Friday, January 22, 2010

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!

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