havadder will return to The Rednecks Saloon for headlining concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, frontman Jason Roy only just announced the shows yesterday via their Facebook event page. Keeping with their recent trend of playing one weekend a month at the former Nicolet Tavern, this weekend's shows are apparently Havadder's last of the year, so if you want one last 2014 show with Jason and company, you know where to be for their often heavy covers! The event page implies that they have both new songs in their setlist and "old members", though it's not clear if they're meaning guest spots by ex-members or not. We can confirm though that ex-drummer Scott McLurg will fill in for T.J. Case for at least a third straight weekend, at least partly due to T.J.'s conflicting date with Mourning Wood TOMORROW at The New American, so keep that in mind also! Our source is Scott's personal Facebook page.

Admission for TONIGHT & TOMORROW is likely free, both shows have 10:00 PM start times, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, check the above links, don't miss Havadder's cover attack this weekend, and here are the guys at The Rednecks Saloon this fall!



Next up, we have a band to move to our inactive band links, that being Sault Ontario thrash metal quartet Pillory. While their Facebook page hasn't been updated in over 8 months, we can confirm their demise via their entry on the Encyclopaedia Metallum, which confirms that the band split up in August, after being "on hold" since April. Any update there must be sourced when a report is submitted, so it's likely that a band member sent it in to confirm their status. Pillory had been active since 2012 as one of the Soo's few pure thrash bands of recent years, debuting live at The Canadian Nightclub that November. After founding guitarist Andres Duchesne's sudden passing the next month, the band wouldn't hit the stage again with a full lineup until the winter of 2013/14, where they played a handful of all ages gigs and released their only EP "Cringe At The Cross" in December 2013. Later updates were sporadic and mostly concerned lineup changes, though it should be noted that frontman Robert Sartini's other recent projects have all quietly closed most of their online pages this year as well.

Pillory were a talented and brutal band that had a lot of promise, especially on their EP, but Andres' death and other delays didn't help their live concert frequency. It would be nice to see Robert get back into bands again (Pillory or otherwise), as he has the skill and drive, and the same goes for Josh, Devon, Bret, and other surviving ex-members in the future!

Also today, remember The Marquee, which is the outdoor concert stage from the last two years of the Bon Soo Winter Carnival? Well, it will return for a third year in February, but with a changed format. According to Bon Soo's website, The Marquee will be retracted from a daily event throughout the festival to a one-day event on Friday, February 6th (Bon Soo's opening day for 2015), with acts only playing from 5:00-9:00 PM. A reason for the retraction hasn't been announced, but as you may remember, The Marquee struggled with attendance issues earlier this year, as addressed in our review of the night I attended, which could be blamed partially on the cold weather and poor advertising, among other factors. According to a post on a local music Facebook group by co-organizer Jessica Bolduc, The Marquee will move indoors from The Roberta Bondar Pavilion to The Mill Market, which goes along with the whole festival's move to Mill Square at the former St. Mary's Paper site for 2015.

With all of that said, if you or your band wants to play at The Marquee on February 6th, message co-organizer Aislyn Ireton A.S.A.P. at aislyn.ireton@student.saultcollege.ca. I'm disappointed to see The Marquee shrunk so much this year, as I do think the concept of a multi-day outdoor winter music stage has potential (especially if it's well advertised online), but if the shorter one-day indoor version can prove more sustainable, maybe they can expand The Marquee again for 2016? We'll keep you posted if hard rock or punk bands are on the lineup next year!

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

• The Bloody Boxing Day Basement Jam at 11 Hearst Street later this month has had a slight lineup adjustment, as the vacant slot will be filled by Brutally Fatal frontman Austin McCrae in a solo acoustic set, perhaps a throwback to his old Re-Born work? However, his solo set will now open the show at 6:00 PM, with the rappers bumped up a half hour, and Mikey Thomas now in the previously vacant 8:00 PM slot. Interesting, so visit the Facebook event page for more info!
• Leading from our addition of Telephone & Address' next album plans to yesterday's "Where Are The New Albums?" post,the Chris Shoust-led solo punk/grunge project is now distributing copies of their recent albums "The Rotten EP" and "Need Not Apply" on the online music store Interpunk! Nice to see, so keep that in mind also if you want to order physical copies! Both albums retail for $11,75 there, minus shipping fees.
• Danger Cats frontwoman Kate Drew will replace Greg Callaghan at the second annual X-Mess acoustic punk revue at The Algonquin Pub on  December 20th, and will be playing an acoustic set of Distillers covers under the handle "Ms. Tillers". Promoter J.D. Pearce revealed the change on the Facebook event page on Tuesday, confirming that Greg's out due to a scheduling snag. Disappointing for him and fans, but it's great to see Kate back, so stay tuned for more updates when they come in!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a Toystock fallout post next on the site! Thanks everyone!