Assorted News On Meatplow, Energy Rock Radio, Lion Ride, And More!!

Last post of January, let us waste no time, for we have a bunch of assorted stories to get to! Let's start with a new studio-quality song from a new local band!

Meatplow, the Sault Ontario hard rock band I've profiled on the SMS in recent months, have posted a new video that unveils a bunch of photos and info about the band! It's nice to get more info on these guys! It is accompanied by The Stone Temple Pilots' song that the band are named after, I wonder if it's an indication of their sound? Aside from that, it's a picture slideshow, followed by credits at the end, including the band's members first names (Dennis, Phil, and Mike; I'm fairly certain of last names, but won't make guesses I can't back up), and it says that their first album will be titled "World Disease"! Hey, if all goes according to plan, I'll be there to pick it up! I'd embed the video here, but Facebook annoyingly doesn't have this feature, so click here to check it out! And before you say I missed a second video on their page, it's the same as the first, just missing the credits. Now we wait for new material! (And excuse my first posts about Meatplow tonight, I made a couple dumb mistakes. I'm only human!)

Next up, Energy Rock Radio's official relaunch is TOMORROW! Yes, the local internet hard rock radio station is now all fancy and new, with a bunch of new features, especially on their website! Besides the new layout and design, the site now features a request form for song requests! As well, Energy Rock Radio now has airplay 24/7 (ensuring that even without DJs, you'll get music!), a new on-air staff lineup, 20% off deals for merchandise in February, and lots more! Owner Ryan McQueen also announced that Energy Rock Radio will be broadcasting LIVE from Foggy Notions on February 27th during the Garden of Bedlam/Papa Fogals Chair concert! Very slick look, and of course, the radio portion is as good as ever! Click here to check out the new site, listen to ERR live, and lots more! I know I don't talk about Energy Rock Radio as much as I should, but I'll work on that! Take a listen!

Remember when I talked about Sault Michigan's own Mikey Bishop and the bands he's drummed in? Well, it looks like his current band are making their way up here! Mikey wrote on the SMS' MySpace page's wall tonight and mentioned that Summon, the Lansing black metal band he's currently drumming for, will be in Sault Michigan THIS WEEK to drop off some Summon CDs at Grooves Music! He hopes to meet with some local bands this week to possibly get local openers for a Summon concert in the area! He's hoping to get two local bands to open, and he says another touring metal band will join Summon at this show! Day, venue, and information unknown at present. Anyone interested in playing at a black metal concert in Sault Michigan, or helping Mikey get a medium sized venue for it? E-mail Mikey at his MySpace page to show your interest! And of course, head to Grooves Music to pick up a Summon CD, black metal fans will find a lot to like! I'll keep you guys posted as I hear more!

Two more stories to cap this post with: One, Stillbroke's concert February 11th in Toronto has been cancelled due to "unforseen circumstances". The event page was deleted and everything. Sucks to see it called off, I bet it'd have been a big show! The other story is that SooToday's own Donna Hopper conducted a professional photo shoot with Lion Ride last month! She remarked that this is the first photo shoot that she's done in a proper photo studio, so the lighting inside was an issue, but the photos turned out real nice! 27 shots have been posted on her photography page on Facebook, all in black and white, ranging from band poses to solo shots! Nice work, can't wait to see more! Click here to check out the full album!

That's all for now, but tomorrow, it's CD review time! We'll finally get to the review of Detroit's new album "Brace For Impact"! Also look out for my profiles of two bands (The Sexual Vigilantes and Papa Fogals Chair) from out of town with local members, a review of Wednesday's Sykotyk Rampage-featured Battle of the Bands, and much more! Thanks everyone, CD review TOMORROW!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bring The Fallen), An Original Fitswitch Reunion, And Bad Side Opening For Bon Jovi?

Very short notice LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for you guys, let's get to this right away! The urgency is here because the show is TONIGHT! Local death/thrash metal band Bring The Fallen are playing at Foggy Notions TONIGHT! I apologize for the short notice of this, but it was only announced by guitarist Dan Souliere on Facebook a little after 3:00 PM. Foggy's was having a bit of a late crunch to get a band to play tonight, but they have a band, and a great one at that! This will be their first live appearances since their double shot of battles of the bands on December 1st, one of which they won! Rich Moreland has confirmed to me that the show will have a $2 cover and they will take the stage between 10:30 and 11:00 PM! I know this is short notice, but if you can make it to Foggy's tonight, do it! It will be a great concert! Not sure if I'll be there, but if you go, you'll have a headbanging good time! As I suppose this is a preview too, I'll show you guys a video, so here's a video of Bring The Fallen from the Necropolis days, performing their song "Night Riders" at The Oddfellows Hall!



While we're on the subject of shows at Foggy's, I can confirm that the Half Past shows next weekend will also have a $2 cover. This wasn't put on the event page initially, so I didn't know there was one. Well, there you go, bring your toonies AND your beer money then too! Thanks to Luke LeBlanc for the info!

Now we come to something that, though not really a new concert, will interest Fitswitch fans! According to J.D. Pearce and Rick White, the original lineup of Fitswitch are reuniting for a one-off set at original guitarist Kevin Powe's stag and doe! Yes, J.D., Rick, Kevin, Andrew MacDonald, and Larry Mousseau will be back together once again to rock some punk/metal, if only for one night! It will be at The Elks Hall on March 20th, tickets are $25 each or $40 for two. E-mail Rick White on Facebook if you're interested in attending! There will also be dinner, a D.J., door prizes, and other typical stag and doe things! I'm not gonna call this as a concert because really, it isn't, and attendance is probably only encouraged for those close to Kevin and family, but it's cool to hear! But if you are interested in attending Kevin's stag and doe, contact Rick to get a ticket, but bear in mind, it's a stag and doe first and foremost, the Fitswitch reunion is a bonus!

To my knowledge, this would be the first Fitswitch performance with the original lineup since (I think) 2006? I'm not sure on my dates. This would also be the first show of any Fitswitch lineup since March, when the J.D./Rick/Jason Bourcier/Jeff Goertzen lineup reunited at Coch's Corner for another one-off!

