LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Pixo Control), A New Concert Video, And More!!

We're back on this Monday afternoon with our first news post of the month, so what's in store? Some assorted recent news and notes, a new concert video find, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and lots of assorted updates from the band in question, so here's what you should know!

Local alternative/hard rock trio The Pixo Control have announced a new local concert that will go down on Friday, February 12th at The Rockstar Bar! Announced on their Facebook page on Wednesday, the band didn't offer details on the show proper, but it's very likely that this is one and the same as the Valentine's Day-themed concert that Project 421 bassist Daniel Horton is promoting, though he hasn't officially revealed full details yet. If correct, this show will have 3 or 4 bands, and one will be local musician Jacob Quarrell's acoustic solo act Shit Creek Survivor (as seen at 2014's Sault Band-O-Rama), who confirmed his involvement for the same date and venue on his own Facebook event page last week. Nice to see him back out there! No word yet on the other band(s?) for next Friday, including possible involvement from one of Daniel's bands, but we'll let you know when there's a fuller announcement! Also, no word yet on a cover charge, but a 10:00 PM start time and 19+ age limit are to be expected. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more!

Staying with The Pixo Control, the guys have been busy as of late, so what's new from them beyond this show? Well, they've announced their second mini-tour, which will see them head back to Southern Ontario for shows in Toronto and Barrie over the April 14th weekend, and it'll be great to see them back down south again! These of course follow three February shows in the Soo, including next week's Sheepdogs show at The Machine Shop, and the Like A Pisces show during The Fishbowl Festival on February 20th, so keep those in mind (also, note that Honest Job's Mister Tahti is no longer listed as performing on the latter show. Hopefully nothing bad happened!) Also, The Pixo Control's debut album "Probably Not" is now on sale via on iTunes, so if you want a digital copy, they cost $9.99 there, with individual songs also available! Finally for today, the guys have posted three more videos to their Instagram page, so what should you know about these?

All filmed around their Sudbury concert last month, one video has the guys jokingly singing The Spice Girls' "Wannabe" in their tour van, while another video has bassist Dustin Goodall's observations of some... "ribald" art backstage at the venue they played at (it's not linked here in case some find it offensive.) Embedded below though is a short clip of The Pixo Control jamming an acoustic version of "Land of the Moles", which is apparently part of more Sudbury footage to be posted that they filmed with Sudbury's Here Kitty Kitty Productions, which will apparently include more performance clips, and "a salty surprise". Sounds good, so stay tuned for more above & below!

What a weekend. We spent a lot of time in front of cameras so get out the popcorn, ya fucks. #loveisintheair #orisitpoop

A video posted by The Pixo Control (@thepixocontrol) on Jan 24, 2016 at 3:00pm PST

Next up, here's a new video from November's fourth annual Toystock fundraiser concert, this time of one-off punk cover band The Rude-Offs! This was uploaded to Facebook in December by guitarist Christian Foisy, and shared on their full-time successor band Killer's Facebook page as a sample of Killer's likely sound, but we still don't know a whole lot on Killer apart from Rude-Offs media. It's of the band (with Treble Charger's Greig Nori on lead vocals) covering The Pixie's "Where Is My Mind" at The Grand Gardens, and it's a solid rendition at a good angle, with fans enjoying it from what I can see! Hopefully we hear more from Killer soon, but check out this new Rude-Offs video below!



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 company name:

• Local concert promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment announced last week that their Facebook page is "no longer active until further notice". The post followed their November declaration of a hiatus due to schedule conflicts, but no word what happened internally to bring about this newest update. H.N.E. have not promoted a concert since September's Fuck The Facts show at The Oddfellows Hall, but hopefully Tyler and company come back to the promotion game if/when "further notice" rolls around!
• Former State of Misery drummer Nick Kainula is again looking for musicians for his next local band project, and now, he wants to find a singer and bassist for his yet-to-debut metal band. Nick hopes to jam and play shows again, so if you or someone you know is interested in trying out, message Nick A.S.A.P. at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from yesterday!
• In a house cleaning note regarding a Sault Michigan area concert venue, we've moved Timmy Lee's Pub in St. Ignace from our concert venue links to our "Other Local Metal Links" section, as it hasn't been visibly used for hard rock concerts in well over a year. Though it's still open, it's website is no longer up, so we've also changed it's link to it's Facebook page. Hopefully we see more bands there again in the future!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Driven), 3 Inches Of Blood Concert Preview, And Much More!!

Our busy July at the SMS continues tonight with another news post, and today, we have some Sault Michigan/St. Ignace concert venue details & changes, new concert videos from a recent hardcore punk show, and a preview of a major metal concert TOMORROW NIGHT, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this fall at a new location for our coverage!

