LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Late Shift) & The Fuck The Facts Concert Preview!!

Today, we're devoting things to two topics: A SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT (along with a related new video discovery) and our extended preview of a big all ages show TOMORROW with some notable returning faces, so here's what you need to know! (Updated at 8:02 PM)

Local hard/alternative rock cover band Late Shift are apparently returning to the stage TONIGHT for an acoustic gig at LopLops Lounge! Apologies for the short notice, we just heard about this one last night via it's advertisement on SooToday's Don't Say There's Nothing To Do In The Soo List, and Late Shift still lack an online page. Though we last heard of a public concert from them at their November debut at The Canadian (their cancelled Rockstar Bar gig in February aside), Late Shift have played a handful of private events like weddings and benefit fundraisers so far in 2014, and it will be nice to finally see them back on a fully public stage tonight! According to a personal Facebook posting by frontman John Barber, their lineup tonight will be sans drummer Anthony Gagnon for unannounced reasons, though it could be due to the acoustic setup, as not all bands use drums in this setting. John will still be joined his former Redefined bandmate Matt Sibilo on guitar and Northwest's Clint Wilson on bass for this set, and it will be interesting to see how things go tonight!

A 19+ age limit is in effect for tonight's show, which will begin at around midnight, and I'd assume there's a cover charge. For more details, check the above links! It's great to hear some new developments from the Late Shift camp, so hopefully tonight's show is a hit despite the unplugged theme! For a preview, here's a brand new live video discovery of Late Shift from one of their performances early this year, so what should you know? Uploaded to John's YouTube channel (which also features old Redefined videos) on February 23rd, this is of the full band playing three songs at a friend's wedding the previous weekend, location unclear. The video captures Late Shift covering Radiohead's "High & Dry", Modest Mouse's "Float On", and Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", so click each song link to go straight to the song in question! These covers are noticeably lighter than most of their songs at their November debut, but it's unclear whether this is due to a shift in sound, just when the video was shot, or an intentional choice due to the event type.

There isn't much to look at, as the lighting's poor (though to be fair, this wasn't a public concert) and the filmer didn't come close to the band until late, but they didn't wear the wigs & sunglasses for this gig. The guys sound good and know the songs well, but we'll have to see how they sound at future gigs, and hopefully they play publically with drums again soon! Go check out 3/4ths of the band TONIGHT at LopLops, and here's the new video!



Next up, here's our promised preview of arguably the biggest concert in scope yet from Heavy North Entertainment, as a pair of prominent out of town metal bands and local favourites are hitting The Oddfellows Hall TOMORROW NIGHT! (No, the teased move of the show to a different venue did not occur.) The headlining bands are Juno nominated Ottawa grindcore standouts Fuck The Facts and North Bay black metal favourites Empyrean Plague, both of which are making their first local stops since playing at Dismembertainment shows at The Canadian two years ago! Both have an explosive and brutal sound, with F.T.F.'s unique technical themes and Empyrean Plague's battle-tested brutality sure to impress once again, so be at The Oddfellows Hall at 11:00 & 10:00 PM to see them! Note that this will be Empyrean Plague's first local stop since the departure of guitarist Dave Strba, now of Buried Out Back. The highest slotted local band are crust/death trio Shit Liver, who will be playing their first Sault-area date in over eight months tomorrow after moving to St. Catharine's last year!

Shit Liver have stayed busy in the interim though, playing a number of Southern Ontario gigs and finally releasing their debut album last month, and they'll be selling physical copies tomorrow as well, so pick yours up then! (No word on the price yet.) They're on at 9:00 PM, while local/London death metal band Saints & Serpents are also slated to play this show at 8:00 PM, which would mark their local debut and the first Soo show from former Valentine's Day Massacre bandmates Steve Rhodes, Andrew Angelic, and Adam Veale since December 2012, but I'll note that they haven't posted on their Facebook page in 3 months, and still have not visibly replaced ex-drummer Ian Timmermans, so I'm not sure if they're still playing this show. We'll keep you posted, but their death metal/hardcore hybrid sound has been missed regardless of name! Fully local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters are definitely playing at 7:15 PM in their first local date in almost three months, and their well recieved originals should fit right in tomorrow night!

The band at 6:45 PM was slated to be local thrash band Pillory, but like their other recent concerts, they have dropped out of this one, though they have not been replaced. The opening bands include local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore at 6:15 PM, while local funk/metal band The Strange Coyotes have been replaced on the lineup by singer/guitarist Chase Wigmore's old side project This Is Your Band On Drugs in the opening 5:30 PM slot for unannounced reasons, though it could be related to The Strange Coyotes' recent drummer vacancy. Chase will be joined by fellow musician Nick Burns in this act, and this YouTube channel appears to be of them, so will we get an experimental metal sound similarly to what's posted here? Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow! Admission will be $12 in advance (through Tyler or C.T.W.'s Ringsnaps Gibson) or $15 at the door, this is absolutely an ALL AGES show, and things are currently slated to start at 5:30 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

If things hold together, this should be the biggest show yet from Heavy North Entertainment, especially as it's seemed like forever that we've seen many of the performers! It'll be a nice throwback, and with lots of brutal death metal to go around, you won't wanna miss it, so stay tuned for any possible late updates, and yes, I do hope to attend if all goes well! For a preview, here's Fuck The Facts live at The Canadian 2 years ago!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for a big news post tomorrow, including lineup changes for another upcoming Oddfellows show! Thanks everyone!