Next up, Bad Side are alive! No they haven't booked new local concerts, but they haven't broken up, I'm glad to say! I know this because of this announcement on Facebook: They want our help. The Sault Michigan hard rockers have entered the "Fox Rocks" contest ran by Detroit TV station WJBK, where bands will be voted on for a chance to open for Bon Jovi! The 5 highest vote getters will play live on WJBK's morning show, and the sets will be posted online for another voting period. The winners will open for Bon Jovi with a 15 minute set prior to their show at The Palace of Auburn Hills on March 17th! You can vote once an hour, but there's no cap on the total votes you can cast! CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR BAD SIDE! There you'll be taken to the voting page, with a short band bio and an audio stream of the song "Run Home" from their most recent album, "Bad Things Come In Threes"! VOTE TODAY, the deadline is February 18th!!! Click the banner underneath the band photo to cast your vote!

I've already voted once, though 15 minutes is kinda skimpy compared to the half hour Garden of Bedlam will get opening for Kiss. Still, it's a great opportunity, I hope they get it, they deserve it! And above all else, I'm glad to see Bad Side are still active, hopefully they'll be back playing shows around here soon!

And finally, that Ultraviolence show taking place in exactly ONE WEEK at Coch's Corner is officially a go! A Facebook event page has been posted for it, where it confirms that this concert will be a wrap party for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts! So that makes two hard rock shows connected to this huge curling tournament, the other being Sykotyk Rampage at the Battle of the Bands on Wednesday! No announced openers, it starts at 10:25 PM, and there's no announced cover charge! Should be a good concert, great to see Ultraviolence back so soon!

That's all for now, if I don't have anything tomorrow, my next post will feature my review of Detroit's new album "Brace For Impact", and that will be MONDAY! Stay tuned everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half Past), Stillbroke Concert Review, And A Silver Dream Update!

Good afternoon, one and all! Surviving the cold alright? Hopefully some metal news will warm you up! I have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and some news from Silver Dream, but first, my review of last night's Stillbroke concert!

The storms of last night were a huge impediment for people to make it out for this concert, at the most, there was about 20 people. I have no doubt that The Speakeasy would have been more packed any other night! But as I always say, concerts do get more personal when attendance is low, so I got to hang out with Stillbroke and family for a good portion of the night, which was cool!

Around 10:15 PM, the show began with Band of Fury...just kidding, The Fury! And to be honest, this was the first time I've seen them live in over a year! They're unclassifiable by genre, but they played some pretty good songs! They opened with a cover of "Crank Dat" by Soulja Boy (Let's see another local band play that!), and later moved into originals. Compared to the last time I saw The Fury, they really seem like a tighter band, Paul Stanghetta has a solid singing voice, though I figured I'd hear more from Josh McNally vocally, seeing as he handles lead vocals in his other bands. Both are solid bassists too (Remember, there's no guitarist), and Joe Bumbacco was good all set on drums! The Fury won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you want some unique fast punchy music, they'll do the job!

Then Stillbroke hit the stage, and they sure loaded up their return, they had 32 songs on their setlist! Along with the five songs on their EP, they played a good selection of brand new songs, never before heard locally! Add to that old unreleased classics like "Stillbroke" (the song) and "Sick and Tired", and tons of great covers, and you have one hell of a set! The covers were of bands like Metallica, Seether, Neil Young, The White Stripes, Alice In Chains, Jimi Hendrix, and many more! The new songs that I heard were very good, Stillbroke's talent is easy to spot, and they have some faster heavier new songs and a couple slow ones! Jesse Frigault led the charge on lead vocals and guitar, and he was great, though his voice didn't sound as strong as it did at the Kiss Battle. Just an observation, he still sounded good! His solos were great too, no worries there!

Sam DeDominicis was a great steady presence on rhythm guitar, I'd like to see how he'd handle more guitar solos though, I bet he could pull off some pretty well! Kyle McKey was great on bass and backing vocals, he also has a good singing voice and it's put to good use on some songs! Jenny Hooper was impressive on drums too, don't overlook her either! The band were very tight, and despite the attendance (blame the weather!), they looked to have a lot of fun last night! Also, thanks to Jesse for dedidcating a song to me, that was awesome! Sadly, I couldn't stay the full night (I wish I could have!), but it was great seeing Stillbroke after such a long wait! Not counting the Kiss Battle, it'd been over 9 months since I've been to a full concert of theirs, and it was great (weather notwithstanding!) Hopefully they'll be back for another full local show sooner rather than later, they're a bunch of nice guys (and girl), and they're an awesome band! Buy their EP too!

Did I get photos? Obviously! Click here to check them out, or visit the SMS Facebook page to find them there! And I did get a video, one of Stillbroke's brand new songs in it's entirety! It's a quickie but a goodie, check it out below, here's "Push Me"!



And now, for the LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! Local hard rockers Half Past are finally returning to the concert stage! After cancelling their Boxing Day show at The Rockstar Bar, they will be playing not one, but TWO shows at Foggy Notions NEXT WEEKEND! One on Friday February 5th, and another the night after! These will be Half Past's first shows since backing up Frightlight at Coch's Corner on Halloween! Neither show has a cover charge, they are listing a 10:30 PM start time. Confirm your attendance for either/both of these shows at the official Facebook event pages! Pencil me in for the Friday show (Saturday is UFC), I haven't seen Half Past since 2008 in the Fingerbone era, and they really are a great band, I can't wait! Hope to see you guys there too! If I hear anything more, I'll let you guys know!

And finally, another local band is looking for a new member, but there's some urgency in this case. It appears that Silver Dream have parted ways with drummer Matt Hicks, so they're looking for a replacement. However, the band have put a self-imposed deadline of Valentines Day (February 14th) to find a new local drummer. In the event that they have none by then, they plan on looking elsewhere in Ontario for a drummer. They want to head to Hamilton to get a record deal, and drummer or no drummer, they wanna do this soon. I'd love to see a local get on board with Silver Dream, so I'll do my part! If you or someone you know are interested in drumming for the new local hard rock band Silver Dream, message frontman Matthew Silver on Facebook A.S.A.P.!!!!

That's all for now, stay tuned for news as it happens! Next week will be packed, so look out for my review of Detroit's "Brace For Impact", my second installment of profiles of out of town bands with local members (Papa Fogals Chair and The Sexual Vigilantes to be exact), as well as reviews and videos from the upcoming Sykotyk Rampage and Half Past concerts! Stay tuned!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Ultraviolence & Caveman/Tym Morrison), And More!!!

Hey guys, it's time to spread the updates around once again! And today, I have a triple shot of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you need to know! (And afterwards, a Woods of Ypres story!)

