LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sativa Rose & The Darwin Project), Many Concert Cancellations, And More!!

After a day off from a marathon first month of 2011, it's time to get back to some news, and we have some big stories today! We have a pile of new out of town concerts, what's been going on with Woods of Ypres, and a pile of concert cancellations, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! (EDITED: 2:52 PM)

Since late last year, some of you may have heard about a planned private birthday party event to have featured a stellar lineup of local metal and hard rock bands. It was supposed to be held on January 28th (this Friday) to celebrate Bear Hunters guitarist Mike Vincent's 20th birthday party, but was called off due to health reasons. Rather than completely cancel though, the bands have chipped in to keep the gig alive as a public ALL AGES concert, so here's what you need to know! Five local bands are confirmed for this concert, including classic metal trio Sativa Rose, extreme metal rockers WinkStinger, death metal quartet State of Misery, the aformentioned Bear Hunters, and fellow death metal band Bring The Fallen! No word yet on if Mike will be well enough to play with The Bear Hunters on Friday, but time will tell! Also note that when this was still a private event, Mike Vincent's new project Psychotic Nature and the returning Browbeat and Stillbroke were also scheduled, but none are currently listed, so I take it they're off. Admission is $5 for this concert, and it will take place at The Oddfellows Hall on Friday at 5:00 PM! For details on this night of "icy metal for aborted therapy" (and what that name means), head to the official Facebook event page!

This should be a great night of metal from the newer wave of local bands that we've seen in the past year, and despite the slightly impromptu nature of it, I expect face melting metal at every turn! Check the above links for more, and I'll be there!

Meanwhile, we have a lot to get to in Sault Michigan, as a pile of updates have been made to the concert lineup at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino. First, the good news, as Cheboygan hard rockers The Darwin Project have booked a weekend of concerts there on April 1st and 2nd! These are likely 21+ affairs with no cover charge and 9:00 PM start times. Great to see them back, it's nice to see them at Kewadin for a change! If you want some great radio hard rock, The Darwin Project should fill that nicely! Check them out at their official MySpace page, hopefully you like what you hear! Now, the bad news. EIGHTEEN previously announced dates for local hard rock bands Monkey's Uncle and River Witch, plus Cheboygan rockers Driven, have completely disappeared from Kewadin Casino's entertainment page, save for a single Monkey's Uncle weekend on May 6th and 7th. Why? I have no clue. All three bands' infrequent page updates don't help matters, but River Witch just played shows earlier this month in Sault Michigan (apologies for missing them!) and guitarist Darian Causley was discussing the band on his personal Facebook page as late as Thursday, so if nothing else, they're still together. Maybe these are just reshuffling of dates by Kewadin, but time will tell. I will absolutely keep an eye on this, as it's not normal to see that many dates disappear from a schedule of any kind.

For now though, I've deleted them from our listings until I hear otherwise. And before you guys panic, note that Peril and Splitshot's previously scheduled dates at Kewadin are still on, so no need to worry about that! We'll have more from local bands at Kewadin Casinos after the next paragraph!

Next up, here's the latest news from local doom metal band Woods of Ypres, now hard at work once again with their new label and David Gold's return to Canada! The big news for us is that David's released more details about the band's next music video, their first since "The Northern Cold" in 2007. We previously just saw scattered preview clips with no visible clues to the song, but it was confirmed on Woods of Ypres' Facebook page that it's for their doom ballad "I Was Buried (In Mount Pleasant Cemetery)" from the soon to be rereleased "Woods IV: The Green Album"! This past Friday was apparently the last day of editing for the video, and it will feature the band's current lineup in full. When might we see the new video, which was filmed in August with Handshake Inc.? My money's on March, a little before Earache Records officially reissues "W4", so keep an eye out! Before we jump to our next topic, here's one more Woods note, in the form of a new video! This was uploaded onto Handshake Inc.'s Vimeo page on Tuesday, and it features an angle of footage from the video, with David Gold shaving his beard in the reflection of a monument at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, as in the title of the song. It is what it is, but it's a preview of what to expect from the video, which should be interesting! Check it out below!

While we're on the subject of Woods of Ypres, here's some more out of town concert listings to add to that section of the SMS, which I keep forgetting to update. My apologies! Firstly, Woods of Ypres' first tour dates of any kind for 2011 have been announced, including a special three piece concert on February 12th in Virginia, and an opening slot for Kalmah in Toronto on March 13th. I wonder why the Virginia show will be absent a member? My guess is Joel Violette won't be a part, but I can't verify that. Click here for details! The other new out of town shows also come from Kewadin Casino, rather, their St. Ignace casino, as local hard rockers Splitshot (featuring Nixxon Dixxon alumni Chris Hubbard & Kyle Beaumont) hit St. Ignace for 10 shows through November, not counting their St. Ignace shows from this weekend. I need to stay on top of that, my apologies once again for missing those! Get all these dates in our out of town concert listings to your right, and stay tuned for more news and notes from the above bands as I hear them!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes over the coming days! Thanks everyone!