Cheboygan hard rock trio Driven have two more St. Ignace stops lined up this year, but not at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino. If you've followed Driven in recent years, you'll know that one of their favourite area venues is Timmy Lee's Pub, "the U.P.'s official welcome center", which has hosted live music frequently in recent years (and we'll talk a bit more about the venue itself in a bit), but Driven will return to Timmy Lee's Pub at 748 West U.S. Highway 2 in St. Ignace for a concert weekend on what should be August 31st & September 1st! Their schedule says September 1st & 2nd, but that'd mean they were playing Saturday and Sunday, which I think is wrong, but if my assumption is what's wrong, I'll correct that on here! These join shows at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino at the end of that month as well. Also, note that I missed Driven's shows at Timmy Lee's this past weekend, but with the news and posts we've been swamped with this month, I'm regrettably not surprised. Apologies to Driven & their fans for the missed dates, but don't miss their next St. Ignace stops in 2012!

Their upcoming shows at Timmy Lee's should have 9:30 PM-ish start times and 21+ age limits, while a cover charge hasn't been announced. Check the above links for more details! It's good to see Driven coming back to St. Ignace more this year, so stay tuned for more on their next local trips on the site as I hear of it!

We'll get back to some Sault Michigan venue news in a second, but first, here's a big Sault Ontario concert preview, as 3 Inches of Blood are coming to The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT! In their at least second show here (having rocked the Soo circa 2003), this very popular and talented Vancouver power metal quintet will bring their fast paced power metal sounds (with occasional death/hardcore flourishes) to what should be an impressive crowd tomorrow at The Rosie, including material from their new album "Long Live Heavy Metal"! Also of note: their current bassist is Fear Factory/Strapping Young Lad alum Byron Stroud, which is notable in & of itself! Joining them on their Long Live Heavy Metal Canadian Tour are Charlotte, North Carolina thrash/death metal quintet Wretched (not The Wretched as some local press have called them), and they'll be sure to melt faces with their hard hitting blend of metal sounds and venomous lyrics tomorrow as well! The local openers include local melodic death metal notables The Bear Hunters and Battle For The Blood winners Winkstinger, both of whom will have some diversely entertaining originals for their fans at The Rosie tomorrow night, so be there early so you don't miss them!

Admission will be $10 if there are any tickets left at the door, which isn't a guarantee. At last word, tickets were still available at The Rosie and at Music Depot, while The Rad Zone's supply was sold out, so if you don't have your ticket yet, there's your options! This will be a 19+ event, and the doors open at 9:00 PM tomorrow night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be quite a huge concert, and hopefully I'll see you guys all there for it! While I admittedly find the vocals for 3 Inches of Blood to be very forced, their music quality and talent is top notch, and I wouldn't miss this show for anything, and the openers will bring their own brutality as well! Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's 3 Inches of Blood's music video for their new song "Metal Woman"!



Thirdly tonight, here's some new videos from a recent concert, namely Maximum RNR's local return at The Rockstar Bar on June 30th! The 705 Video Magazine's Fred Kember shot 3 videos of the Toronto hardcore punk quintet's latest local concert that were uploaded to the 705VM YouTube channel the day afterwards, and though the same scratchy audio problems that plagued their Garden of Bedlam videos are back here, they give a nice quality look at Maximum RNR in action, especially for frontman (and Sault native) Diamond Brent Panther's on/off stage intensity! When I said he's his own mosh pit, I meant it, and you can see proof in this video, this video, and the one below (not sure of the song titles, they didn't mention them live), so give these videos a look above and right here!



Finally for today, here's the Sault Michigan venue news I alluded to above! First, in terms of Timmy Lee's Pub in St. Ignace, it's definitely a popular bar from what I can tell, and they also have a full menu and TVs for sports events, so it seems like a nice enough location, even being featured in the Yooper Bars book from last year, and having merchandise for sale! Regulars will know better than I for it's appeal, but check out their website and their Facebook page for more! Also of note: their Facebook page includes rare live photos of defunct local hard rock band Splitshot (pictured) from a May 2011 show there with their original lineup, and it's good to finally see the guys live over 6 months after they broke up, even as photos! Finally, we've added both Timmy Lee's & the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino to our Sault Michigan (and area) concert venue links at the bottom right, while moving two to our Other Local Metal Links, those being The Savoy Bar & Nightclub and Zim's. Neither have hosted a metal/hard rock show in over a year that I've heard about, so to keep the concert venue links current, I moved them out of that section, but if I hear of one or both returning to active metal/hard rock booking, I guarantee I'll move them back!

That's all for today, but I'll see you guys at The Rosie tomorrow night for 3 Inches Of Blood, and if I can get some stories for a new news post tomorrow, I'll get one up! Thanks everyone!