Sunday, January 16, 2011

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), The Turner Up Concert Review, And More!!

Hey everyone, I'm back from last night's Turner Up concert, and that is the bulk of today's post, so if you're curious about the new lineup and all that, you'll find out stuff in a little bit! I also have a little surprise related to the concert's location as well, but before all that, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! Here's what you need to know!

Add another acoustic solo concert to Tym Morrison's itinerary, as Caveman Morrison's frontman will play at an unexpected venue of sorts for him next month! On February 12th, he'll head to nearby Goulais River for a concert at The Blueberry Hill Resort! If you're not sure of the general location, it's on Highway 17 North at the bottom of Mile Hill. Aside from the location, the only real difference that this show has from most of Tym's shows is that it has a listed start time of 9:00 PM, which is slightly earlier than we usually see. So expect no cover charge and a 19+ age limit, and most importantly, an entertaining night of hard rock and metal covers in a more intimate setting! So if you're in the area and ant to enjoy some solid music on February 12th, you know where to be! Of course, Tym will be at Foggy Notions the following night too, so there are options! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and also note that Tym will be at The Eagles Club on January 28th for a birthday party concert, which I probably won't cover due to it's birthday party status, but click here for info if you want it! Stay tuned for more Tym Morrison updates as they come in!

Now to my Turner Up review from last night at The Rockstar Bar! This was the first time I've seen Turner Up live since Todd Killam was still their frontman, having regrettably missed the Brent Royer era entirely, so I expected things to be a lot different than what I remembered from the last time I saw them. The first element I should mention is Krista Marshall, Turner Up's new frontwoman, and I have to say, she was really good! I don't wanna compare her too much to Todd or Brent, as they're all very different in style and manner, but she has a good stage presence, a sense of humour, and her voice is more than up to the task! I liked her singing in Johnny Lunchbox, and that has carried over to Turner Up well, though I find that she didn't hit as many high notes as I was hoping. She has a good range that's well suited to the material, and I'd like to see her hit more high notes! The rest of the band were about as good as I've ever seen, and that's not hard to imagine with the chemistry that they have together dating back from the Lois Lane and Bangers N' Mash days! Jeff Gray's bass work was really good all night, Len Ward and Robert Brown had solid grasps on each song with their guitar work, and Scott McClurg was pretty impressive on drums!

One thing that hasn't changed from when I last saw Turner Up is that their sets still get progressively heavier as the night goes on, so as a point of reference to fans, don't be discouraged by their opening set! Early on, covers of songs by bands like Collective Soul, The Stone Temple Pilots, Seven Mary Three, and Hole were the typical sight, but things got heavier to include The Cult, Joan Jett, and Bon Jovi, with bands like AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Billy Idol, and Led Zeppelin among the covers in the last set! For a band who described themselves as '70s and '80s classic rock, I'm surprised at the amount of '90s material, but it's all good! I find that with Krista singing, their song choices have grown more diverse, and not just because of the inclusion of songs by female singers. If you'd told me that Turner Up would cover "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction going into last night, I probably wouldn't have believed it, but it happened! The crowd was good but not too engaged in the first set, but in the last two, lots of people were dancing and having a great time, and it's nice to see this sort of environment maintained through Turner Up's lineup changes!

Overall, this was a fun night of music, and though they're not the heaviest band locally, they make up for it with solid talent all around, good chemistry, and clear enthusiasm to be on stage! Plus, when they play some hard rock, they play it well, and I can't ask for much more out of them! I've gotta make it out to see them again sooner than the gap between the last time I saw them, that was longer than it ever should have been! For my photos from last night's show (yes, my camera's working again), click here or visit the SMS' Facebook page, and here's the video I shot, which features Turner Up covering Guns N' Roses' "Mr. Brownstone"!



Before we close today's post, here's a little extra surprise related to The Rockstar Bar. If you frequent The Rockstar Bar, you're likely well aware that numerous band photos, album covers, posters, instruments, and signed items cover the walls, which all really add to the atmosphere! Well, a few items inside relate to local artists, including a bunch of metal and hard rock artists, and I compiled some of it into a Facebook album! The picture on your left is a drum skin signed by Lion Ride from their December 2009 concert there, and it features the autographs of the band's then-lineup, including former bassist Diamond Brent Panther. A Lion Ride sticker also found it's way to the wall near the security camera warning beside the bar area. Another drum skin signed by Turner Up is on the wall, which is from the Todd Killam era, likely from early last year. A broken cymbal signed by That's Chester from a November 2009 show there also graces the wall (I wonder if Ric Datson broke it mid-set while drumming?) A framed poster from The Billy Bastards' late 2009 campaign to win the Kiss Battle of the Bands is above the front entrance, which is cool to see! Not metal, but well designed and Kiss-connected! The other notable item I saw was a guitar signed by Garden of Bedlam at their Kiss concert afterparty in August! Good stuff, hopefully more local metal and hard rock bands grace the walls soon! Click here to see the photos I snapped!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our newest Defunct Local Band Profile tomorrow night, as we take a look at Nite Wulfe! Thanks everyone!

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