LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Caveman Morrison & Annex Theory), A Band Looking To Play Here, And Much More!!

It seems like forever since we've had a real news post on here! Monthly features and video-centric posts aside, we haven't really touched on news on the site since Thursday the 24th, so it's good to end this drier spell with some news and notes on this Wednesday morning! Today, we have updates to one of our monthly feature posts, assorted recent news, and a band looking to play here, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for a West End venue next month that should intrigue many of you guys, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Ontario classic metal trio Caveman Morrison will finally make their first live concert appearances of 2013 (and their first in over 2 months) next weekend at The Roosevelt Hotel! The band had originally been scheduled to play at The Rosie three weeks ago in the first weekend of the new year, but the shows were suddenly cancelled the night of the Friday gig, so it's great to see Tym, Dutch, and Johnny back at the Korah Road venue next weekend! Announced this past Saturday, Caveman Morrison's shows on February 8th & 9th should be 19+ affairs with no cover charge and 10:00 PM start times. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Caveman Morrison back at it next weekend, and hopefully Tym and company deliver a great night of metal and hard rock covers to their fans at The Rosie to kick off the year next weekend! Stay tuned for any updates if they come in, but note that this is just the start of a busy month at The Rosie for Caveman Morrison drummer Johnny Belanger, which we'll know more about below!

The other new show is a very promising extreme metal show on February 21st at The Rosie featuring two returning local metal bands along with headlining Winnipeg progressive death metal sextet Annex Theory! Last seen in the Soo opening for Laika at the 30th Roosevelt Hotel metal night in August 2011, this fast rising band featuring ex-Quo Vadis frontman Trevor Birnie should be raring to go with their technical and original take on the genre, so don't miss their return after a year and a half! The opening bands will sure be welcomed back by many local metalheads, as melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters & grimecore trio Shit Liver will finally return to the live local stage! Though they both played live in Sudbury in December, neither has been seen at a public concert in the Sault area since the summer, with The Bear Hunters last seen at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird in August, and Shit Liver (who opened for Annex Theory at the 2011 show) having last played a public local set at the 46th Rosie metal night in June, so it's certainly been a long time coming for both! Plus, it's no major secret that both bands have been working on studio material in the past year, so that has to bode well for their setlists!

This concert is being promoted by Frightlight/T-Rex Manning singer J.D. Pearce, and with this lineup, isn't it fitting that it's taking place on a Thursday? Though not a revival of the dormant Rosie metal night series, it marks J.D.'s fourth Thursday night show at the Rosie in the past 9 months, so it's definitely familiar ground! There will be a 19+ age limit and $3 cover charge for this 9:00 PM show, and click here for more details! This should be an awesome concert, and likely very overdue for many a metalhead, so don't miss this metal onslaught on February 21st, and stay tuned for any potential updates!

Speaking of upcoming live dates, here's a show that could use a promoter, and this could be a big opportunity! Earlier this month, I got an e-mail from Apocalyspe Productions out of Montreal concerning possibly bringing Russian folk metal band Arkona to Sault Ontario this year, as unlike most of the other bands he promotes, this will be a cross-Canada tour. A preferred date wasn't given, but he's looking for metal promoters in the Soo who can help secure a date for Arkona here. Though not really common, Sault Ontario has hosted European metal bands in the past (i.e. Heaven & Hell, Behemoth, Napalm Death), so this isn't completely out of the realm of possibility, but can you help? Arkona are a well regarded metal band in Russia, and their female fronted blend of folk and doom metal with Pagan influences is very interesting, so if you can help promote or book Arkona in Sault Ontario this year, message here for any extra information, and check the above links for more information!

Next up, here's three assorted shorter stories relating to some of the above bands and personalities, so as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or promoter name:

• If you were curious as to the identity of the Misfits tribute band The Fiend Brigade that are playing the all tribute-band concert at The Canadian Nightclub on March 1st, then I can confirm that they are essentially local metal/punk band T-Rex Manning with Francis McCormick on drums in place of Daniel MacDonald, who moved out west last year, though no word yet on if Frank's fully in T-Rex Manning too. Thanks to frontman J.D. Pearce for the confirmation!
• The aforementioned J.D. Pearce has started a Facebook group named "Johnny Pints Presents..." to promote and get the word out on concerts that he books, which is a great idea to keep everything in one place for reliable announcements! Join the group above, and it's now in our Other Sault Ontario Metal Links section on your left!
• In a Facebook page posting on Saturday, Shit Liver alluded to their show at The Rosie on the 21st, while also hinting that their debut album could be done by then (but there's no guarantees), and they already have ideas in mind for a second album. Believe it or not, I think this is their first ever acknowledgement on band pages that they're working on studio material, but it's great to hear something finally, and hopefully 2013 is Shit Liver's biggest year yet!

Finally for this post, here's the rest of our recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind profiles from last year! In our profile of the Kiss Battle of the Bands, I restored a photo, updated the band aftermath section to reflect finalists Wishbone's breakup & Stiffler's Mom's reunion, and added a link for Crank Sound Distribution, who provided sound each night. In terms of that profile's section on later bands with battle alumni, I replaced Big Wheel & The Spokes, High Road, March Into Regression, and That's Chester with 415E, Bone Yard, Giwakwa, and Pocketful of Scoundrel to better reflect newer & more recently active bands. On the Sault College Battle of the Bands profile, I added newer folk band The Soft Shoe Shufflers (featuring 2/3rds of battle winners' Blackwater) to that same section on newer band with battle alumni. Finally, I edited the Downtown Showdown profile to reflect competitors' SBD's now inactive status, while adding Giwakwa & Sykotyk Rampage to the same newer bands section. That's it for that batch of updates, and stay tuned shortly for more updates to another of our monthly feature post series!

That might be all for today, but stay tuned for more news as it trickles in (maybe not until we preview this weekend's metal concerts), and of course, our review of Destroilet's new CD! Thanks everyone!