Thursday, October 29, 2009

Halloween Weekend Local Concert Previews!!!

Well guys, it's the big weekend! Seven Sault-area metal concerts are scheduled this Halloween weekend, and now's the time where I'll tell you all you need to know about them! This'll be a long one, so let's get started right away with previews of this weekend's four shows in Sault Michigan! (Remember, for my review of Fitswitch's "Rust Angel E.P.", check the post immediately below!)

I initially was gonna report on shows featuring Nixxon Dixxon this weekend at Kewadin Casino, but looking at their MySpace page, it looks like that they're actually in St. Ignace this weekend. Not sure when that changed, but hey, I hope the shows go well! Besides, they'll be at Dondee Lanes next weekend, you'll get more chances after that to see them too!

So instead, let's begin with two shows this weekend at The Satisfied Frog! Local hard rock band Shift will be there tomorrow night and Saturday night! They will be joined by rising young locals Intrepid, who formed & gained local attention through Shift guitarist Joey Beairl's Summer Rock Camp! These shows will both begin at 10:00 PM tomorrow night! No word on admission prices. These should be good shows, Intrepid are very talented for their age! Check out Intrepid at this location, and some live videos of Intrepid at guitarist Donnie Hank's YouTube channel! As for Shift, these are the last shows listed on their MySpace tour schedule, so this is as good a time as ever to see them, cause who knows when they'll be back at The Frog! Check out more from Shift on MySpace, and for a preview, here's a video clip of the band covering the Linkin Park song "One Step Closer"!



Meanwhile, at The Bird, a new local band will return to the stage! Riot! By Night (featuring 3/4ths of fellow locals Absolute) will be playing there tomorrow and Saturday at 10:00 PM too! I initially reported that they'd be joining Absolute for this show, but Absolute have since removed the shows from their MySpace page, so it looks like they just switched bands. Now, I can't comment on how Riot! By Night sound, they have no audio or video posted anywhere, but if Absolute are any indication, they should do a great job this weekend! Check out more from Riot! By Night at this location! If you're in Sault Michigan this weekend, try to check out both bands if you can!

And now, we'll head back to Sault Ontario for three more big shows! And kicking things off tomorrow night is a big Devil's Night concert at The Oddfellows Hall! Your headliners are Sudbury deathcore band Upheaval Of An Exorcist, playing their first Sault area show (to my knowledge) since this past March with Carnifex! From what I've heard, frontman Kyle Blake will be back with Upheaval for this show, so that should please a bunch of you! And for the openers, it's a collection of some of the brightest local bands around! Garden of Bedlam and Bring The Fallen, fresh off their show at The Canadian two weekends ago, will be playing support! Also to be featured are local band The Fury, replacing bassist Josh McNally's other band, Out Of The Mouth Of Babes! Reminder: North Bay's Inflict are NO LONGER on this show due to failure to recieve some guarantees from the promoters.

Admission is $10, you can buy tickets at the door, it is all ages, and the doors open at 7:00 PM tomorrow night! Get full details at the official Facebook event page! All of the bands playing tomorrow have loads of talent, click on each of their names to check out their original material! I know some of you are disappointed that Inflict aren't playing, but why not go anyway, it'll be a good time! The Fury, though not "metal", also have loads of promise, and a unique sound! Garden of Bedlam and Bring The Fallen? They're both amazing local metal bands, and well worth checking out, take my word for it! And for a preview of this show, here's one of Upheaval of an Exorcist's songs, "Gray Skies"! Awesome seeing them back in Sault Ste. Marie, hopefully there's an awesome crowd!



And now, we come to Halloween night! And for you local metal fans, there's a tough choice, as there's two great concerts lined up on Saturday! First, we'll head to Coch's Corner, where three bands will be featured for not just any Halloween party, but THE Halloween party! Your headliners are a brand new local band named Frightlight, who feature former Fitswitch members J.D. Pearce, Rick White, and Larry Mousseau in their lineup! But if you're expecting this to be just a Fitswitch reunion, you're way off. Frightlight are based around horror movies, playing horror movie songs and they have a horror movie-themed stage show planned! They sound very promising, check out more from Frightlight at this location!

The other two bands include local hard rockers Half Past, playing their first show since DECEMBER, when they were still known as Fingerbone! As such, this will be their first show featuring new frontman Luke LeBlanc and with Arthur Lacasse on bass instead of guitar. Great band, they play lots of great covers, and have recently began working on original material! Nice to see them back on the local scene! The other band, I know little about. They're called "Glamoween", and are supposed to be a glam rock tribute band. Half Past guitarist Alain Fletcher told me that he heard that the band was comprised of members of other local bands (I wouldn't be surprised if there's some Dirty Virgin members in Glamoween), but I can't verifiably prove anything else. If you can help me out at all, e-mail me at robfigures@hotmail.com!

This concert is at 10:00 PM on Halloween night! Unlike most shows at Coch's Corner, there will be a cover charge, but it's only $4, and will be well worth it! And yes, it's 19+ (it is at a bar, after all.) Get full details on this show at this location! For a preview, seeing as I have no Frightlight videos yet, here's a clip of Half Past performing one of their brand new originals, "Dead Again", from a recent jam session!



And finally, some great hard rock bands will hit....Top Hat Billiards? Lemme explain. This show was to originally take place at the soon-to-reopen Foggy Notions. However, the bands jumped the gun in promoting it before Foggies would be ready to be opened, so it got cancelled, and the bands moved it to Top Hat! Not sure how it will work as a concert venue, but we'll have to see! Your headliners are local hard rockers Sense of Truth, playing their first local show since the Garden of Bedlam CD release show in July! They're a great band, lots of great originals and solid covers! Check them out on MySpace! They will be supported for this show by a very good local Rage Against The Machine cover band named Renegades, featuring Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan and ex-Driving Dave Home drummer Steve Brogno! You may remember them as "Dysfunkshunal Kemistry" from the recent Sykotyk Rampage show at The Outback!

Your cover charge is just $3, which is nice and affordable! This show will take place at 10:30 PM Saturday night, and as a reminder, Top Hat Billiards is across the road from The Lock City Grand Theater on Queen Street East! Should be a great show, get full details on Facebook! For a preview, here's a video clip of Sense of Truth from last year's Battle of The Bands at The Speakeasy, playing their original song, "Everything Explodes"!



So there's all the local metal concerts I know of this weekend! Hopefully now you guys have a good idea of what to expect! And for the Saturday shows, make sure to have your costumes and get in the Halloween spirit! Sadly, I can't make any of these shows. My Detroit trip is this weekend, which is just horrible timing. If I wasn't going away, I would definitely be at the Upheaval of an Exorcist concert and one of the Halloween night shows in Sault Ontario, you have my word! I'm doing my part though, I'm telling everyone I know and previewing each show as much as I can! I wanna see huge energetic crowds at all the shows this weekend, cause all the bands and promoters deserve it!

That's all for today, I believe I'll have a tiny post tomorrow morning to cover any leftover news before I hit the road. That will mark my 18th post on the SMS in 16 days! Thanks to all the news lately, there's been no shortage of updates, which is awesome! Stay tuned tomorrow, thanks everyone! GO SEE SOME CONCERTS THIS WEEKEND AND SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC!!!

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