LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Fuck The Facts), Rosie Metal Night Updates, And Much More!!

As promised, here's a stacked news post with recent news and notes relating to the local metal scene, so what's in this post? Today, we've got a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a big metal show later this month, an update for another show by the same promoter, what lies ahead for a notable concert series, news on an upcoming concert festival, and another popular music site's recent upgrades, so here's what you need to know!

Another huge metal concert from Dismembertainment is now scheduled for May 23rd at The Canadian Nightclub, and it will be headlined by the return of Fuck The Facts! Exactly one year & two weeks after they last rocked Sault Ste. Marie, the Juno nominated death/grindcore metal band from Ottawa will be sure to deliver a brutal and intense set of original songs, including material from their new albums "Die Miserable" and "Misery", to their local fans on May 23rd! They melted the faces of all last year, now it's time for more brutality! There will be four opening bands, including local metal standouts Garden of Bedlam, grimecore trio Shit Liver (the only returning band from last year's Fuck The Facts show), death metal quintet The Bear Hunters, and Desbarats' own white masked metallers For All That Is Lost, which should add up to a huge lineup of metal talent! Of the opening bands, all are returning to The Canadian for the first time since the Ypres Metal Fest, except for F.A.T.I.L., who were last seen there at Dead In The Van in March. Doors open at 8:30 PM on May 23rd, there will be a $10 cover charge, and like Dismembertainment's other recent concerts, it will be an ALL AGES event! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This sounds like another huge concert, and kudos for Rich bringing Fuck The Facts back to Sault Ontario! It's good to see Dismembertainment back in the swing of things for booking local shows, and hopefully this string of all ages Canadian Nightclub gigs continues to be a success! I would say that Garden of Bedlam don't seem to fit in terms of genre with the other bands, but knowing their success and local following, they'll only help this show for attendance and collective talent, so don't miss them on May 23rd! Before we move to another topic, I'll also note another recent update for a Dismembertainment show, as a new headlining band has been added to next Sunday's Canadian Nightclub show featuring Tribune and returning local bands State of Misery & Borderline Divine. The new headliners are Vancouver metal band West of Hell, who are fronted by Zimmers Hole singer Chris Valagao, which is an awesome sign in itself! I'm really digging the West of Hell material I've heard, and if you like classic speed & thrash metal with modern influences, you'll absolutely enjoy these guys! With their addition, the cover charge is now $10, but the raise is worth it, so hopefully I'll see you guys at The Canadian on May 13th for this 4 band onslaught! Check the above links for more on Dismembertainment's next two shows!

Next up, here's the latest updates relating to the Roosevelt Hotel metal nights! According to a new post on the Thursday concert series' Facebook page last week, The Roosevelt Hotel has brought on Bear Hunters & Borderline Divine guitarist Mitch Sirie to help promote, book, and schedule future installments of the series. Though not mentioned there, current promoter Stephane Vincent is apparently moving to Toronto this summer (my source is his personal Facebook page), so I assume Mitch will take on primary promoting duties after that. Solid choice, as Mitch has played at Rosie metal nights a record 18 times with The Bear Hunters, and he's recently been ramping up on local concert bookings, so hopefully he can help sustain the series for many more installments to come! That said, is the May 10th Die Mannequin-headlined show at The Rosie being considered the 44th Rosie metal night? Not officially, as the metal nights' Facebook page says that the next metal night will actually come on May 24th, though performers and a future schedule have yet to be publicized. I had my doubts, as next Thursday's show has a different promoter, a heavy punk concentration, and a need for tickets, but it had metal night veterans and was next on the old "every 4 weeks" schedule, so you can see why some would be confused.

No matter what, The Rosie's Thursday metal nights appear to be in good hands, and though it looks like we'll be on our third promoter in under a year for the series in a few months, Mitch should be an excellent promoter to keep metal rocking The Rosie in 2012! Stay tuned for more updates on metal nights at The Roosevelt Hotel as they roll in!

Also in recent news, here's the latest updates concerning Sault Michigan concert festival LemmaFest! Tickets are now on sale for the second annual Michael Lemma tribute festival outside of Dondee Lanes on June 23rd, and they are $10 once again in advance, though note that purchases at the door will be $15 this year. Advance tickets can be purchased at the Dondee, Grooves Music, and The Merchant's Bar, where you can also make pre-orders for LemmaFest 2012 t-shirts for $12 ($15 for sizes 3X and up) and mugs at some locations, so visit the Facebook event page for more details! They've also recently confirmed that minors can't be in the bar after 8:00 PM, there will be drink & bowling specials, raffles, and food by donation, which should add up to a great festival in Mike's memory! As well, while the band lineup has yet to be altered, I can confirm that Brimley metallers Half A Man will be performing as a trio in their opening set at LemmaFest next month, as per their Facebook page. While specifics weren't given, I assume that singer Dillion Semasky won't be a part (despite his set with Infathom later that evening), which makes the most sense given that he won't be on their debut EP. If we hear anything more as to his band status, I'll have it here, but Half A Man should rock no matter what! Check the above links for more details, including how you can suggest what covers "3/8ths A Man" should do!

And finally for today, here's yet another music website that recently overhauled it's look! We've had to deal with Facebook, YouTube, and Reverbnation upgrades recently, and now, it's the old CBC Radio 3 music site. In February, CBC launched a new digital music service called CBC Music, and though it was treated as a new site, it essentially saw the imports of all the artists who had band pages on the old CBC Radio 3 page, which is now just for information and streams related to that radio station. CBC Music is now the home of band pages for Canadian bands & artists that previously signed up on CBC Radio 3, but how does the new site compare? For bands on there, the pages are nicely laid out with an effective use of tabs, and the music player's solid, but the experience is definitely better for bands who actively use CBC more for band needs, and I'd like to see more colours beyond grey. There's also a really diverse selection of streaming genre-specific radio stations, though metal & hard rock are lumped together and not given as much attention. Though not the widest used music site for local bands, it's a good and well run site that bands should look into! After all, if Frightlight, Woods of Ypres, and Sykotyk Rampage use it (among many others), then CBC Music must have done something right! Check out the new CBC Music at the above links!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a special all video auto-post this evening while I'm rocking out at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion for the FREE ALL AGES metal show! Thanks everyone!