Tym Morrison Concert Preview, Swampstravaganza Updates, And Much More!!

Though we have a slow metal/hard rock concert weekend in terms of show amount (barring any late notice confirmations), we're breaking the three known heavier shows up into two posts due to the immense size of Saturday night's Dank Fest at The Oddfellows Hall, which has 13 advertised bands, so look for a full-post extended preview of it tomorrow! Today, we also have updates for another upcoming all ages marathon show, recent feature profile updates, and more assorted notes, but let's kick things off with the first of our weekend previews, and an attached new video find! (Updated on Friday at 11:08 PM)

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's weekly concert arrangement at The Harp Bar & Grill hits it's 20th straight week with another solo acoustic event TOMORROW NIGHT, though unlike the last two weeks, not this Saturday. Like usual, Tym will be hosting an open mic night (and performing as usual) tomorrow, but Saturday's planned solo acoustic concert has been preempted for an Easter weekend show by prolific local musician and Case's Music owner Jay Case and friends, as per The Harp's Facebook page. Tym's double weekend bookings at this Pine Plaza venue should return next weekend, so keep that in mind, and hopefully Jay's show goes awesome! Be at The Harp for Tym's entertaining hard rock cover action & possible open mic performers tomorrow at 10:00 PM, there's no announced cover charges, and you must be 19 or older to attend. Visit the Facebook event page for more details, don't miss Tym's newest weekend at The Harp, and for a preview, here's a new video discovery of his from a recent solo gig!

Uploaded to the YouTube channel of user SundayFoggyNotions (who had previously posted a clip of Tym covering Eric Clapton at the former Foggy Notions in 2010), this likely comes from Tym's second weekly gig at The Harp on December 14th, and though the video isn't labelled to credit Tym, it looks & sounds like him despite the dark video quality. Tym covers Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" in the video, and he sounds good, though the song does sound a bit off in an acoustic format. Judge for yourself below, and don't miss Tym at The Harp this weekend!



Next up, we have some new details on next month's fourth annual Sewer Swampstravaganza at The Oddfellows Hall courtesy of the new event poster by Ye Olde Mold Pickers frontwoman Rihkee Strapp, so what should you know? In terms of full performers, no one else has changed, but the poster confirms a long rumored addition to the start of the event, as Northwest guitarist Greg Callaghan will be hosting an hour of open mic performers at 1:00 PM before the formal bands begin playing, marking the first time a Swampstravaganza has had an open mic block. Greg already does weekly open mic nights at Coch's Corner on Wednesdays, so this should be in good hands, but slots will be given in a pre-show sign up on the Facebook event page. If you're interested in performing then, head there A.S.A.P.! Beyond that, we still don't have a full schedule for the bands, we'll let you know when one is announced. The poster also confirms that this year's Swampstravaganza is being held with support from The Arts Council of Sault Ste. Marie, and that food will be sold on May 10th, as prepared by a master chef named "Swamp" (identity unclear) and "Rihkee's Pack Sack People Emporium".

Like at this Saturday's Dank Fest, the food angle's a great idea, as the Swampstravaganza runs from the afternoon through to the night, so if it's an incentive for people to stay and not leave for a meal, then capitalize on it! While not confirmed on the poster, I'd be shocked if Rihkee and collaborators didn't sell art and poetry items on site this year again, so look out for that, and stay tuned for more updates on this year's Swampstravaganza soon!

Also today, here's three assorted recent shorter items to cover, and like usual, these are in alphabetical order by band, venue, or event name:

• I've changed the link for Sault Ontario concert venue The Grand Theatre in our venue listings on the SMS from their now-expired official website to their Facebook group (which is inactive, but currently the best we have.) Hopefully things are more up to date there now!
• Local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades have posted two of the songs from their upcoming debut EP ("Rise" & their cover of The Ripcordz' "X") onto their Reverbnation page! As we hope to review the full disc on the site, I won't detail my thoughts too heavily, but the production's great, and fans should enjoy these recordings, so check them out at this link! (Note that a Facebook comment thread on the song postings hints towards a new song named "Fear Corps" also being in the works.)
• In a similar update, I've altered two links in our listing of Sault Michigan concert festivals, notably replacing the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival's now expired page on their website with their still-alive blog, while also removing 2012's Sault Riverview Music Festival due to both a continued lack of an online page and the fact that it never came back for a second installment. If we hear of any more link updates soon, we'll let you guys know!

Finally, here's likely our last updates to our past Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles before we look at last year's Rockstar Bar Battle next week! On our profile of the Humane Society Battle in April 2012, I added notes to reflect that fourth placers The Valentine's Day Massacre were succeeded by the London/local deathcore band Saints & Serpents last year, while also replacing the defunct Lazer Queen with them in the section on performers' later bands. On the same profile, I also noted that winners Late & Loud held a one-off reunion this past February, and I also added judge and ex-Browbeat frontman Dutch Vanderploeg's real first name (Randy, as per this link) when crediting the judges. Finally, I added a trivia note to cover the second place success of Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie and then-Wishbone bassist Steven Flint at the Rock N' Roar Battle of the Bands in Spanish with their band The Suicide Kings, though the current Wishbone lineup didn't place on the same night. Hopefully things are up to date for a while now, and stay tuned as we profile last year's Humane Society Battle one week from today!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for our extended preview of Saturday night's Dank Fest, plus the closure of this month's poll and the launch of our new one! Thanks everyone!