Hello all! I have nothing "new" locally to report today, but there are some shows coming up, so here's your local concert previews for this weekend!
On Friday and Saturday, Sault Michigan's own Nixxon Dixxon take the stage at The Satisfied Frog for a pair of weekend dates! Both shows will take place at 10:00! These are Nixxon Dixxon's first shows of 2009, and if the songs on their Myspace page are any indication, they should put on one hell of a show! But don't take my word for it! If you want a preview of their live show, check out this clip of Nixxon Dixxon performing the Warrant classic "Cherry Pie" from last year's Sugar Island Fest!
(EDIT: Video removed at Nixxon Dixxon's request, though they promised newer better vids in the future, so stay tuned!)
Now, that's all for shows locally, but a couple of local bands are hitting the road for shows this weekend, so I might as well tell you about them too!
First off, Sault Michgan-based hard rockers Shift will be heading to Christmas, Michigan for a pair of shows at Foggy's Bar on Friday and Saturday! Meanwhile, back in Canada, Woods of Ypres head on down to Toronto for the Adrian Bromley Tribute Show at The Opera House! Most of you probably can't make it to this show, but if you're interested in donating to The Canadian Cancer Society in support, go to http://www.unrestrainedmag.com!
And a final note, congratulations to Metallica, on being included in the 2009 class for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! That's all for today, more news hopefully coming very soon!
Guess what? I have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, again!! And, it's in Sault Ontario, finally! So, here's what you need to know! London, Ontario based hard rockers Ministry of Zen are returning to Sault Ste. Marie! They will be playing a concert on Saturday, January 24th at Coch's Corner (formerly The Cellar Tap, at Days Inn on Bay Street), with special guests (and locals), Fingerbone! There is NO cover charge for this show, and Fingerbone kick off everything at 10:30 PM!
To check out some of Ministry of Zen's original songs, head on over to their official Myspace page! As for Fingerbone, to see some videos from their December 2nd show at Coch's Corner, head on over to their Facebook fan page! And if you wanna confirm your attendance, head on over to the official Facebook event page!
I saw both Ministry of Zen and Fingerbone live in 2008, and they both had great sets! If all things go according to plan, I'll be at this show, with a nice long concert review for when I return (and pictures!!)
That's all for today, if I find anything else of note, you'll hear it right here!
Hello everyone, I got a whole bunch of local concert alerts, and some new Garden of Bedlam news, so let's get right to it!
Sault Michigan's own Nixxon Dixxon have scheduled...EIGHTEEN local concerts through October! I was waiting to see when they'd post some new dates, and luckily, we have lots! So, here's when Nixxon Dixxon are playing this year!
January 16-17: The Satisfied Frog January 23-24: Dondee Lanes February 14: Kewadin Casino (Valentine's Day Dance) February 27-28: The Satisfied Frog March 6-7: The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino June 12-13: The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino July 5: Joey Nolan's Graduation Party July 10-11: The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino August 21-22: The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino October 30-31: The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino
Adding to that, Nixxon Dixxon will also be hitting the road for ten dates at Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace this year as well! They'll be playing there February 20-21, March 20-21, April 10-11, May 1-2, and September 25-26! So now you guys are all updated on upcoming Nixxon Dixxon dates! Thanks to Cami Hubbard for the info!
And now, an update from Sault Ontario's own Garden of Bedlam! They have just finished recording their debut EP at Stereo Soul Studios! The songs will now be sent away to Silverbirch Studios in Toronto for final mastering and packaging, and the album should be available for purchase in the near future! I can't wait to hear the EP, Garden of Bedlam have been very impressive at the concerts I've seen so far! Thanks to Buzz from Garden of Bedlam for the update!
That's all I got for today, keep an eye out for more news as it comes in!
First off for this post, I have a correction to make. I had mentioned that tonight's Great White concert was their first ever show in the Sault area in my concert previews post. Well, as it turns out, they've been here before! They were actually the support band for Alice Cooper when he came here on January 1, 1990! Thanks to Kevin Powe for the info, I'm honestly surprised I didn't catch that in my searching! And if anyone else notices something incorrect, missing, or unstated anywhere on either this blog or the Facebook page, don't hesitate to tell me!
As for Sault Ontario, I have got absolutely nothing. If you know of, are playing on, are promoting, or are attending a concert up here that I don't know about, let me know through the same contact links I provided in the last paragraph!
