LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sativa Rose), Another New Local Band, And More!!

Hey guys, we have a packed new update for this final Sunday of the month! Today, we have some cool audio tracks from a local metal musician, the latest updates on two upcoming albums, and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, but let's begin today's post with the new local band!

Yes, our newest local band is Splitshot, and they are the new hard rock band from Sault Michigan featuring former Nixxon Dixxon guitarist Chris Hubbard and bassist Kyle Beaumont! Since their disbanding in August following Brandon Carr & Jake LaLonde's moves to California, we haven't heard too much from Chris or Kyle, but now they're back in a new band! Splitshot are rounded out by fellow members Dave Menard, Gary Beaumont, and Tony Hubbard, although I'm not positive on who plays what in this band, as their Facebook page doesn't say. I can't say I recognize any of them from other local bands, but Gary and Tony are indeed relatives of Chris and Kyle. Their sound is described as classic & modern Rock with "a couple boogie woogies", but judging by their influences on their Facebook page, I wouldn't be surprised if their setlist was similar to Nixxon Dixxon's. There's no audio or video yet, but they actually have played live, debuting at The Bird in Sault Michigan this past weekend! I apologize for missing those for SMS coverage, but you have my word that I would have plugged it if I'd heard of Splitshot before then! Stay tuned for more on these guys as I hear it, as they do have promise! Check out the above links for more!

Now, for that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! This show is packed full of local talent, and will take place (oddly enough) on Christmas! Yes, December 25th at Foggy Notions will feature five local bands hitting the stage, including two local hard rock/metal bands! Those two would be local metal trio Sativa Rose and local experimental grunge rockers SBD! This will be Sativa Rose's first concert appearance since September at GLOW, and they'll have loads of great metal covers in store! They should really launch an internet page though, it'd help them get the word out! As for SBD, this will be their first concert since August at Foggy's, and their unique brand of original music should turn some heads on Christmas night! Maybe they'll have albums on sale with them too? Three other bands have been announced, with Toronto-based classical/punk trio RedD Monkey returning to headline the show! Who doesn't love cello punk, after all? They're a very entertaining band, make sure to see them! Also scheduled are local guitar-less rock trio The Fury, who'll bring their unique style of music to Foggy Notions as well! The final band scheduled for this show is a new local stoner rock band named Whiskey Skidoo, who are scheduled to open the concert. They feature former Economy Studs bassist Jacob Maybe and local solo artist Jenny Gauvreau in their lineup, but I don't know too much on them yet.

This show is FREE on Christmas night at Foggy Notions at 9:00 PM! You must be 19 to enter. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a fun concert, with loads of local talent on display from varying styles, including some newer stuff as well! Not sure if I can make it or not, what with the Christmas timing, but make sure to go if you can! Check out the above links for more details!

Next up, have you noticed in recent months that we haven't had a whole lot of updates concerning Lion Ride's upcoming full length album? Well, aside from a posting of "Snail Trail" on BWC Studio's MySpace page, there hasn't been a whole lot of new updates since May or June, partly thanks to Iron Mike Bison's touring commitments as The Envy's manager. Earlier estimates of a "fall 2010" release were changed to "coming soon" as well. So what's up? Well, the band finally acknowledged the lack of news concerning their next album on their Facebook page last night, where they apologized for the sparse updates and stated that they were confident the album will be worth the wait. Possibly to help make up for the delays and lack of news, a video was posted there featuring recording session video clips set to "Snail Trail"! The clips show the band recording their parts, along with various other portions of the sessions, and it's nice to see this side of Lion Ride! Plus, the song is definitely a keeper, but again, I won't give full judgment until I review this album, whenever it comes out! I can't embed Facebook videos here, so click here to see the new video! Stay tuned for more updates on Lion Ride's new album as I hear them!

While we're on the subject of upcoming local albums, here's the latest from local solo musician Mike Haggith's upcoming 43rd album, "Suspended Animation"! The official cover art has been unveiled, replacing the old text-only placeholder image for the album. It's unique in that it's actually square CD dimensions, whereas many of his older solo album covers were rectangular. Looks good though! His personal Facebook page also features a back cover with credits and such, though I won't embed it here out of respect for personal privacy. Also, Mike's next planned live appearance will be another open mic night performance THIS WEDNESDAY at The Outback, so make note of that if you wanna check him out! And finally, Mike is looking to put together a local band to play his solo material live! I assume he'd be looking for a bassist, drummer, and maybe an extra guitarist, although he didn't go into detail on that front. If you guys want to get into a new local band, definitely consider working with Mike, as he is still trying to gain some footing in the local scene, and he's got some wide ranging and very prolific material in store that would be cool to hear with a full band! Check his Reverbnation page out and see what you think? If you're interested in playing live in his new local band, e-mail him at rotten_records_2008@hotmail.com!

And finally, here's some interesting updates concerning Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison! Now when you think of the songs he plays, I'd assume your mind would go down two paths: covers and his "Solo Project" CD from 2006. Well, if you're looking for more solo material from Tym Morrison, maybe this will help. If you visit the music page on his official website, you'll find a music player featuring lots of music! The first 10 tracks are samples of the songs on the "Solo Project" album, but after that, there's lots of different stuff! Tym has a bunch of original dance songs on there that are well done, but not too metal, along with some comedy songs, like "Sheep Song" and "Punk Music Is", which show off his sense of humour! There's also a song about 9/11 which shows off his slower more passionate side as well! But the biggest story here on these extra songs are nine songs all credited with "Next Album" before them! All are samples, no full songs, but might Tym have a new solo album in the works? The samples do sound promising, but I can't recall Tym mentioning a new album too heavily lately. Regardless, check out these samples and all of Tym's posted material at this location! There's some extra music from Caveman Morrison on their page that I wanna share here too, but I'll leave that for later!

That's all for now, but I have some more news and notes to pass by you guys very soon, including our December "Where Are The New Albums?" update around Friday! Thanks everyone, stay tuned for more!