Tuesday, February 11, 2014

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Crued & Cross Dog), Sykotyk Rampage Albums, And More!!

Before we take a few days out to focus on weekend concert previews, we have some more interesting news to get to on this Tuesday morning, including a prolific local band's next recording plans, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for mid-2014 returns by prominent out of town bands, and more, so here's what you need to know!

According to the calendar on their official website, Toronto-based Motley Crue tribute band Crued will be back in Sault Ontario on Saturday, May 3rd for a headlining date at The Rockstar Bar! Though not confirmed by the venue yet (probably because it's too early), this will be the notorious and well regarded quartet's first stop in the Soo in 5 months, and if you've seen Crued in town, you'll be well aware of their faithful and entertaining tribute set to Motley Crue (and hopefully they won't follow in the real band's footsteps by making this a "final tour"!) It's also too soon to know about potential opening bands like they usually had at some prior Soo shows, but for reference sake, they didn't have any local openers in November. A 19+ age limit and 10:30 PM start time are likely, and while ticket details aren't out yet, their last Rockstar Bar show had $8 advance tickets & $10 entry at the door, so it may be similar this time around. Sounds like a good time for you Hair Scare and Motley Crue fans, so stay tuned for updates at the above links!

Next up, and among two recent concert announcement for the new Heavy Thursdays series at The Roosevelt Hotel, Peterborough hardcore punk trio Cross Dog will return to the Soo for a headlining date on Thursday, July 24th! Last seen locally as openers for The Dayglo Abortions in their Rosie show last September, it'll be great to have this exciting guitar-less outfit (featuring prolific local punk/metal musician Mark Rand on bass) back in town, and hopefully there's no rainstorm to throw a wrench into this one like there was 10 months ago! Local openers are to be determined, but just in case it's a possible indicator, the local bands who played with Cross Dog at The Rosie last year were Destroilet & Jack Spades. A 10:00 PM start time is advertised, admission costs are to be announced, and I assume this will be a 19+ show. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! To be the 23rd Heavy Thursday if no weeks are skipped in the interim, it'll be great to have Cross Dog's extreme and unique sound back in July, so keep an eye out for more!

In terms of the other new Heavy Thursday announcement, that will be for April 24th (tentatively the 11th installment), and it will be headlined by Peterborough punk duo The Bumpin' Tacos, but announcements of local openers (including potential metal/hard rock acts) are not public yet. Follow this link for updates, and we'll keep you posted! No word yet on the teased Die Mannequin return though.

Also today, here's the latest from the original crash band themselves, local alternative hard rock quartet Sykotyk Rampage! The band unveiled a new slate of 2014 "albums" on their Facebook page last Thursday, which will push their discography to 50 official albums, so what should you know? In chronological order, they include "Wyrd Radio" (a double-length release that appears to feature cover songs), "Padre Pwadge with Ready for Revival" (described as "band doing covers of Sykotyk Rampage"), the previously announced "Environ-Mental Suits 2: Anvil of Antioch" (a space adventure concept release, artwork pictured), three general new albums named "Kitty Farts & Other Play Full Noises", "Who's Driving Spaceship Earth?", and "Santa's Night Out" (perhaps the Christmas release they hinted at years ago?), with the 50th album to be a live release named "Double LIVE".

Typically ambitious and prolific to go along with Sykotyk Rampage's recent material trends, so River Front Recreation Studios should be hopping in 2014! I wonder if album plans are partly to blame for them not playing live yet this year? Like their most recent albums, I don't expect these to have a paid release, but when finished, look for them on Sykotyk Rampage's Reverbnation page, and stay tuned for updates as they come in!

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

  • Local rock drummer Glen Thomas' redesigned local music message board Freq's Music Planet has recently began helping cover and promote some local bands and the concerts they play via this calendar and threads in the "Music Planet" section. They mostly focus on veteran cover rock bands at present, but message Glen above if you're interested in some extra coverage! Note that I won't get into some of the more divisive discussions that take place there on here, but I'm aware of the local media-related discussions that have occurred there recently.
  • In an update on tickets for the upcoming Heart/Jason Bonham concert at The Essar Centre on June 20th, tickets are still on sale at this link and the arena box office! Premium floor seats appear to be sold out, but some further back seats on the floor are still available for $74 (along with bowl seating for $44.50.) Get your tickets A.S.A.P., as this will be a huge show!
  • In a post on his solo project's Facebook page yesterday, Strange Coyotes drummer Mike Haggith announced that his next solo album "A Place Of Our Own" will be postponed due to instrumental tracks still needing to be mixed. Originally scheduled for a Valentine's Day release, he said that it should be released in the next two months. Mike's always been honest & forthcoming for his albums' releases and delays, so hopefully this turns out great, and look out for it hopefully by April!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for some mid-week concert previews TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

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