LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Caveman Morrison & Griphook), A New Band, New Year's Eve Concert Previews, And More!!

In our second-last post of 2013, things are stacked, so what's on tap? Previews of two heavier-leaning New Year's Eve concerts, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next while, lineup changes for two bands, and leading off, a new local band, so here's what you need to know!

New local metal band Project 421 finally have a Facebook page, so we can now add them to our band links! You may remember that this was the surprise band that debuted at The Algonquin Pub on December 7th during Haggith's farewell show, though according to their Facebook page, they were launched in October. Their lineup features guitarists Blair Burch (who sang at their debut show) and Frank McGillivray alongside Punch's Daniel Horton on bass and former Fitswitch/Frightlight drummer Larry Mousseau, and though I had heard on the 7th that they had a singer who wasn't ready for their debut, a post by Daniel on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on Saturday suggests that they are actively looking for a new vocalist. Their record label is PaperClip Productions (naturally), they plan to introduce original material into their 1970s-1980s cover sets, and Daniel indicated that the band already has some 2014 dates booked (though specifics have not been revealed at present.)

Featuring alumni of older local bands like Broken, I was impressed with Project 421's live debut three weeks ago, and hopefully the guys have some big stuff in store for next year, so become a fan and inquire about their singer vacancy at the above links!

Now to the LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, starting with a short notice announcement for TOMORROW NIGHT, as local metal cover trio Caveman Morrison will rock out at The Roosevelt Hotel for New Year's Eve! Apologies for the short notice, the band only just announced this show yesterday. A rare Tuesday night show for them (but it makes sense given the occasion), this will be their first public concert in almost three months, and unless there's more late notice concert announcements to take note of, this is bound to be the heaviest way to ring in the new year in Sault Ontario! The show starts at 10:00 PM, with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit, and for more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I expected a few New Year's Eve concerts despite the Tuesday placement, and a solid evening of classic metal & hard rock hits should be a perfect way to celebrate if you're on this side of the border, so keep it in mind for your partying plans, and for a preview, here's Caveman Morrison covering Ozzy Osbourne's "I Don't Know"!



Also in new concerts, the first confirmed Sault Ontario hard rock shows of 2014 will go down this weekend on January 3rd & 4th, as local hard rock cover quartet Griphook will rock The Roosevelt Hotel in their own right, albeit with a major lineup change. When the shows were announced last night, the band revealed that they have added former 100 Gran frontman Joel Syrette to their lineup as their new singer/guitarist, replacing Jim O'Leary. Apparently, Jim is moving to Ottawa soon "to pursue other musical endeavours", which is disappointing, but Jim's a talented musician (his Flat Stanley work is proof), so we wish him the best of luck for sure! As for Joel, videos I've seen of him with 100 Gran point to a very talented skillset (and really nice vocals that fit the genre well), so this should work out well going forward! I assume he'll also take over Jim's duties in their classic rock sister trio The 7 Year Itch too, but with no online pages for them, I can't verify that right away. The new look Griphook's shows next weekend have 10:30 PM start times, no announced cover charges, and 19+ age limits, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Note as well that a comment reply on December 20th on Griphook's Facebook page implied that they would be playing a date at Searchmont (likely referring to a 7 Year Itch date there this past Saturday) and a "New Year's blowout" at Bossy's Pub N' Grub, but I have no other information on the latter event (including for which band is playing), so it's either private or will get very late public notice. I'm curious to hear and seem more from Griphook with Joel up front, so stay tuned for updates, as well as those 100 Gran videos I alluded to earlier!

Finally for today, we have at least one more New Year's Eve concert preview, as Kinross hard/classic rock trio Banned will return to The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in Barbeau, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT for their own New Year's bash! I say trio as I'm now fairly certain that they've parted ways with guitarist Denny Smith, given the band's removal/privatization of all but one extant video featuring him from their YouTube channel. If true, their current lineup (Alex & Don Traynor and Jim Pentland) is the same as it was late last year, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but hopefully things are amicable, and best of luck to Denny in the future! Tomorrow's New Year's Eve show will be Banned's first date in Barbeau in almost five months, and though a pile of 2014 shows are likely, this should be a fun heavier-leaning way to end the year across the river! This should be a 21+ event with a 9:00 PM start time, and there's no announced cover. For more details, visit the above links!

Banned should put in another fun concert tomorrow night to end 2013, so keep it in mind in your New Year's plans! I still don't know why they privatized and deleted their videos with older lineups from this year, as they were solid performances even if somewhat more varied than in 2011 & 2012. Is there some "old shame" and/or an intended focus on the current lineup? Hopefully they aren't gone forever, but for now, preview TOMORROW'S New Year's show with this Foster The People cover from last year!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our special look back at major events and news in 2013 TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!