LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Darwin Project), Lots Of Band Updates, And The End Of SooNews.ca!!

Hey metalheads, here's some more scattered news from the last little while, but first, I want to apologize for missing a pair of shows last weekend. Apparently, Sault Michigan hard rockers Splitshot played at The Bird on Friday and Saturday, and I didn't hear about them until today. While they were announced short notice on Wednesday, they still slipped me by entirely, and I never saw the posted Facebook statuses plugging the shows, so they never got reported here. My deepest apologies go out to Splitshot and their fans, I screwed up, and I hope to be better on my toes for their next shows at The Bird! If it's any help, they'll be at The Rapids Lounge on the April 22nd weekend, so look out for them then! Now, to the news, and we'll start today's post off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Cheboygan hard rockers The Darwin Project have added another concert onto their local itinerary for next month, as they return to The Savoy Bar & Nightclub on Thursday, April 21st for another night of ripping original music! This (I think) will be their first trip to the Savoy since November, but they have a lot more for us local fans before then, with shows at The Satisfied Frog THIS WEEKEND and a return to The Rapids Lounge next month on the horizon as well! This Savoy show on April 21st will take place at 9:30 PM, there's no announced cover charge, and it should be a 21+ affair. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's good to see The Darwin Project ramping up their local bookings, they're a talented band with lots of solid hard rock tunes, and they have a good local following to go with that! Plus, with the recent release of a new CD, things haven't looked better for them then they do now! Remember this show, and the rest of their upcoming dates, and I'll keep you guys posted if updates come in!

Next up, here's the latest updates from Pickford hard rockers Beyond The Surface, who are one of many younger bands in the Sault Michigan area! Yesterday, they announced the addition of guitarist Blake Mastaw, replacing Rhiannan Sibbald in the band. Blake will now be their rhythm guitarist, with Eli Reilly moving to lead guitar full time. Singer Danielle Petingalo is still shown in band photos, but she's still not a credited band member on their Facebook page, oddly enough. No reason was given on the band's Facebook page as to why Rhiannan left, except for saying "Change happens", which is true, but not really an explanation. I imagine this is something they don't wanna publicize, and judging by the responses on there from fans, there is visible disappointment to the move. Best of luck to Rhiannan though! I don't know how Blake sounds on guitar, but he should do OK, as the band are talented! They recently placed at a talent show at Cheboygan (I didn't have enough concrete info to mention it here), and have recently began the process of writing original material, which sounds promising! For more, check out the above links and this video of Beyond The Surface covering Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" circa January! Not too bad, honestly, hopefully some clearer audio comes out soon!

Thirdly, we'll head back to Ontario for some news, leading off with the latest updates from Woods of Ypres! Firstly, frontman David Gold was interviewed by Jonathan Keane of the metal website Drop-D, and you can check out the full interview at this location! It's a good in-depth interview featuring discussion about the Earache Records signing, their current tour (the Sault's kinda undervalued when mentioned though), the status of "Woods V" (There's a LOT more to do with it than we knew before), what David hopes for the band in the future, and more! Good read, and he's well spoken as always, so give it a look at the above links! As well, there's a few new reviews of "Woods IV: The Green Album" to share, so here's what you should know from there! Tom Valcanis from Metal As Fuck called the album "unreletingly soul destroying", while praising it's doom qualities despite not being an "exciting" CD. Positive review though, click here to read it! One more for today, as Hong Rui from The Heavy Metal Tribune gave "W4" 7.2/10, saying that it may alienate certain doom or black metal fans due to it's genre mixing, but he praised the band's ingenuity and even said this could put "bands like Katatonia to shame", which is quite a statement. Click here to read this review! I have more to share later, so stay tuned over the next few days!

Fourthly, here's some lineup news for a couple of upcoming concerts. Both have hard rock bands, but the new bands aren't metal, so I'm clumping them together. Firstly, a local band named The Night Owl Meme Makers will be the second openers at TONIGHT'S Rebel Spell concert, joining Motion Carried. I have to say, they're not familiar at all, but their sound is certainly unique! Very hard to explain, but they have an accordion and a banjo, so take that for what you will! Check them out at this location, and note that the cover tonight is now just $3 or $2 with a vegan food donation. Remember, that's TONIGHT at 9:00 PM, click here for full details! The other new band addition is actually to Turner Up's shows this weekend, which is unexpected, as we're so used to them rocking out solo! Machines Dream (formerly The Craig West Band) will join Turner Up on Friday and Saturday to open for them at The Rockstar Bar, which should be interesting! In case you don't know, Machines Dream are a very talented progressive rock quartet, and they feature Gates of Winter's Brian Holmes (pictured) as their bassist & keyboardist, so there's some metal notability there! For more details, click here, and head out to one or more of these shows if you can!

And finally, here's some long overdue news on the fate of a prominent local news site. On March 7th, you may have noticed that SooNews.ca's homepage was replaced by a lengthy statement and closure notice. According to the statement, SooNews.ca has officially been succeeded by a new local news site named Local2 (despite being their 3rd news site, LTVNews.com preceding both.) Apparently, SooNews developers Craig Huckerby & Jake Cormier have been working on Local2 for a few years now, and are calling it "the next evolution in local media." The major difference with Local2 compared to SooNews.ca appears to be a greater integration of reader contributions, with a high focus on having the local community contribute to, talk about, and edit the news, even describing it as "Wikipedia, but for local information". You can read the whole press release at this location. I do have to say, Local2's site does have a nice, clean, and easy to navigate design, if a bit plain, and I admire the ambition of it all! I hope it grows to big levels, as it never hurts to have too much local news coverage! No metal articles yet though, but give it time, something should pop up! Check the above links for more, and just for the record, SooNews.ca is no longer active, but the site still exists (sans front page), so click here to navigate all the old features and posts!

That's all for today, but stay tuned around midnight for our latest Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, as we take a look at Buster Cherry! Oh, and check out our latest Defunct Local Band Profile in the post below this one as well. Stay tuned!