The Ultraviolence related news continues, as it looks like they are indeed coming back to Coch's Corner, just a month sooner than I was thinking! J.D. Pearce from Coch's Corner has confirmed to me in an e-mail that Ultraviolence are apparently playing there on February 6th, which is just one week from Saturday! He also said a local band was asked about opening, but I'll hold from mentioning that until something official comes out. Seeing as this is a Coch's Corner show, don't expect a cover charge, start time of around 11:00 PM seems likely. Now I've only heard of this show from one e-mail, so there's more gaps to fill in, but as I hear more, you'll be sure to find out along with me! Who knows, if they're coming on March 6th like drummer Alexis Von Kraven's MySpace page implies, we could get UV for the third time in three months!

Meanwhile, two local hard rock acts have scheduled a concert each in the next few months, both of which involve Tym Morrison in some fashion! Firstly, local metal cover band Caveman Morrison will be back at The Rockstar Bar on, coincidentally, February 6th! (Ultraviolence or Caveman Morrison...tough call!) Expect 4 more hours of great covers of your favourite songs from all over the hard rock spectrum! There is no cover charge announced, you must be 19 to get in. Nothing radically different from past Caveman shows, but it should be a great time! It might be tough for me to hit either of the February 6th shows (what can I say, it's UFC 109 that night!), but it sure would be fun to make it to either or both! Hopefully they both draw great crowds! Confirm your attendance for this concert at the Facebook event page!

Then on March 13th, Tym Morrison will pick up his acoustic guitar once again and head to The Bottoms Up Lounge for another acoustic solo show! 4 more hours of more intimate rock and other genres, this will start at 10:00 PM that night (as does next month's Caveman show), and there will be no cover charge! Never hurts to cool down every now and then, and what bettwer way then to hear to The Bottoms Up Lounge for some acoustic hard rock? Might hit this, it was fun seeing Tym's acoustic set the last time, I'll have to check it out again, might be a good time! Once again, confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page! If I hear any updates on the shows I just talked about today, I'll be sure to tell you guys!

Next up, remember on Friday when I mentioned that Woods of Ypres would be profiled in the next issue of Exclaim! Magazine? Good news for those of us that can't track down the February issue: The article is online for free! It features a short review of Woods IV: The Green Album by Exclaim!'s Laura Taylor, as well as an interview with Woods frontman David Gold, in which he discusses what makes "The Green Album" so green, David's year living in South Korea, sound influences on the CD, and the challenges of releasing albums independent of major labels. Nice interview with long well detailed answers, though it'd have been nice to see Laura ask more questions! Check out the full article at this location, or if you know of somewhere that carries Exclaim! Magazine, read it in the brand new issue!

And finally for today, I just got word from Social Play drummer Chris Smith that the band have decided to look for an official singer! They're looking to drop covers entirely and get a full-time frontman to sing with them, so he asked if I could help out at all! I do like Dutch Vanderploeg's singing, but if this is something they really want, all power to them! They're not looking for anyone underage, female, or with "screaming vocals", so keep that in mind if you're interested. Click here to check out one of their originals! If you're interested in singing lead vocals for Social Play, message Chris Smith on Facebook by clicking here!

That's all for now, more news and updates are coming very soon, including my review of TONIGHT'S Stillbroke concert at The Speakeasy (hope to see you guys there!), and my review of Detroit's "Brace To Impact" on Monday! Stay tuned!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Riot! By Night) And Weekend Concert Previews!

Hey everyone, I figured I'd be back quickly with some new stuff to share, and I was right! For one thing, there's a few metal concerts this weekend to preview (I'm previewing them earlier than normal do because one show is Thursday), but also, I have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS! So let's start with that!

Sault Michigan's own Riot! By Night have confirmed four more concert dates for across the river! Two are admittedly short notice, the band might only have posted them as late as Monday, but I can't verify that. Either way, my apologies!!! The two short notice shows are THIS WEEKEND at The Satisfied Frog, which they'll be playing at at 10:00 PM Friday and Saturday night! Then, Riot! By Night will hit Dondee Lanes on February 12th and 13th, which will be (I think) the band's first local concerts outside of The Frog! Those concerts will both begin at around 8:00 PM. Great to see Riot! By Night back playing more shows, I bet they rock very hard! Consider this a preview of this weekend's concerts too, I again apologize for the short notice of it, hopefully some of you guys will make it out to see Riot! By Night this weekend! I still have no audio or video to share, but click here to visit their MySpace page!

That's not all for local hard rock concerts this weekend, there's three more to get to! Take these two with a grain of salt though. According to Kewadin Casino's events calendar, Monkey's Uncle, the local band formerly known as Jager, will be playing at The Rapids Lounge on Friday and Saturday night! However, Monkey's Uncle don't list concerts of any type on their MySpace page, which hasn't listed a schedule since before they went on hiatus and changed their name & lineup. But, seeing as Kewadin are listing shows featuring them that weren't previously on their cancelled dates, and with the new name, they must have some truth to them. So with caution, I'll talk about them. There is NO COVER for both shows, and they'll start at 9:00 PM both nights! As you may know, Monkey's Uncle is the hard rock trio fronted by Henry Switzer from The Mama's Boys, alongside Jim Belleau on bass and Ron Suchey on drums. They used to be a frequent sight at The Rapids Lounge and elsewhere, hopefully they're back playing shows on a regular basis again! Great band, check out some originals at their MySpace page! For a preview, here's a clip from the Jager days of the band playing the Nazareth classic "Hair of the Dog"!



And finally, we'll head back to Sault Ontario for the metal concert happening TOMORROW! Local hard rockers Stillbroke will return to the local concert scene when they rock The Speakeasy at Algoma University tomorrow night! This will be Stillbroke's first local appearance since their performance at the Kiss Battle of the Bands last month, and their first full concert in Sault Ontario since APRIL! So if you've been missing Stillbroke, tomorrow's as good a time as ever to check them out! This will also be their first concert since the release of their first EP, "Never Enough", so expect to hear all the songs from it too (no word on if the EP will be on sale though.) Stillbroke will be supported by fellow locals The Fury (not "Band of Fury" as some online pages say), who will deliver their own unique brand of bass and drums rock music once again! You may recognize bassist Josh McNally from Out Of The Mouth Of Babes and drummer Joe Bumbacco from DOTH, so they have metal cred, but expect something completely different!

Doors open at 9:00 PM tomorrow night with a 10:00 PM start time! There is a $3 cover at the door, it's 19+ EXCEPT for Algoma students with their student IDs, so if you're 18 or younger and want to attend, you're out of luck unless you go to Algoma University. This should be a great concert, I guarantee I'll be there for it, and hopefully some of you guys will be there too! Stillbroke are a great young band, their EP is a solid first effort, and it will be great to see them play more than two songs live after such a long wait! Click on the links above to check out both bands, confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page, and for a video preview, here's a clip of Stillbroke from the Kiss Battle last month!



