Kinross hard rock quartet Banned are returning to The Sugar Island Music Festival this coming weekend! The annual festival in nearby Sugar Island is back for it's 12th installment from Friday through Sunday, and there will be plenty of family activities, vendors, and entertainment all weekend long for attendees to take in, so click here to see what's on tap! As best as I can tell, Banned will be the only hard rock band this year (the other heavier bands from last year, Free Refill & The Highest of Fives, have been dormant in recent months), but they'll bring their hard rocking and classic covers & originals to the outdoor stage on Sugar Island at 8:00 PM on Friday, which is a 2 hour improvement from last year for their set! The Friday headliners are 3-ZIP at 10:00 PM, with The Foster's Sportsmen's Club Band at 9:00 PM, and Banned will be preceded by Missy & Chelsea, Hillsdale indie band AllArms, and solo performer Frank Kieronski from 8:00-6:00 PM. Note that online information on these acts is generally minimal, but from what I understand, the bands that play at The Sugar Island festival tend to lean in a softer folk/country direction, so Banned are somewhat of an outlier. The Saturday and Sunday schedules contain no visible hard rock, but each Friday band except Banned and Frank Kieronski will return for at least one more set, so check the above links for more details!Like last year, admission will be $6 for a single day and $10 for a full weekend pass (there's no deal for just 2 days), but children under 10 can get in free. Admission buttons can be purchased on site this weekend or in advance at Grooves Music in Sault Michigan or at Ed's Bayview Store, The Hilltop Bar & Grill, or the Westshore Convenience Store in Sugar Island. Camping and other activities have their own costs, so click here for all admission details! Though this year's festival doesn't contain as much heavy music as past installments, it should be another great weekend of music & family entertainment in Sugar Island, and hopefully Banned rock the stage well in their return! Stay tuned for more on the Sugar Island Music Festival as the week rolls along!
Next up, here's some more Sault Michigan news relating to two bands featuring Nixxon Dixxon alumni! First, the new local hard rock project The Hubbard-Menard Band have revealed a setlist that they're working on, which is surprising given that they're still just a two man project. Featuring 42 songs (one's double counted), it's split in three categories: All 15 of their original songs, 15 Van Halen covers, and 12 covers of other bands, and this looks very promising if The Hubbard-Menard Band become a performing act at some point! Van Halen-heavy for the covers, but Chris Hubbard is a huge fan of theirs and can do the songs justice (his solo YouTube videos are proof), so old Nixxon Dixxon fans should be excited! Click here for the full setlist, and stay tuned for more from them! The other news is that local indie rock quartet The London Gentlemen (featuring Chris' ex-bandmates Kyle Beaumont & Jake LaLonde) have been named as the local openers for the Buckcherry/Fuel concert at Kewadin Casino on August 13th (one week from Monday.) That news was broken on The London Gentlemen's Facebook page last month, but Allstar Promotions or Kewadin Casino have yet to publically confirm the local openers. This is a great opportunity, as even though they're not a real genre match, the talent's there!Plus, all of the members have opened for major bands at Kewadin, including Steve Sivret & Mike Russo opening for Buckcherry in March 2011 as Fallen Heroes, and Kyle & Jake's numerous opening slots with Nixxon Dixxon, so they're all well suited for this event! Tickets are still available from the fifth row back for $35, so click here to order online, and stay tuned for updates!
We'll close this post with some new videos, and first, here's the latest footage from Sault Ontario grunge trio Haggith! Uploaded onto YouTube user paperclipprojectX's channel (which I believe is ran by guitarist Daniel Horton) last week, these newest two videos are also from their Canada Day weekend sets in Goulais River, and they're of their original songs "Rage Train" and (as embedded below) "Living It On The Run" and "Wanko"! The former song on the second video is brand new to me, but it has a nice contrast in softer verses and an aggressive chorus, though they have heavier originals. Solid stuff, but I wish the camera was consistently closer than it is. Check out Haggith's newest videos above and below!
Finally, here's a short video from Eckerman, Michigan studio/label Werehold Records entitled "The Birth of Werehold". Uploaded to their YouTube channel yesterday, it features the logos of 8 of the label's bands (including the yet-to-be-revealed Awaken Eidolon, but not Wearwithal or Orb Hearthstone's solo project) fading in and out of view along with the label logo, with text stating that "the birth of Werehold" is "coming soon". I'm curious as to what this means, as Werehold Records already exists, so what's being born? A full relaunch? Live concerts by their band roster? Album releases? Something else? Time will tell, but check out this video below and see if you can decipher anything!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon! Thanks everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment