Kinross hard rockers Banned will return to the stage THIS SATURDAY at Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan! One weekend after a packed weekend in Gould City and at the Sault Riverview Music Festival (more on that in a bit), the Traynors & company will rock the former Bullwinkle's on Saturday night (yes, the date is 100% confirmed this time) for what should be an entertaining night of hard rock covers & originals! Admission should be free with a 21+ age limit, and an oddly early start time of 8:00 PM is advertised on their Facebook page. Todd's Tavern is quickly becoming a favourite stop for Banned's widely varying Eastern U.P. gigs, so take a drive down to Moran (20 minutes from St. Ignace, an hour from the Soo) on Saturday to rock out! Also in Banned news, I can confirm why guitarist Alex Schrovenwever was absent from their Rock Till You Drop battle set last month, as it looks like he moved to Marquette for college last month, as per postings on his personal Facebook page. I don't know what this means for his Banned status, but he is still listed in their lineup, and enough local bands have stayed active with a member out of town for an extended period for us to not assume the worst. Best of luck to Alex in Marquette though, and hopefully we'll see him back on stage with Banned sooner or later!
With that said, Alex Schrovenwever was definitely absent for Banned's Sault Riverview Music Festival sets this past weekend, but they kept at it to rock City Hall as part of this new local music festival, and we have video footage of Banned in action during their set on Friday night! This is of most of their still-local members (singer Mike Straw is absent) playing a brand new original song named "Cocaine Riot", as filmed by Ashley Traynor and uploaded to her YouTube channel on Sunday, but how does it look & sound? It has a nice classic hard rock sound, and it's melody & groove are better to me than on their other available originals, but it's not a shredding metal track. Lead guitarist Alex Traynor provides vocals here and uses them to maximum effectiveness with some extra grit & nicely ranged falsetto parts late, and everything comes out well here! You can tell it's later in the day though by the brightness of the video, and some extra lighting would have been nice, as well as the crowd reaction after the song ended. Check out Banned's newest original below, and go check them out in Moran on Saturday night!
Next up, I wanted to note on here (if you guys hadn't already heard) that Sault Ontario concert promoting agency Dismembertainment is more or less defunct now. The company ran by local promoter/guitarist Rich Moreland hasn't put on a show since May, and while I won't go into major details on what's happened since, Rich left town this past weekend for work opportunities in Alberta. He's of course well known for booking all kinds of metal & punk concerts in Sault Ontario since bringing Behemoth here in 2005, featuring notable bands like Kittie, The Dayglo Abortions, Napalm Death, Cattle Decapitation, Novembers Doom, Fuck The Facts, Wolven Ancestry, and Beyond Within, just to name a few. In the last couple years, he ramped up on bookings, including starting the Roosevelt Hotel metal nights in November 2010 & promoting 37 installments of that series, formally launching Dismembertainment in March 2011, briefly owning what's now Coch's Corner under the Feedback name late last year, and helping organize the massive Ypres Metal Fest in memory of the late David Gold this past April. Also, you're bound to remember him as a musician too, including a notable stint as a guitarist in Time of Ruin in the late 2000s, and many guest vocal appearances with assorted local bands.It is disappointing to see Rich move, as he did wonders for the scene in the 7 years that he promoted local concerts! I know the response and turnout for some could be hit & miss, but he went above and beyond to give us tons of brutal metal concerts, and a Dismembertainment/Rich-promoted concert tended to be the heaviest event going down on any given week! I know I'm grateful for all he's done, and hopefully more locals can pick up the slack to ensure more major bands stop here for more than just sleep. That said, I hope Alberta works out for him, as Rich is a nice guy and has the talent & drive to go far if he has the opportunities available for him, so best of luck to him out west, and hopefully this won't be the last we'll hear from him in metal!
Finally for today, here's the latest updates from the new Sault Michigan hardcore band Angelic Genocide... or, what used to be them. Last week, they changed their name to The Eleventh Hour (Lamb of God reference?), and though a reason wasn't announced for the change, they did refer to the Angelic Genocide name as their "last idea at a band name", for what that's worth. I actually like the new name better, so hopefully it sticks for them, and hopefully they'll update their logos & Facebook page URL soon to match it! Also in recent news, The Eleventh Hour appear to have quietly parted ways with bassist Alex Boyer, as per his removal from their lineup on Facebook. Again, a reason for this hasn't been announced, but Alex does still list himself as a band member (on vocals, no less) on his personal Facebook page, though that might be an old posting to begin with. Still, if he is indeed gone, best of luck to Alex in the future! The Eleventh Hour do list the bass spot as vacant now, so if you live in the Sault Michigan area, it's worth giving the guys a shout if you wanna try out, so visit the above links! Finally for Eleventh Hour updates, the band indicated on Wednesday that they're working on a new original song named "The Weeping Angels", so stay tuned for updates on that and more from The Eleventh Hour as it all comes in!That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly, including some news on upcoming album releases, hopefully our "Yooper Bars" book review, weekend concert previews, and more! Thanks everyone!
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