That's all I have for today, but stay tuned for lots more, especially on Monday for my review of "Brace For Impact" by Detroit! Thanks everyone!

A Short Random News Post!!

First off, I wanna apologize for the lack of news the last couple of days, the early months of a year are often the slowest for new local metal updates. Things will pick up very soon, I assure you all! So I have four news stories and updates to share, I don't like leaving three day gaps between posts, so it's best to fill you guys in now before you think I abandoned the SMS! Let's start with what could be a return for a band that just played here this month!

As you may remember, Toronto drunk n' rollers Ultraviolence hit Coch's Corner on January 12th, two weeks ago today, which is a show I'm still ticked about missing (especially after missing Sense of Truth AGAIN!) Well, if you missed Ultraviolence too and want a chance to see them, an opportunity may be closer than we think! In my internet searching, I came across the MySpace page for Ultraviolence drummer Alexis Von Kraven. There, he lists his own tour dates for the bands he's in (Ultraviolence and Inner Turbulence.) No bands are specifically mentioned for each show on his tour listings, but Alexis does list a date for March 6th at Coch's Corner! On MySpace, Ultraviolence have no completely confirmed dates past next month, and Inner Turbulence have none at all, so I don't know if this is a planned show or one that's been called off already. I thought it was worth mentioning, cause it could be another new local metal concert, and who wouldn't wanna see Ultraviolence back so soon? I'll keep you posted if anything comes of my hunch! To see what I saw, click here!

Next up, we have a new local music forum that's worth discussing! This time, it's an official forum for a local band, Caveman Morrison to be precise! Tym & company have been updating their internet presence a lot in recent weeks, and this appears to be the next step! Hosted on Forumup, this message board includes topics and boards to discuss Caveman Morrison shows, setlists, and general band information, as well as to post pictures, mingle with fans, and talk about anything! Caveman Morrison aren't the first local band with their own forum (Woods of Ypres being the most notable example), but the track record for the survival of local metal-ish forums of any type isn't great, only around four others are currently active. Remember, the first step in establishing the success of a message board is to attract members, so if you wanna contribute to the Caveman Morrison forum's success, click here to read what's there and sign up!

Now we'll discuss Woods of Ypres once again, for the praise and reception of their newest album continues! Jordan Campbell from MetalReview has posted his top 20 albums of 2009 in an editorial column, and guess what placed high on his list? Woods IV: The Green Album! Jordan gives it high praise, giving it a large preference to Woods III (which he found "clunky"), and says that it's a "brutally honest and individualistic achievement of heavy metal songcraft." He also makes lots of comparisons to other bands, which is cool! It placed only behind albums from Solstafir & Blut Aus Nord, and ahead of albums from bands like Anaal Nakrath, Immortal, and Hypocrisy! Great to see "Woods IV" continuing to be such a success, here's to lots more in the coming months! Read Jordan's complete top 20 at this location!

And finally for today, thanks to Papa Fogals Chair percussionist Adam Chillman for this: A new updated poster has been unveiled for the February 27th concert featuring them and Garden of Bedlam at Foggy Notions! The only real update to it is the addition of a sponsor, Forsaken Tattoo Studio, who are prominently featuring the new poster as their Facebook group's profile image! FYI, Forsaken Tattoo Studio is on Wellington Street West, and is owned by PFC guitarist Joey Grisdale! So check out the poster to your left, this concert is gonna kick ass! I hope I'm in town for it! Remember, doors open at 9:00 PM with an 11:00 start time for this special show on February 27th, there will be a small cover charge, you must be 19 to get in.

That's all for now, I promise more news is coming very soon! We still need word on the Kiss concert, Algoma Hope4Haiti, and much more! Oh, and on Monday, my review of "Brace For Impact" by Detroit will be posted on the SMS, so stay tuned for that, and much more! Thanks everyone!

Social Play Concert Review & Gates of Winter's Last Released Studio Song!

How's everyone's Saturday going so far? Remember to go see 40 Sons or Tym Morrison tonight if you wanna enjoy some live hard rocking music! Today's post is short, but I don't have a lot of new stuff, so let's start with my review of last night's Social Play concert at The Rockstar Bar!

This was Social Play's first local concert since August 2008 at The Canadian Nightclub for the Rock 2 Roll skatepark benefit, when they were known as Browbeat, so it's been a very long time coming! Soundwise, not much has changed with the band, but that's a good thing! They started at around 10:00 PM, and played for a solid four hours with breaks, leaving everyone with a nice big shot of music! Attendance was slow at first, maybe a dozen people in the first hour, but after 11:00, the crowd started filling up! There was even some girls dancing, which was fun to see! Social Play's set consisted of about even levels of originals and covers, with a mix of both new originals and Browbeat classics like "The Pessimist" and "No Vacancy"! Covers-wise, Social Play had a very wide variety of bands to play songs from, everyone from Pantera and Megadeth to The Cars and Loverboy! More wide-ranging than I remember, but it's all good!

Frontman Dutch Vanderploeg has a unique voice for hard rock, I can't really place what makes it different, but it works, especially on their originals! Some of the covers didn't match up well vocally, like "Man In The Box", but he was never off key, and always sounded good! Guitar work was great too, he was hitting some good solos and had some nice melodies and riffs to throw around! The guitar was a bit washed out at times though, some pinch harmonics didn't come through on the speakers. Bassist Tiffany Emmerson was really good too, the bass was nice and clear, and she had some good grooves going on some songs! Chris Smith was solid all night on drums, he supplied much of the band's on-stage energy, and gave some good backing vocals as well! I also was lucky enough to get one of his broken drumsticks, no one else ran to get it after he thrown it to the crowd, so yay me! And of course, nice gargoyle out in front of the stage!

I had to leave earlier than I'd have liked, but I had fun overall! It was fun hearing some of those songs again after 16 months, and the band looked like they were having fun back on stage after such a long wait! They're neither the heaviest or most technical band out there, but they are a very fun hard rock trio, and hopefully we won't have to wait a year plus to see Social Play live again! Also, and this is just a personal like here, I liked the on-stage interaction between Dutch & Chris and me, that was cool! That's one plus you'll get out of concerts with low attendances, the band will get more personable with the people that are there! Here's hoping they'll be back real soon! Yes, I took photos, 30 to be exact, you can check them out by clicking here or visiting our official Facebook page! And thanks to my new 2 GB SD card, I can now take as many photos as I want and still have room for videos longer than 3 minutes! With that said, check out this clip of Social Play performing their original song "Walk Away" last night!



