THREE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, Three Days Grace Show Updates, And More!

How's everyone enjoying this snow? I was happy, I got the day off class, so I got to researching news for an SMS update, and I have plenty of stuff to share tonight! And we'll start with not one, not two, but THREE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!!

Remember last Tuesday, when local death/thrash metal band Bring The Fallen won the Battle of the Bands at The Speakeasy? Well, as you're likely aware, the winner of that battle would (among other prizes) get the opportunity to open for The Inner City Surfers (featuring Lion Ride's Mikey Hawdon on drums) at their concert December 22nd. Well, I can finally confirm this show is a go, and Bring The Fallen are definitely playing support! They're calling this a Christmas bash, and with the timing of the show, that's appropriate! Also scheduled for the concert: local punk rockers The Scary Uncles, who always impress in their live performances! This concert starts at 10:00 PM that night, cover charges or age limits have yet to be announced. Sounds like a fun concert, and Bring The Fallen will help bring the metal edge that's welcome at any show! Get full details at the official Facebook event page!

Speaking of The Inner City Surfers, members of the band will regroup in a new act playing on December 18th at The Rockstar Bar! That night, a concert called "Rock of Ages" is being held, where three bands will play songs from different eras of music. Local group The Money Shots will play a set of music from the 1950s, while local classic rock band The Suspects will play a set of 1960s/70s music. But what caught my eye was a band by the name of Skid Crue, who will play a set of 1980s hair metal songs! I had to ask about them, and Martin Fiser from The Rockstar Bar told me that three members of The Surfers are in Skid Crue! I don't know if this is a one off thing or a brand new band or what, but it sounds good! Very diverse musical lineup too, you won't see such a wide cross-section like this very often! Tickets for "Rock of Ages" are $5 in advance from either CD Plus or The Algonquin Hotel, or $ 7 at the door! If I hear more about this concert or Skid Crue, I'll let you guys know!

And finally for new concerts, we FINALLY have a local metal concert of sorts in Sault Michigan for the month of December! I've been surprised by the lack of concerts and announcements of new ones lately for across the river, but we have one now! Young local hard rock band Free Refill are back on the live scene, and they'll be playing at a talent show at Sault Area High School! No time is given on their MySpace page, but my money's on it being an after school deal. Sure, it's not a publically open concert, but they're a local metal band playing live, and I'm sure there's readers who go to Sault High, so there's a heads-up! Talented young band, they should have a bright future! Check out more from the band at this location! Also, according to their MySpace page, it looks like guitarist Tyler Wall has left the band. That sucks, but hey, he's still in 7/47, who are promising in their own right!

So there's your three new concerts, and they're now located in the concert listings on the left and right of the page! Now, it's time to update everyone on the fallout from Tuesday's entertaining Three Days Grace concert! Donna Hopper from SooToday has posted her review of the concert at this location! According to the article, the crowd only numbered at around 2,000 people. I wonder why, maybe it was the weather? Ticket prices? Quality of the openers? (Oh come on, I liked Seether more!) She also noted the overall quietness of the crowd and lack of activity for the first two bands, and looking back on it, I noticed that too! What they should have done is grabbed everyone from the stands and moved them to the floor if they wanted, that'd have helped (hey, it worked for Jackyl.) She also noted that Three Days Grace (save for Adam Gontier) later showed up at LopLops Lounge for the official after-party, and mingled with fans and signed autographs and such! EDIT, 8:25 AM: Donna's photo album from the show is finally up, check out her pictures by clicking here!

SooNews correspondent (and friend) Lucas Punkari posted a review and photo album of his own at this location! Nice photos, miles better than mine (remember, I'm not a professional.) Among other local news sources, The Sault Star didn't have a review or recap, though Michael Purvis did post an album with 100 concert photos (again, great quality) which you can check out by clicking here! Nothing from Sault This Week though. And I guess I should mention this, cause I've heard nothing else about it since, but I saw someone get really hurt at the show. They had to clear a big area in the crowd to get a girl out, she was clutching her face and when her hands moved, I saw blood on her hands. I have no clue what happened, it was very packed on the floor, but damn, that sucks! Word of warning, concert fans, be careful, you don't know what could happen! Take care of each other and keep things safe!

And finally, VIDEOS, lots of them! Only two people I know of have uploaded videos so far, but there's lots to go around! One is from YouTube user SLIPKASS05, of the band performing the song "Riot", which you can check out at this location! Not bad quality, and it's the only clip I've seen so far from the floor. The rest all come from barbiegirl8833, who you may recognize for her uploads of videos from the Staind and Papa Roach concerts at Kewadin Casino! She got 13 clips from the show, which (I think) accounts for every song they played except maybe "I Don't Care" and "Just Like You". Quality's alright, she had a good angle of the band from the seats! Check out all of her Three Days Grace videos, plus six from Default's set and one of The Used, at this location! I'll show you guys one here, so take a look at the band playing their hit song "Home"! (Note: Fast forward to 4:55 in the clip. Trust me.)



And of course, if I hear or see anything more coming out of the Three Days Grace concert, I'll let you guys know! Now, here's basically my attempt to catch up on a local metal talent that I barely ever mention on here, but really, he deserves it. Are you familiar with Sault Michigan native Mikey Bishop? Well, he's a noted metal drummer, and he's made a name in numerous bands, some local, some not! The most notable local group he was in was Lower S.E.S., and he's since joined numerous bands behind the kit, almost too many to mention! Probably the most notable is Grand Rapids death metal band Sadomasochism, who did a lot of touring in the 2000s and backed up bands like Superjoint Ritual at some big concerts! Now, Mikey's the drummer for Lansing black metal band Summon, who recently released a new album! I've heard some of Mikey's bands, and I'm impressed! He's an awesome drummer, and it's great to see him succeed as much as he has! Definitely overdue for me to talk about him on here! Check out more from Mikey, including tons of live videos from his bands, and new Summon tracks, at his official MySpace page! He should bring Summon up here for a show!

And finally for tonight, just a quick notification that Rock 101 have officially confirmed that Garden of Bedlam are backing up Kiss on Tuesday! They've updated their front page and concert listings to reflect their opening status! That's all for tonight, next post will likely have a preview of this weekend's Caveman Morrison concerts, along with another LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and anything else that should pique your local metal interest! Thanks everyone!