Friday, September 14, 2012

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Red Ribbon Walk), Weekend Concert Previews, And More Sault Michigan News!!

Lately, we've seemed to talk about Sault Michigan a lot, with three of our last four posts featuring at least half of the focus on activities across the river. Well, that trend continues today with an all Sault Michigan post, so what's on deck? We have some assorted news items from across the river, a new video from most of a local metal band, and this weekend's concert previews for the known metal & hard rock shows this weekend, starting with a short notice LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!

I apologize for the short notice on this event, but I only just heard confirmed and citable details on it last night. One week after the debut of the Sault Riverview Music Festival, another charitable all ages outdoor concert will hit City Hall at 225 East Portage Avenue, and it will cap off TOMORROW'S Red Ribbon Walk in support of substance abuse awareness! Note that most similar examples I've read online are for AIDS awareness, but I'm just going by what the Facebook event page tells me. Put on by Child & Family Services of the Upper Peninsula, there will be a fundraising walk downtown alongside vendors and some children's activities, with the walk itself kicking off at 4:00 PM, but after that wraps up, there will be live local music, including at least one heavier band! That band is local hard rock/metal quartet Tantrym Tyme, who will continue their streak of prominent outdoor concert events with a set at the Red Ribbon Walk concert, so look out for their improving and developing brand of heavier covers tomorrow! At least two other bands will join them, those being local cover rock quartet Chump Change (featuring Oddfellow, Bucksaw, and 2PumpChump alumni) and indie pop duo Missy & Chelsea (themselves frequently seen at recent outdoor events), while the event page linked above says that there will be more bands, though I can't confirm any others at the moment.

This FREE & ALL AGES event will go down at 5:00 PM outside of City Hall, and while a full schedule isn't out for the concert portion of the Red Ribbon Walk, Tantrym Tyme's Facebook page indicates they'll be on at around 6:00 PM. Check the above links for more details! This should be another entertaining concert full of great local talent, and hopefully more local fans show up to support this great cause and enjoy local music! For a preview, here's Tantrym Tyme covering Pantera & Iron Maiden this summer!



Seeing as that was also a concert preview given the short notice, let's keep the trend going with one more preview for the weekend schedule, that being for the return of Kinross hard rockers Banned TOMORROW NIGHT! Fresh off a date in Gould City (and at the Sault Riverview Music Festival) last weekend, Alex, Don, and Jim (and maybe Mike?) will head back to Moran, Michigan for their third stop at Todd's Tavern this year for another set of hard hitting and entertaining covers & originals! Note that this might be their first stop at the former Bullwinkle's since rhythm guitarist Alex Schrovenwever moved to Marquette for college, but I can't confirm that with certainty. Either way, the Traynors and company have made Todd's Tavern one of their favourite stomping grounds in recent months, so if you live near Moran or are up for a trip there tomorrow, go for it! Admission should be free for this 21+ concert, and the band's Facebook page lists an oddly early start time of 8:00 PM. For more details, visit the above links! Banned should rock hard tomorrow night, so don't miss this show if you can help it, and for a preview, here's the band covering Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box" at The Bird in January!



Thirdly today, here's a little something for you Scofflaw fans! Though they have a solid following in the area, shows & formal updates from this raw edged metal trio tend to be sporadic and/or without an online announcement, so the fact that this video got delayed for an SMS post isn't too surprising. Uploaded to drummer Ivan Schliska's YouTube channel in January, it's of the full band (bassist Barney Gravelle's there, just not in frame) playing what appears to be their self-titled song at a member's home (complete with foosball table), and it's a solid performance compared to what I'm used to musically from Scofflaw! The video quality's great (the best I've seen for Scofflaw), and frontman Jeff Barnes is putting his stage presence to great use, but he would likely sound better if he had a microphone to sing into, and why is Barney shoved so far out of frame? If you like Scofflaw and their rough but catchy brand of metal, you should like this video, so check it out below, and stay tuned in a future post for another video from Ivan's YouTube channel featuring more familiar faces!



And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

  • I've moved ex-Hammerspace guitarist Justin Smith's solo project Denaturant to our inactive Sault Michigan band links, due to the recent deletion of their Facebook page, which generally indicates a cessation of activity. I'm disappointed to see Denaturant end, but Justin has talent, and hopefully he pops up in a new band soon! As their Facebook page is now gone, I've replaced it's link on the SMS with their Reverbnation page.
  • According to recent postings on their Facebook page, local/Grand Rapids epic metal band End of Existence are once again looking for a lead singer! This seems to indicate that their relationship with Theatre of Night frontwoman Gaby Koss is either temporary or shelved. If you can sing (you don't have to sound like their past vocalists), contact the guys at this location and/or record some vocals on their instrumental tracks!
  • As of September 7th, sessions for The Hubbard-Menard Band's debut CD have finished! According to their Facebook page, plans are to order CDs so they can be sold locally "soon", before this new band featuring Splitshot alumni begin playing live concerts. I'm very curious to hear the full tracks and beyond from The Hubbard-Menard Band, so definitely stay tuned to the above links for further details!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of "Yooper Bars" and more news & notes shortly! Thanks everyone!

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