On a side note, I've noticed that The Rockstar Bar were still advertising Lion Ride as playing there on February 6th in paper ads, the LED marquee board there, and on their Facebook group, even though the band pulled the concert from their listings. Can anyone clear this up for me? Lion Ride must have pulled it for a reason, but you'd think The Rockstar Bar would remove it from the listings if it wasn't on anymore.

Finally for today, I have uploaded another new video to YouTube that should interest those of you that miss Gates of Winter! You may remember that Gates of Winter were working on a second studio album in 2008, but then they went on hiatus. Well one demo from those sessions is online! It is the song "From Nothingness", which they played a handful of times in their last concerts in 2008. Very heavy song, Lee Maines never sounded better vocally, I'd have liked it to have been longer though, with a guitar solo too. David Gold drummed on this song, his only appearance on a released studio Gates song, and he's awesome on it! Great keyboards from Brian Holmes too! It's too bad they broke up, this could have been better than "Lux Aeterna" if they'd finished this record! Check it out below, all credit for the song and image go to Lee Maines' MySpace page! NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!!



That's all for now, more news and updates are on the horizon, so stay tuned for lots more!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Nixxon Dixxon & Sykotyk Rampage), Plus Algoma Hope4Haiti Updates And More!!

The weekend's upon us again, hope you guys can make it out to the concerts tonight and tomorrow! A bit of news to get to today, we'll start with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!!

Nixxon Dixxon have scheduled a handful of extra dates for The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino! Firstly, they'll be there on February 26th, the night before they back up Pop Evil at the Kim Rogers benefit show at The Dreammakers Theater! The February 26th concert does conflict with an already scheduled date featuring Peril, but I don't know if Peril cancelled or they're both playing that night. I'll keep you posted if I hear something! Also, Nixxon Dixxon will bring their high energy hard rock back to The Rapids Lounge on April 9th and 10th, which is great to see! The more concerts, the better! Stay tuned for more updates on Nixxon Dixxon as I hear them, especially concerning the Pop Evil concert next month! All three shows are now in the concert listings on your right!

Meanwhile, you guys remember when I talked about that Battle of the Bands that Sault College was holding on February 3rd in conjunction with the Scotties Tournament of Hearts? Well, the auditions were held yesterday! Every band had to include at least one Sault College student, so the band selection was restricted, but there is one local metal band in the finals! The bands moving on to the finals at the Soo Curlers Association rink on February 3rd are....Blackwater, Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska Arms, and....Sykotyk Rampage!!! Yes, the blue Chinese metal crash punk rockers themselves have made it to the final four in this Battle of the Bands! On that night, admission will be FREE to anyone with valid student ID from any area college or university, and guests are welcome if accompanied by a student! It will be at 8:00 PM that night, the winning band wins $750, with $500 going to second place, and $150 for third place! Though as a metalhead, I'd love to see Sykotyk Rampage take first place, all bands are very talented and worthy of winning! For more information and to confirm your attendance, visit the official Facebook event page!

Next up, we have updates on what to expect on February 20th's Algoma Hope4Haiti benefit concert event! Eight local concert venues have been announced to take part so far, and they are: The Algonquin Pub, The Bottoms Up Lounge, The Canadian Nightclub, Coch's Corner, Foggy Notions, LopLops Lounge, The Rockstar Bar, and Top Hat Billiards! I'm not trying to sound preferential here, but it's great to see that all of these venues (except LopLops) are ones that have hosted metal bands in the last 6 months! Foggy Notions and LopLops Lounge have also committed to having Hope4Haiti shows on February 19th too, so that's great to see as well! More venues might be announced soon, and personally, I'd like to see The Oddfellows Hall get involved so there's at least one all ages show for the underagers who might want to take part. We'll have to see though.

Numerous bands have shown interest in taking part (I've seen visible interest from Bring The Fallen and Destroilet on Facebook), though a schedule is still in the works. As soon as I find out a tentative schedule, I will let you guys know! Also in the works for Hope4Haiti: Door prizes will be at EVERY VENUE that is taking part! As well, a silent art auction is planned to take place at LopLops. As I've previously said, the tickets, which cost $10, are good at every venue, so you can go see some bands in one place, then head to another place to see more bands without paying extra! Your ticket will also entitle you to unlimited pool at Top Hat Billiards on Saturday night! Get full details on Hope4Haiti so far by visiting Donna Hopper's post about it on SooToday, or checking out the official Facebook event page! Tickets go on sale in TWO WEEKS!

If you are interested in either playing at Hope4Haiti, getting your concert venue signed up to host bands, donating door prizes or artwork for the silent auction, or if you have any questions whatsoever about this very special event, e-mail Donna Hopper at slackhopper@gmail.com for full details!

Next up, is another Sault Michigan band calling it quits? Maybe, if their MySpace status is any indication. Local grunge rockers Half Stupid have posted this as their status: "Goodbye and thank you all." Does that speak for itself, or is it implying anything else? They're not the first local band to post a somewhat cryptic message that could be interpreted as their end. Bad Side & Absolute have posted similar MySpace statuses in the past few months, and since, they've played no shows or made any major band announcements. But none have flat out said "We've broken up", just made somewhat vague statement that implied a stoppage in band activity. I dunno. If this is the end of Half Stupid, it will be sad to see them go, I was always a fan of theirs, and with the lack of news from No Arrow in recent months, they fit the space for local grunge very nicely! I was also eagerly awaiting their first EP too! Hopefully this isn't the end though, I'll let you guys know if I hear any updates!

And finally, Woods of Ypres are going to be in the next issue of Exclaim! Magazine! No word on what for, but it was broke on Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, so that's a good source of proof! I don't know where in town you can pick it up, but if I find a copy of the February issue, I'll be sure to share what's discussed! That's all for now, I will see you guys tonight at the Social Play concert! I'll have my new 2 GB SD card in my camera, so I can take MUCH LONGER video than I could before! See you guys there!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Derelict), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!

