LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Stiffler's Mom), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Four posts in two days, we're off to a fast start for 2014! Today's post mostly relates to weekend concert previews, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for Saturday night, but we also have lineup notes and debuts for two hard rock bands playing this weekend, and some more assorted notes to round out today's post. As for Tym Morrison's weekly arrangement at The Harp, while I assume it'll continue tomorrow night, I am currently awaiting official confirmation, but when announced, that will be up on the site as soon as possible. Now, let's begin today's news/preview post!

Local party/hard rock mainstays Stiffler's Mom will kick off 2014 in style with a headlining concert THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only just announced on Monday, and I held it until today to avoid a redundant re-post. The first local concert date for Stiffler's Mom since we officially rolled them into our full coverage, Greg, Mike, and Jobn were last seen upstairs at The Rockstar Bar six weeks ago, and if you're familiar with their fun live concert dates and skilled experience, you'll know they'll be up to their usual tricks again in their first date of the new year! A $5 cover charge is likely for Saturday night, a 10:00 PM start time is likely as well, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the above links (as for one reason or another, this show doesn't have an event page like their late-2013 shows.) This should be an entertaining and often heavy show, so keep it in mind for THIS SATURDAY, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train"!



Now to the weekend's heavier dates that we knew about already, including the new Griphook lineup's public debut TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Roosevelt Hotel! As you may remember, the band officially replaced Ottawa-bound frontman Jim O'Leary with bassist Dan Beaupre's former 100 Gran bandmate Joel Syrette last week, so this weekend's concerts will be the local hard/classic rock quartet's first verifiable live gigs with Joel up front and their first public non-stag & doe appearance since the Ray Brown benefit in October (not counting 7 Year Itch dates.) Last seen at The Rosie in April, it'll be interesting to hear how the new Griphook lineup does, but Joel & Dan have chemistry from the 100 Gran days, and while Joel isn't overly similar to Jim musically from what I've seen, he is a very talented singer & guitarist, so this should work well! Admission should be free for this weekend's 19+ dates, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's Griphook's original lineup covering AC/DC last year!

Finally for currently confirmable heavier shows this weekend, prolific Sault Michigan hard rockers RamWagon will debut a new lineup of their own TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT when they make their first 2014 stops at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! These will be RamWagon's first dates since replacing the departed Marcel Grengs with former Monkey's Uncle drummer Ron Suchey, and given Ron's past work in that band with RamWagon bandmate Nathan Switzer, there should be ready-made chemistry for the new lineup's debut this weekend! Also in lineup changes, the band appears to have parted ways with guitarist Cody Reed at some point late last year, as per his absence from their currently listed Facebook lineup. Unlike with Marcel, a reason has not been publically announced for Cody's departure, but it sounds like it happened somewhat recently, as Cody's personal Facebook page still has RamWagon's banner as his cover photo. He has not been replaced as of yet, but hopefully the split was amicable, and best of luck to Cody in the future!

With lots of wide-ranging modern and older hard rock covers in store, kick off 2014 in good order for the first heavier shows of 2014 across the river with RamWagon! Like usual, there's no announced cover charge, a 9:00 PM-ish start time, and a 21+ age limit. For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's RamWagon's original lineup covering Cameo at LemmaFest last summer!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or company name:

• If you didn't hear any more formal word on why Colosimo's Music Store closed, it's likely related to the closure of it's original Thunder Bay location last August due to declining business as a result of online shopping, as per this news article. Info on the Soo branch (which replaced the relocated Case's Music on Spring Street in 2012) isn't given there, but it definitely closed around the same time last summer. At least nothing bad happened locally, but best of luck to the former staff!
• Were you still curious as to the identity of The Debts, the new punk band that headlined the Danger Cats-featured X-Mess acoustic show at LopLops last month? I assume it's safe to say now that their lineup includes prolific local musician (and Case's Music owner) Jay Case, Blues Harvest/Pesto Shirts alum Jake Rendell, and his former Garage Inc. bandmate Ryan Seabrook. I know they're not a metal band, but I just wanted to answer an open question from our coverage of this event! My source is personal Facebook postings.
• "The original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage have announced a new album for release in 2014, that being a sequel to last year's "Environ-Mental Suits" (subtitled "Anvil of Antioch".) It's album cover was posted on their Facebook page on Tuesday, and it's considered their 45th album, indicating that at least one more is in the works for this year (as they have 43 officially so far.) Release details are forthcoming, but this will likely be a free release like their other recent albums. I'm curious to hear more, and stay tuned!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow in case there's any late-notice concerts to plug, with other news also lying in wait! Thanks everyone!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!