LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Nudge), Plus Previews Of This Weekend's Concerts & Woods Of Ypres At The Juno Awards!!

As our extremely busy stretch at the SMS continues, we have just our second non-preview/recap/feature post on the site since Monday, and it's got two functions. The latter half is to preview a major local band's Juno Award nomination this weekend, but first, we have previews of this weekend's known metal/hard rock shows, all in the Sault Michigan area, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you need to know!!

Marquette/Ishpeming hard rock quartet Nudge will apparently return to The Satisfied Frog in Sault Michigan TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, but these were only just announced on Tuesday on Nudge's Facebook page (though oddly not through Facebook event pages), and these just couldn't fit into our posts since then due to how busy things have been on the site this week. The shows definitely are on Friday and Saturday, and they followed members' Danzo McCracken & Scott Kusmirek's usual acoustic gigs at The Frog on Wednesday and Thursday, which were their first acoustic dates here since last year, as their Soo dates last month didn't feature them. Look out for a packed weekend of metal and hard rock renditions from these local favourites tonight & tomorrow, and like usual, there's a 21+ age limit, no announced cover charge, and a 10:00 PM start time. For more details, check the above links! These should both be good shows, so don't miss Nudge at The Frog TONIGHT OR TOMORROW, and for a preview, here's Nudge covering Shinedown's "The Sound of Madness" in Negaunee last year!

Also in known heavier concerts this weekend, Kinross classic/hard rock quintet Banned will continue their highly frequent recent concert pace with a return to Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT! Easily one of Banned's favourite concert venues since debuting there last year, hopefully there's a sizeable crowd for the Traynors and company's return to Moran (an hour south of the Soo, 30 minutes northwest of St. Ignace), so don't miss their varied blend of covers and originals tomorrow (and if you can't make it, they'll be back there next weekend!) Admission should be free for tomorrow's 21+ concert, and I'd expect them to be on again at the earlier 8:00 PM start time. For more details, visit Banned's Facebook page! This should be a solid "job" as usual for Banned, so head on down to Moran to check them out tomorrow night, and for a preview, here's the guys (and girl) covering The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" at the Sault Kewadin Casino last month!

Finally, we have a special sort of preview, as TOMORROW, we find out if defunct local blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres will win a Juno Award for Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year! As covered in The Sault Star & SooToday, Woods of Ypres officially received a posthumous nomination in the Junos' (essentially Canada's Grammys) second-year metal category on February 19th, which is obviously for their fifth & final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" (which came out too late into 2012 for consideration at last year's ceremony.) The Cancer Bats, Castle, The Devin Townsend Project, and Ex Deo are the other bands up this year, which should make for stiff competition like last year, when KEN Mode beat the likes of Anvil & Fuck The Facts for the inagural metal Juno Award. The ceremony itself (hosted by Michael Buble) will be held in Regina, Saskatchewan this Sunday live on CTV, but it's very unlikely that the metal award winner will be awarded live then (which isn't just a metal snub, as less than 10 of the 40+ awards will be given out on the televised ceremony.)

I'd expect the metal awards to be a part of the untelevised private gala dinner that's being held TOMORROW NIGHT at The Credit Union Eventplex in Regina, where the vast majority of awards will be given out, so we won't be able to see the presentation (unless there's a webcast I'm unaware of), but as soon as I hear anything or reports concerning the metal award, I'll let you guys know! Local news articles on the nomination confirmed that late frontman David Gold's family will be in attendance at tomorrow's gala, along with the band's final guitarist Joel Violette (the only surviving band member who played on "Woods V"), so there'll be some local, family, and band representation when and if Woods of Ypres win the Juno. This is obviously a huge weekend for local music, let alone metal, as it's not every day that a band or artist from here gets a Juno nomination! I believe this would be a perfect cap to David Gold's career and legacy in Canadian metal, and it's just a shame he's only getting recognition of this scale over a year after he died. As soon as I hear anything relating to the Best Metal/Hard Music Juno being announced, I'll let you guys know, and best of luck to Joel and the Gold family tomorrow! David would be proud!

That's likely all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for a huge post full of big new metal/punk show announcements, and our profile of last year's Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on it's one year anniversary! Thanks everyone!