First of all, a reminder to check out the details on the Hope4Haiti benefit concert event in the post below. In short, many local concert venues will host many local bands on February 20th to raise money for the Canadian Red Cross towards helping Haiti in the aftermath of their devastating earthquake. Foggy Notions were the first to confirm their involvement that I know, they were looking for interested bands on their Facebook page. Tickets will be $10, for more information or to get your band/venue involved, e-mail slackhopper@gmail.com! But read my post or click here to get more details, let's help make this a success!

Today, we have a bunch of stuff to get to, including previews for all four metal shows this weekend in Sault Ontario and a new page for a band I recently mentioned. But first, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Montreal death metal band Derelict are coming to Sault Ste. Marie! They will be at Foggy Notions for the first stop of their Northern Shores Tour on May 6th! What better way to spend a Thursday night than with some good old Canadian death metal? A start time of 8:00 PM is given on their MySpace page, though I'd think it'd be later than that. No word on cover charges or any possible additional bands, I'll let you know if I find out! Very brutal band, but in a good way, death metal fans will want to mark this on their calendars! If I'm in town, I'll be there! Check out some of their songs on MySpace, or click here to visit their official website! I will keep you posted with updates on this concert as I hear them!

And now, it's time to preview this weekend's concerts! We have four different metal shows this weekend, two tomorrow night, two Saturday night, all at different venues in Sault Ontario! Let's begin at The Rockstar Bar, when a notable local band returns, if a week later than we'd have hoped. Social Play, the hard rock band formerly known as Browbeat, will finally return to the concert stage a week after their planned dates last weekend were cancelled. A start time of 7:10 is given on Facebook, but I doubt it's that early (maybe I'm wrong?) No cover charge is listed, and it's not all ages. As I said in my preview of the cancelled shows last week, this will be the first concert for this band since their 2008 appearance at the Rock 2 Roll skatepark fundraiser at The Canadian Nightclub! They used to be a frequent sight locally, having backed up Econoline Crush during one of their shows here,and playing local bars throughout the mid 2000s! Drummer Chris Smith told me that they'll play some older Browbeat songs and new material, which should be great to hear! For full details on this concert, visit the Facebook event page! I don't have video to share, but this will be a good show, you have my word!

Meanwhile, at The Speakeasy, Guns N' Roses tribute act Gunz N' FN' Rosez will come to welcome the Sault to the jungle! Doors open at 9:00 PM tomorrow night, with the concert starting at 10:00 PM! Tickets are $10 in advance unless you're an Algoma University student, then you only pay $8. Both ticket prices jump $2 if you pay at the door. You must be 19 or have Algoma student ID to get in to this concert. Tribute bands are always fun to see, and these guys do a pretty good job of covering GNR hits, even donning the looks of the classic lineup (save for Izzy Stradlin, Buckethead's in his place!) Check out more from Gunz N' FN' Rosez at their official website! For full details on the concert itself, click here to see the Facebook event page! Solid tribute band, not perfect, but they're well worth seeing if you get a chance! For a preview, here's a clip of their rendition of "Paradise City"!



And then there's two metal concerts on Saturday night! One will take place at The Bottom's Up Lounge, where Tym Morrison will return for another acoustic solo set! Expect to hear many of Caveman Morrison's covers and more in an intimate setting! Chances are we all could use more softer stuff here and there, and Tym's got the metal cred and covers, so why not go see him on Saturday? He'll be on at around 10:00 PM, there is no cover, and I assume it's 19+ too, as it is a bar. So there's an idea for you guys on Saturday night, it should be another fun set! For full details on this concert, visit the official Facebook event page! Check out songs and video from Tym and Caveman Morrison at his official website, which was recently updated!

And finally this weekend, a hard rock band from Hamilton are returning to Coch's Corner! 40 Sons will be there Saturday night, just 3 months after they last played there! I was still unsure about this concert's validity, given the band's failure to post it, but it is still in Sault This Week, and J.D. from Coch's Corner was plugging it on Facebook, so it's on! I don't think there's a cover charge, I'd expect a start time of 10:00 or 11:00 PM on Saturday. Remember, 40 Sons are a pretty successful band, notably having won last year's Bodog Battle Championship, and getting airplay on various Ontario radio stations! Solid band, I like the singing, helps set them apart from other bands with a similar style! Check them out on MySpace to hear even more from 40 Sons! Another concert well worth considering, it is definitely on, hopefully there's a good turnout! For a preview, check out this live clip of 40 Sons performing their song "The Weight of the World" from a show this past June!



And finally, thanks to an anonymous comment on my post Tuesday, I can tell you even more about the local band SBD! I told you that their frontman is No Arrow's Dann Pichette, but the band also includes former No Arrow bassist Brad Griffith, and Shane Triplett on drums! Their first names seem to make up the band's name (Shane, Brad, Dann), just in case you didn't catch that! A link was given for the band's Soundclick page, which probably eluded me in the past because Sault Ste. Marie isn't mentioned on it at all. There, you can find a band photo and four songs! One is "Rock Paper Scissors" from the videos Dann uploaded to YouTube, but there's three others! On second listen, they are pretty different from No Arrow, more experimental, though there is still a bit of a grunge feel. It's hard rocking enough for the SMS, so click here to check out more from SBD! I wonder if we'll see them or No Arrow on stage soon?

Let's leave it there for today, I'll have more news soon! I hope to be at the Social Play concert tomorrow night, not sure about Saturday's concerts though. Stay tuned for more news and updates!

Algoma Hope4Haiti: A Special Haiti Fundraiser/Concert Event

Hey guys, just one story to discuss today, but this is for an EXTREMELY big cause! Please read this!

SooToday's Donna Hopper is helping organize a benefit concert event to help raise money for the Sault Ste. Marie branch of the Red Cross to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti following their devastating earthquake last week. This tragedy has been major news since it happened, and every dollar counts, so consider donating to Haiti!

But what is being worked out is a major event, called Algoma Hope4Haiti, which will feature numerous local bands playing on February 20th to raise money for Haiti relief. Unlike most attempts at a major concert/fundraiser involving local bands, this will take place at multiple local venues, which will each play host to different bands on that day. This is logistically easier, and it helps make the Haiti support more citywide, so there is benefits in this setup. Venues and performers have yet to be announced, they should come out once everything's finalized. Way too early to speculate or guess, but once I hear of bands, you'll know! Metal bands are likely, but this is a major charitable concert, even if there were none, this is still worth looking in to, Haiti needs your support above all else!

