LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Griphook, The 7 Year Itch, & Powerslug) And The First Of This Weekend's Concert Previews!!

With such a big weekend for concerts upon us, we're gonna break this weekend's metal & hard rock concert previews into three posts: Today's post for the general Friday-Saturday shows in the region, one dedicated to Rotaryfest's music stages tomorrow, and we'll touch on Saturday's Bushplane Musical Madness and Sunday night's Shinedown concert either on Friday. With that all said, let's begin this busy weekend with previews of the non-Rotaryfest/Bushplane/Shinedown hard rock shows this weekend, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on each side of the border!

One day before playing Rotaryfest for the first time, local classic/hard rock quartet Griphook will play their first ever concert at The New American Pub House THIS FRIDAY! Apologies for the short notice, the band only announced this show last night. Coming just days after the announcement of next month's Catgut/Bad Back show at The New A, it's interesting and nice to see some heavier bands playing at this downtown venue, compared to past bands there generally attracting an older clientele with much older covers. It's also been announced (on short notice) that following their Rotaryfest set on Saturday, 3/4ths of Griphook (minus guitarist Brian Oja) will be playing later that night at The Rockstar Bar under the name The 7 Year Itch, though I don't know why Brian will be absent (scheduling conflict?), why they're using a different name, or how different The 7 Year Itch's sound will be compared to Griphook's. I'm thinking it's likely a scenario of the guys not wanting to play under that name if someone's absent (i.e. General Striker or Pools of Booze), but regardless of name, the guys are hoping to attract Rotaryfest attendees after the bands wrap up at Clergue Park, so keep these shows in mind!

9:30 PM start times and 19+ age limits are to be expected for each show, and while The Rockstar Bar should have a cover charge in the $5 range, I have no idea if The New American generally does (remember, we only started hearing finalized hard rock shows there this week.) For more details on both Griphook & The 7 Year Itch's shows this weekend, click here and here, and remember, our Rotaryfest preview is coming TOMORROW! Now knowing that Griphook's sets do lean heavier, they should deliver some good times on Friday in their New A debut, and The 7 Year Itch should sound similar for fans, and don't miss their set either on Saturday if you couldn't get enough of the full Griphook sound at Rotaryfest! For a preview, here's Griphook covering Alice In Chains' "Would?" at The Rockstar Bar last month, and if it's not familiar, don't worry, we have a lot of videos from this channel to share on the site shortly that have never been referenced on here, so stay tuned! (Also, The New American is now in our active Sault Ontario venue links on your left!)



We'll close this post in Sault Michigan (Shinedown's coming in a couple of days), starting with another short notice announcement, and as you may have guessed, it's for local hard rock trio Powerslug! The pageless but talented trio (featurning Clownsack and Blind Baby alumni) will play their next gigs THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill, though no word yet on if these are outdoor parking lot gigs like their last show there or not. Apologies for the short notice, frontman Chris Leask only confirmed the shows last night on his personal Facebook page. Admission should be free for these 21+ concerts, and 10:00 PM start times are likely. Powerslug's hard rock covers should find another solid response at The Corner Pub this weekend, so don't miss out if you're up to chug your mug with the guys, and if we ever find media to preview their shows with, we'll let you know!

Finally for today, Monkey's Uncle successors Sir Charge will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on Friday & Saturday as well! Announced in advance via Kewadin Casino's entertainment page, I believe these will be their first shows since playing the St. Ignace Kewadin last month, and it'll be good to see the band featuring Mama's Boys & RamWagon alumni back at it for a weekend of hard and classic rock covers! Both shows will be 21+ affairs with 9:00 PM-ish start times and no announced cover charge, but check the above links for more details! Long time fans of Henry Switzer's bands (regardless of name) should be right at home with Sir Charge's shows this weekend, so head on down to the Soo Kewadin to rock out with Sir Charge this weekend if possible, and if I come across videos of them in action, I'll let you know!

That's all for today, but stay tuned at midnight for last month's poll results and this month's poll, and later tomorrow for our preview of Rotaryfest's stages, featuring 3 hard rock-leaning bands this year! Thanks everyone!