LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Banned), Apocalypse: The Musical Updates, And Much More!!

We're back with more news on this Tuesday morning, so what's on tap? Today, we have updates to one of our monthly feature series, the latest Bear Hunters updates, and various updates relating to an upcoming tribute concert, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month (along with possible lineup notes), so here's what you need to know!

Kinross hard rockers Banned will make their Kewadin Casino debut on March 29th & 30th at The Rapids Lounge in Sault Ste. Marie! Hard to believe that this frequently seen local band haven't played at any of the regional Kewadin branches before (unless they had some that weren't announced), but hopefully these shows will add to Banned's growing local reputation well! These have 9:00 PM start times and 21+ age limits, while cover charges are unlikely. Check the above links for more details! Also to note, while the band hasn't confirmed any lineup changes, a photo album on their Facebook page was updated yesterday with individual photos of members Alex & Don Traynor and Jim Pentland along with two other musicians (a singer named Tara Starr & a guitarist named Denny Smith.) Their Facebook lineup was removed around the same time, so I don't know whether Tara & Denny are replacements for Mike Straw & Alex Schrovenwever, or just documented guest performers. I'll let you guys know if anything's confirmed, but keep that all that in mind next month & this weekend when Banned rock Hessel & Moran!

Next up, there's a big lineup change for the Apocalypse: The Musical tribute band concert on March 1st at The Canadian Nightclub, as planned openers Pillory have dropped out. The local thrash band, who were slated to play a Metallica cover set at what would have been their second concert, pulled out to focus on recording sessions for their planned debut EP "Cringe At The Cross", as per a post by bassist Jonathan Tiberi on the Facebook event page. For potential attendees, this has to be disappointing given their promise from their first gig last year, but hopefully this EP lives up to the early hype and sees a release! That said, the replacement band will be very familiar, as one of Jon's other bands is returning to replace Pillory, that being local classic metal quartet Late & Loud! Slated to be their first show since their EP release gig at The Rockstar Bar in November (and just their third since winning the Humane Society Battle of the Bands in April), they'll be playing a set of Motley Crue covers on March 1st, which should be quite interesting!

It's great to see Late & Loud back together, and hopefully this won't just be a one-off return from their recent sporadic activity! (No word yet on if they'll have EPs on sale on the 1st.) While we're on the subject of this concert, here's a few more notes relating to Jon Tiberi's music projects. First, from what I can tell, his band Xanadu (who are headlining on the 1st) are indeed a reunion of his old metal band from his hometown of Welland, not a new local version, and to that end, guitarist Mike Agostino & drummer Scott Brady from their old lineup are listed as attendees on Facebook. Friends of Jon's should be a bit familiar with Xanadu from personal Facebook photo & video postings, and hopefully they rock the Soo with their Black Sabbath covers for their return in just under 2 weeks! Finally, Jon's solo metal project The Soviet Space Program posted a new song named "Want You Back" onto their Reverbnation page within the past week, and how does it sound? Good, but it does sorta feel unfinished, and the chorus doesn't have the punch I'd expect given it's structure. Check it out though at the above links, and stay tuned for more from Jon's various projects!

Also, here's some assorted recent updates from two prominent heavier Sault Ontario bands! First, local death metal band The Bear Hunters revealed in a Facebook page posting last week that they're "in the process of becoming super active again", which includes guitar recording sessions for their debut album beginning last week, shows being locked in for the next two months, and new songs in the works, possibly to debut next Thursday when they play their first local concert since August at The Roosevelt Hotel! Sounds good to me, as I know local Bear Hunters fans (barring ones who took the trip to Sudbury in December) are starved for substantive updates & news from them! As for the references to shows in March, that at least partly alludes to their next out of town concert date, as they'll return to Sudbury on March 16th for another huge black/death metal show there! As per it's Facebook event page, they'll be among the openers for Norwegian folk metal band Einherjer, along with notable bands like recent local concert favourites Empyrean Plague & Before The Black Gates, and Woods of Ypres tribute show/album performers Panzerfaust.

Sounds like Bear Hunters updates are ramping up, so hopefully this is just the start of a big year for them, and check the above links for more updates, including on how you can attend the Sudbury show on March 16th!

Finally for today, here's the recent updates to our Sault Michigan-based profiles in our YouTube Channel Profile Series! I updated the profile on Cami Hubbard's YouTube channel to reflect her son Chris' new band 415E and the new videos of theirs that she filmed and uploaded there, while also replacing one featured video on the profile (Nixxon Dixxon's cover of "No More Tears") with the video of 415E playing their self-titled original and the Van Halen song "Unchained" at the Soo Kewadin Casino last month. In our profile of Joey Beairl's YouTube channel, I restored the photo of Guitar Studio rock camp alums Unleashed, and updated their info there to reflect guitarist Jack Slater's current bass role in the aforementioned 415E. Finally, on the profile of Banned videographer Ash Traynor's YouTube channel, I restored a photo, referenced sometime filmer Eric Cairns, and noted the privatization of two videos (a Johnny Cash cover and their first live video of their original "Plaid Girl"), the latter of which I had to replace with the newest video of that song.

That's all for new updates to that series, but keep an eye out for more edits and freshening of our other monthly feature series in the coming weeks! We have more news coming this week, so keep an eye out, and thanks again for your continued support!