Now, I know this isn't entirely "metal", so to speak, but this does involve two members of Gates of Winter/Woods of Ypres, so I can't let this slide! You guys remember IT, the partly-local, partly-UK based progressive rock band that features both GoW/WoP guitarist Bryan Belleau and keyboardist Brian Holmes among it's Canadian lineup? Well, they have a chance to play the Glastonbury Music Festival in England this June! But they need YOUR help!
IT have entered Qthemusic.com's 5th Annual Emerging Talent Competition, and the winner heads to Glastonbury! If you want to help IT reach the next stage of the competition, visit IT's E.T.C. page to show your support! Essentially, your page visits will contribute to the final judging to pick the top 11 bands for the final vote, with a 12th to be picked via a poll next month! So in other words, visit that page often to help their cause! The 12 finalists will play a 20 minute set for the judges in March, where the winner will be added to the Glastonbury lineup! Frontman Nick Jackson hopes that Brian and Bryan can make it if they win, and here's hoping everything goes well for IT! Check out Donna Hopper's page on this news at this location!
That's all for tonight, I think, but keep your browsers pointed here for any metal news as I hear about it!
As I promised, here's the gigantically huge concert preview post for this weekend's series of shows! This promises to be one of the biggest weekends for the sheer amount of shows for a while, so get yourselves ready!
BUT FIRST, just a tiny heads-up on a noted local band hitting the road this weekend! Sault natives Lion Ride are set to play a series of three shows this weekend with The Saigon Hookers! Tonight, Lion Ride will rock the house at The Red Rooster in Burlington, followed by a show tomorrow night at The Foxx Lounge in Barrie, and one final show on Saturday night at Lee's Palace in Toronto! Hopefully this little road trip goes well for Lion Ride, and I hope to see them back in the Sault in the near future!
NOW, the local concert previews for this weekend! We have 6, possibly 7, shows to mention, and if you can get to any, go out and support the local scene on either side of the Twin Saults!
First up, we'll make the journey to Sault Michigan, where two different local bands will be playing two straight shows this weekend! Firstly, we have the classic hard rockers Jager 4.0, who will be playing on Friday and Saturday night (both at 9:00) at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino! If the originals on their MySpace are any indication, these should be some very good shows!
Meanwhile, at The Satisfied Frog, another local band will be taking the stage on the same nights! But in this case, it's Shift, both of the shows start at 10:00, and unlike Jager 4.0, I can't find any video or audio of them to give you a preview as to their sound. But they are an accomplished local band, who've played tons of shows in and out of the Sault area, including a number of shows over the course of 2009 all over Michigan! They should have a good show as well, and if you're across the river, you got a few choices for local bands to check out!
Next, we'll head back over to Sault Ontario, where we focus on one, maybe two, local shows taking place tomorrow! First off, another show that I cannot reasonably verify. According to their Myspace, local metal band The Issues will be playing a show tomorrow night at 8:00 at a venue they call "The Jeep Roach". For the life of me, I can't find ANYWHERE in Sault Ontario with this name, nor do I know of anything it could stand for as a nickname. Their MySpace says it's on Queen Street near the OLG Casino, but that didn't help me at all, so honestly, I can't reasonably prove anything on this. But, like the last show, I gave it the benefit of the doubt, so, here it is just in case!
Now, the two big shows of the weekend! Firstly, the big hardcore show at The Oddfellows Hall! Montreal based glam/hardcore band Blessed By A Broken Heart are your headliners, and they have a pretty high profile, including a record deal with Century Media! They don't sound too bad for their genre, but if you wanna see for yourself, check out their music video for the song "Mic Skillz" below! Support will come from Sault Ontario's own As It Stands (who are returning from recording their upcoming album to replace Abandon All Ships), Sudbury-based death metal combo Upheaval of an Exorcist, Montreal based experimental/hardcore band Breaking The Fourth Wall, and local indie/emo band Deter!
Check out SooToday's event page for this show at this location! Tickets are just $10 in advance, and $15 at the door, and Northern Rocks Magazine will be on hand to promote the magazine, accept new subscriptions (They're FREE, remember?), and they will also have 30 free buttons on hand for anyone who comes by their table! Everything starts at 6:30 PM, but sadly, I can't make it. The next morning, I have to get up super early for a certification test at Lake Superior State University, so I can't be out late for a concert. It sucks, but I wanna go to LSSU next year, so I gotta do what I gotta do.
And finally, the biggest show of all (at least, for band recognition and venue size!) On Saturday night at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino, platinum selling hard rock legends Great White make their Sault area debut! Best known for hits like "Once Bitten...Twice Shy" and "Call It Rock and Roll", these Los Angeles based rockers will be supported by 1980s glam metal stars Britny Fox, who are best known for songs like "Girlschool"! Tickets are just $33.50, and if you're a fan of 1980s metal, this should be right up your alley!