Tickets are scheduled to go on sale for Algoma Hope4Haiti on February 5th (two weeks from Friday), and they will cost $10 each. They will be on sale at all participating venues, the Canadian Red Cross office on Allard Street, and at the Sault Youth Association office, which is on the 6th floor of Station Tower on Bay Street. Having this ticket will ensure that you can get into any and all venues for Hope4Haiti, and as I previously said, all proceeds are going to The Red Cross to benefit Haiti.

IF YOU OR YOUR BAND ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING PART IN ALGOMA HOPE4HAITI ON FEBRUARY 20TH, E-MAIL slackhopper@gmail.com FOR INFORMATION! TO GET FULL DETAILS ON THIS VERY SPECIAL EVENT, CLICK HERE!

That's all I have, I just want to get advance notice of Hope4Haiti out there. No matter what bands are playing, this will be a very special event that we don't get often. As soon as details come in about participating venues and bands (particularly metal/hard rock bands, but any will get mentioned), you'll find details right here! Stay tuned, and please consider attending this!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Social Play), And Two New Bands!

Short post for today, but I can't let a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT slide any more than it has! Here's what you need to know, followed by two new local bands I came across recently!

Remember this past weekend when Social Play (formerly known as Browbeat) cancelled their planned weekend dates at Foggy Notions? Well, they're back even quicker than I was figuring! They'll be back at The Rockstar Bar THIS FRIDAY, as you may have heard on the SMS Facebook page yesterday! No cover charge has been announced. The concert is listed on it's event page as starting at 7:10 PM, which seems way too early to be the real start time, but hey, you never know! And just like other shows at The Rockstar Bar, this is 19+. Should be a good concert, but for you hard rock fans, you have a choice to make: Social Play's first show in over 16 months, or a Guns N' Roses tribute band at The Speakeasy? I hope to make one of those, leaning towards Social Play, but we'll have to see! Click here to visit the Facebook event page, which also has details on Social Play drummer Chris Smith's other band Wishbone's concert at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday!

On a related note, Chris Smith gave the reason for the cancellation last weekend on the event page as being from "circumstances beyond their control". Hopefully the Friday concert will go off without a hitch!

So over the last couple days, thanks to subscription alerts on the SMS YouTube channel, I came across two new Sault Ontario hard rock bands, one with more info than the other! First I'll tell you about The Curtis J. McKenzie Project, which appears to be either a new band featuring members of 20 Pack Of Marshmallows, or a newer version of said band! It features Curtis McKenzie, Darren Vlassoff, and Micheal Cachagee, along with new rhythm guitarist Daniel Horton in place of Travis McKenzie! Their site includes song lyrics, band bio information, plenty of photos, a guestbook, and videos! Some are old 2POM videos, but there are some brand new clips of some new originals, and a cover of the Dale Evans song "Happy Trails", which is unexpected! So visit there to check everything out, they do have promise, though they need to work on audio quality, and some slightly heavier songs would be welcome. They have obvious talent though, keep an eye out for them! Here's an original song from The Curtis McKenzie Project, entitled "The Married Massacre", straight from Curtis' YouTube channel!



And finally, I don't know a ton about this band, but there's enough to warrant a mention! They are called SBD, and they feature No Arrow singer/guitarist Dann Pichette! Sources tell me that the other members were formerly in local band The Chintzy Slicks (remember them?), but SBD don't have a page at present, if this even is supposed to be an official brand new band. Still, it's worth posting, especially with the lack of No Arrow news in recent months! Oddly, while just one song ("Rock Paper Scissors") was uploaded to Dann's YouTube channel, it was broken up into 13 parts, with part 11 missing, and no individual video lasting longer than 1:17! From listening to the various parts of this song, it sounds good, nice grunge feel, it reminds me of No Arrow! But something seems a bit different about it, and not just from the absence of Harley and Joe from No Arrow. Check out Part 1 of "Rock Paper Scissors" below, and click here to see the remaining parts of the song!



That's all for now, I'd have liked to have had more, but I'll have plenty more news and updates real soon! And if nothing else, there will be previews of this weekend's concerts soon, hopefully a review of "Castle Stories" once I'm finished reading it, and more! Thanks everyone!

The Biggest Local Metal Story Of 2009: Your Results! Plus, The New Poll, And Are Kiss Coming Soon?

Well, it's the 18th of the month again, so it's time to go over the results of last month's poll, and unveil this month's new poll! As you guys know, last month's poll asked this question: "What was the biggest Sault Ontario metal news story of 2009?" Thanks to the 54 of you who voted, another high total! Let's go over the results from lowest vote-getters to highest! (Stay tuned afterwards for news on one of the local openers for the Pop Evil concert next month, and when Kiss could be coming!)

In dead last with no votes each were Three Days Grace's return to The Essar Center, the release of Stillbroke's debut EP "Never Enough", and Susan Myers' attempts to stop the Kiss concert. I would have thought thought all of these would have gotten votes, Three Days Grace are a major band, Stillbroke are popular, and Susan Myers....well, what she said sure made news! Four choices tied for 10th place with a single vote each, those being the threatened Grady concert boycott, the renovations at The Canadian Nightclub, the release of Garden of Bedlam's self-titled debut EP, and "Other". I'm particularly surprised by the Garden of Bedlam EP release getting a single vote, considering their popularity, but the rest are understandable! Also, I wonder what the person who voted for "Other" had in mind?

In a tie for 8th place with two votes each were the end of Hempfest, and much to my surprise, Gates of Winter's hiatus! I would have thought that the end of one of the biggest metal bands the Sault has ever seen would have scored a lot higher! I guess it depends who votes. In 7th place with 3 votes was the release of "Woods IV: The Green Album"! Of all the album releases I included on the poll, this was the top vote-getter, which I expected! However, I figured more than three people would choose it, especially with how good of a job Woods of Ypres did on this release! In a tie for 5th with 4 votes each were the opening of The Rockstar Bar, and the Soo's demanding of Kiss to come here! Kiss placing here was about what I expected, (there was more newsworthy Kiss stories to come), but The Rockstar Bar placing so high was a bit surprising!

In fourth place with 5 votes, honestly a bit lower than I was expecting, was the re-opening of Foggy Notions! It sure has been popular and talked about since it's return, but I would have figured it'd have been top 3. Tied for second with 6 votes each were the postponing of the Kiss concert and the return of Caveman Morrison! The Kiss postponing doesn't surprise me in it's placement, but Caveman Morrison's return sure does! I'm a fan and I know they're popular, but second place? Nice job! I wouldn't have imagined they'd get a high total like that!

