Gob & Archelon Concert Previews, Plus More Recent Updates!!

The Halloween weekend is creeping up ever closer, so let's kick off our previews of the seasonal punk and metal action with previews of two big pre-Friday shows! We'll likely have three Halloween weekend concert preview posts, with one for Sault Ontario shows from Friday-Saturday, and another for Sault Michigan in general, with The Brains show on Sunday also very much in mind for wherever it can fit, not to mention possible late notice events. Along with some assorted recent items, here's what you should know for our first of the Halloween previews!

One of the biggest punk concerts of the year goes down TONIGHT, when Langley, B.C. punk veterans Gob make their long awaited return to the Soo at The Rockstar Bar! The Juno nominees were last seen here when they headlined at the former Outback in January 2009, so it's been a long time coming for fans of their classic songs like "Soda" and "I Hear You Calling", and you won't want to miss the punk rock energy and enthusiasm like only they can bring TONIGHT! Also, for you Sum 41 fans, keep in mind that guitarist Tom Thacker is Gob's frontman. Unlike in 2009, local punk bands will open for Gob tonight, and they include local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades (in what personal Facebook postings are hyping as their last set of the year), newer local indie/punk quintet Northwest (in their first set since the release of their self-titled digital EP), and local punk trio Redundant (in their first public concert of the fall), so all should be great fits to open for Gob tonight! Remember, Oakville punk band Seaway are not playing tonight (they were only on eastern Canada dates, the Soo not being among them), so Northwest were added last month to replace them.

Promoted by Jack Spades frontman J.D. Pearce, admission for tonight's show is $20 in advance and apparently at the door too (a higher door charge isn't publicized), but if you pay $25, you'll get a copy of Gob's new CD "Apt. 13" upon entry, so keep that deal in mind! If you wanted to get your tickets online, you can also buy them at http://www.brownpapertickets.com. This is a 19+ concert, and everything starts TONIGHT at 9:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! An almost 6 year wait for a new Gob concert in the Soo is too long, so I hope to see you guys there TONIGHT, and here's Gob live in Toronto in 2012!

Also on the Halloween concert schedule is the second annual Devil's Night concert at The Oddfellows Hall TOMORROW NIGHT! After last year's October 30th concert helped launch promoter Tyler St. Amour's promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment, he's going bigger and better for it's encore tomorrow, with H.N.E. (in association with Blood Shed Productions) hosting twelve different acts at The Oddfellows Hall, so who all is playing? The announced headlining band is Sudbury groove metal quintet Archelon in their local debut, and they should brutalize fans tomorrow, but they actually aren't the last act on the bill. The 1:00 AM slot actually belongs to local experimental musician Chase Wigmore, who will be making his long awaited return to the stage after a 5 month work hiatus, so welcome Chase back home by checking out his creative originals at night's end! Archelon will instead be second last at 12:00 AM.

As for the rest of the lineup, local grunge/alternative quartet Haggith will play before them at 11:00 PM (in their first Oddfellows set with their current lineup), while the rest of the bands have shorter half hour timeslots each. Local goregrind solo project Crucify The Whore will take the stage for their own brutal originals at 10:00 PM, while local cover metal rockers Project 421 will play their first set since the departure of singer Curtis McKenzie at 9:15 PM, but will Blair handle lead vocals, or is there a surprise in store? The aforementioned Chase Wigmore's grind duo project This Is Your Band On Drugs will also return to the stage for a set at 8:30 PM, while Blood Shed Productions goregrind duo Rotopsy will hit the stage at 7:45 PM, and local doom/punk trio The Revolution (formerly the second Brutaly Fatal) will rock out at 7:00 PM. Also, former Strange Coyotes bassist James Watterworth (credited under his Delusionair Lionhair alias) will kick off the rock band portion of the day at 6:15 PM.

The Devil's Night action will start at 5:00 PM with local rappers (a first for a Heavy North Entertainment show), with Blood Shed-affiliated rappers Phat Boii, Miracle Man, and Mikey Thomas splitting an hour to start the show, so if you want some hip-hop, be there early! Admission will be $5 in advance (through promoters) or $7 at the door tomorrow night, this is absolutely ALL AGES, and visit the official Facebook event page for more details! This is a stacked lineup to be sure, and fans of last year's Devil's Night show will like the familiarity (all official performers but The Bear Hunters and Crimson Crusade are back), so again, I hope to see you guys there TOMORROW! For a preview, here's Archelon live in Spanish!



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

• In a neat surprise announcement, local death metal band The Bear Hunters have revealed that their CD release show at The Canadian Nightclub on November 29th will be ALL AGES! The news was revealed on the Facebook event page on Monday. No word on if the possibility of no age limits was a factor in moving the event from The Algonquin, but this is great for all Bear Hunters fans, so don't miss the show and CD release next month!
• I've again deleted Strongs, Michigan metal project East Branch from our band links, due to the deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page. The Werehold Records-affiliated project was active as recently as June's Friday the 13th song posting event, but activity has been quiet since. Hopefully they reemerge at some point, perhaps on Friday, February 13th?
• I've changed the link for defunct local/Grand Rapids metal band End of Existence from their Reverbnation page (which has since been deleted) to their Facebook page, which is still used to promote drummer Greg Giles' solo company Giles Arts. I wish they wouldn't have deleted and privatized so many of their online links, but at least Facebook's still active!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more Halloween concert previews in the coming days, and we'll see you guys at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for Gob! Thanks everyone!