Ok, that's all for this weekend! After tomorrow, I don't have ANY scheduled concerts for Sault Ontario, so if you know of any, please let me know either here, on Facebook, or at robfigures@hotmail.com! Take it easy guys, and keep it metal!
Nothing major for this post, but I figure I should get everyone up to speed a bit early on some things, so here's what I got! First off, I added a new local band to the Local Band Links section! They are Dust N' Bones, a classic hard rock/metal band originally from Sault Michigan! As well, they double as a Guns N' Roses tribute band! Their frontman, C. Harrison, is actually the keyboardist for fellow locals Integrated System of Machines! They got a playlist full of originals and covers on their Reverbnation page, which you can check out at this location! They sound pretty good, but I don't believe they're currently active at the moment. But go check them out, their official website is located at http://www.dustnbones.net!
Honestly, they were in the Posted Links before, but I removed them at one point because I saw that they were from Pickford on their Reverbnation page, and thought I'd messed my information up. But, I did some checking, and sure enough, they are Michigan Saultites, so they're back!
Now, my other main reason for this post is to let you guys know that there is a TON of concerts this weekend in the Sault area. I'm not going to do my normal concert preview yet, I'll save that for it's own big post closer to the weekend, but I figure I should give you all a heads up on these shows!
Friday is the hardcore show featuring Blessed By A Broken Heart, As It Stands, and 3 other bands at The Oddfellows Hall ($10 in advance, $15 at the door)! As well, Northern Rocks Magazine will be there, so stop by and see what they've got going on! SooToday have also posted an event page for this show, which you can check out at this location! Also that day, there might be a show featuring The Issues, but I can't 100% confirm it.
In Sault Michigan, Jager 4.0 will be playing a double weekend set Friday and Saturday at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino, while fellow locals Shift will be playing shows the same two nights at The Satisfied Frog! But the biggest show of all this weekend is Saturday night, when multiplatinum selling hard rock band Great White make their Sault Ste. Marie-area debut (EDIT: They played here in 1990, my bad) at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino! Support will come from fellow 80s metal stars Britny Fox, and tickets are only $33.50!
That's about all for today, keep your browsers pointed here for all your local metal needs!
Greetings everyone, I have a couple updates for you all!
As you likely know, this Friday is the Blessed By A Broken Heart show at The Oddfellows Hall! Well, guess who else will be there now? Northern Rocks Magazine! As you might have heard from the e-mail sent out by their Facebook group, representatives from the magazine will be on hand at this concert to collect new subscriptions, meet local music fans, and be handing out free buttons to the first 30 people! As well, a review of this concert will be featured in next month's edition of Northern Rocks Magazine!
Also, they're looking for ways to improve both Northern Rocks Magazine and their official website, and they wanna hear from YOU. If you have any suggestions, head on over to the official Northern Rocks forum and sign up for a free account! Thanks to Chris Rancourt for the info!
Of course, the concert on Friday will feature Blessed By A Broken Heart, local hardcore rockers As It Stands (replacing Abandon All Ships), Upheaval of an Exorcist, Breaking The Fourth Wall, and local indie band Deter! Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, and the show starts at 6:30!
Just to let everyone know, after this concert and a possible The Issues show that same night that I can't verifiably confirm, there are NO other scheduled metal concerts in Sault Ontario that I'm aware of. But maybe there's one or two that I haven't heard about yet! If so, please tell me either on the SMS Facebook group, a comment on this post, or by e-mailing me at robfigures@hotmail.com!
I did some cleaning up the band listings, just to remove a few dead bands that have little to no evidence of originals, video, biography, or members. So, if you noticed that Fates Echo, Deface The King, and Hatred Of One were gone, you now know why!
And to end today, I've added a new concert listing section to the blog and the Facebook group! This one lists out of town shows by local bands! I think there's enough going for it's own section, so go check it out! The next show by a local band out of the area is on Thursday, when Lion Ride hit The Red Rooster in Burlington for a show with The Saigon Hookers!
Hello all! I have nothing "new" locally to report today, but there are some shows coming up, so here's your local concert previews for this weekend!
First off, Sault Michgan-based hard rockers Shift will be heading to Christmas, Michigan for a pair of shows at Foggy's Bar on Friday and Saturday! Meanwhile, back in Canada, Woods of Ypres head on down to Toronto for the Adrian Bromley Tribute Show at The Opera House! Most of you probably can't make it to this show, but if you're interested in donating to The Canadian Cancer Society in support, go to http://www.unrestrainedmag.com!