And in first, with a landslide total of 18 votes, 33% of the vote, is......the Kiss Battle of the Bands, won by Garden of Bedlam in a one point victory over Lion Ride! Exactly where I figured it'd place, it was one amazing event that seemed to attract the interest of every local music lover, it's something I wish happened more often! More battles to find openers for major bands, you know what opportunities that would help create? But that's just me. There you have it, you guys have chosen The Kiss Battle of the Bands, and Garden of Bedlam's victory in it, as the biggest local metal story of 2009!

And now, we come to our new poll on the Sault Metal Scene, and as I previously said, it'd be about the best "something" in 2009. So I pose this question to you: What was your favourite new album release from a Sault Ontario metal band in 2009? A number of bands in Sault Ontario released CDs in 2009, debuts for some, the newest addition to their growing discographies for others! I'm counting CDs and primarily-internet released albums, be they studio releases, compilations, EPs, or whatever it is that came out, as long as it's a brand new release from a Sault Ontario metal/hard rock band! Here are your choices:

Detroit - Brace For Impact: This was the first official CD release and second album overall from local hardcore/punk rockers Detroit! Featuring a mix of re-recorded classics and new material, each song delivered relentless hardcore fury, mostly in under two minutes apiece! It was the last local metal release of 2009, only finding its way to fans in late December at the CD release concert, but it's been getting a positive reception since! Is it your favourite local metal album of the past year? To buy it, e-mail the band at their official MySpace page!

Garden of Bedlam - Garden of Bedlam: Released this past April, this self-titled EP was the first ever release of any kind from Garden of Bedlam, who've quickly grown into one of the highest profile metal bands in the Sault! It features four original songs that you'll very likely hear at any of their live concerts, including the song from their first video, "The Truth Shall Set You Free"! It's currently on sale at CD Plus and The Rad Zone, as well as at their live shows! Very heavy, very entertaining, it's became a quick favourite locally, but is it your favourite overall?

Stillbroke - Never Enough: In October, local hard rockers Stillbroke also issued their debut EP, entitled "Never Enough"! It features five very solid tracks that you'll also hear at their live appearances! It features popular songs like the title track, "No Reason", and "Forget"! Stillbroke have built up a good following locally, and will likely have the album on sale at their next local concert on January 28th! It's also on sale at CD Plus, among other locations! It's a fun album, where does it rank among other local releases to you?

Syktoyk Rampage - Moments of Misery: Continuing their ever expanding discography in 2009, the Sault's resident "blue Chinese metal crash punk" rockers released their 21st album, "Moments of Misery", in February! It features eleven more unique songs made up on the spot, including "Asryor Vs. Superspeed Girl", "Construction Zone", and "Show Me"! It's available to purchase on their official SoundClick page, where you can also stream the entire album for free! Definitely another unique addition to their back catalog, is it your favourite new SMS-calibre album of the year?

Syktoyk Rampage - 22: They weren't done there for 2009, as Sykotyk Rampage put out their 22nd album in November, appropriately named "22"! It features a whopping 23 songs, including 15 brand new originals like "Li'l Crocochild" and "Candy Store Baby", along with 8 new live re-recordings of classics like "Drinking On The Weekend" and "Called In Dead"! Equal in it's unique qualities and full of entertaining music, prepare your brain! It's also available to buy and stream on their Soundclick page! Is this your top release of 2009?

Woods of Ypres - Allure of the Earth (Vinyl): The second of three new releases from local black/doom metal band Woods of Ypres, this was released only on 7" vinyl in September! It's a single, with the first side including their 2004 song "Allure of the Earth", and the second side featuring a cover of the song by Australian cellists Sebastian Simpson & Chris Doig! This is only available on a limited basis by mail for $20, click here for details! Good songs, but this may be getting overlooked amongst the larger more widespread albums. If it's your favourite, vote for it!

Woods of Ypres - Independent Nature 2002-2007: Woods of Ypres began their slate of new releases in April with "Independent Nature 2002-2007", the band's first ever best-of compilation! It features four songs each from their first three albums, including such classics as "A Meeting Place And Time", "The Northern Cold", and of course, "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground"! Though the usefulness of compilation CDs is debatable, the album is solid top to bottom, and a must have for people who can't find the band's early albums! Is it your favourite local metal CD in 2009?

Woods of Ypres - Woods IV: The Green Album: November saw the release of the fourth album of new material from Woods of Ypres, entitled "Woods IV: The Green Album"! The band's first album with Gates of Winter's Bryan Belleau on guitar, it features 16 dark conceptual doom metal songs, filling out the 80 minutes very effectively! Songs like "Everything I Touch Turns To Gold (Then To Coal)" and "Wet Leather" have became quick favourites! This and other Woods CDs are at CD Plus, as well as numerous online retailers! It's probably the most high profile of the 2009 local metal releases, but is it your favourite?

Other: Did I miss a Sault Ontario metal release in 2009? Do you want to vote for a CD from a band of another genre or location for whatever reason? Do so here!

VOTE TODAY!!!! I'd love to see this poll crack 50 votes as well, I know the interest is there!

And now, two quick news stories to cap this post, and we'll begin with Kiss....you knew they'd be back as a news story! Destroilet drummer Matt Waples noticed that on the tour listings page on Kiss' official website, the Sault concert is listed along with the European tour dates that Kiss are playing in May and June. Now, this could be nothing, it could just be that the band have it there on reserve until they book the date, but it is worth mentioning! This could be a sign that the band will have the Sault concert around the time of the European tour! If there is something to that, then the Sault show would likely be in April at the earliest, or after June 27th, unless they came here during the European tour and then went back to Europe, which isn't logical. Of course, this is all speculation. To see what Matt saw, click here! And to check out David Helwig's article on SooToday about this, click here!

And finally, we have learned one of the local openers for the Pop Evil/Evans Blue concert on February 27th at Kewadin Casino! Nixxon Dixxon are 100% confirmed to be one of the opening bands for this benefit concert, which is awesome! Not many local bands can say they backed up bands the calibre of Pop Evil and Bret Michaels (who they backed up in 2008), it's great to see! Thanks to Cami Hubbard for the info! I can also now confirm that this concert is in benefit of Kim Rogers, a 20 year old Sault Michigan resident who died in a snowmobile accident on December 19th. All proceeds from the concert will go towards the establishment of scholarships in her name, which is a great cause! Hopefully lots of people make it out, it's tragic to lose anyone this young at any rate, hopefully the show's a success! Thanks to, of all things, 99.5 Yes FM's official Facebook group for the information!

That's all for now, more news is on the horizon, so stay tuned!