LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Beaumont Avenue), A Missed Concert Apology, And More!!

Before we get too far into things, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert, as local Celtic/punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide returned to the local stage for the first time in over 3 months last night as the pub night entertainment at the Rankin Arena during the venue's Silver Creek Cup hockey event. We originally mentioned the show on the site last month when it was added to their label Tidal Records' website's schedule, but at the time, it listed the show as taking place at the Silver Creek Golf Course in Garden River, which was unfamiliar as a concert venue, and gave us pause in case this was incorrect and/or or a private event. We were right to second guess the listed venue (Silver Creek sponsored the tournament but didn't hold the concert), but this was definitely a public event, and blame me for not keeping up with the venue confirmation to plug it on the site. No word on who drummed for them last night either, given that they've used guest drummers at some recent events.

Our sincere apologies for the mess-up, and don't miss Dustin and company on Boxing Day at The Rockstar Bar, and stay tuned also for more details on the Tidal Records Christmas show on the 20th, whose bands are to be announced! Now, let's get to some more recent news, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for over the Christmas break, and more assorted notes, so here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quartet Beaumont Avenue will return to the stage with two solo headlining concerts over the holidays! The former Suicide Kings will play their first show in almost four months on Boxing Day (Friday, December 26th) at The Rednecks Saloon, which they'll follow up a week later on Friday, January 2nd when they rock The Rockstar Bar! Both appear to be one night only engagements, and it's worth noting that the Rednecks concert will be their first there since May, while the Rockstar show is our first verified local hard rock concert of 2015. Beaumont Avenue have been taking a break since August due to drummer Ben Boudreau's out of town school commitments, but they're making the most of the Christmas break while he's back home, as the guys revealed on their Facebook page last night that they'll be working in the studio over the holidays, are "finally recording", and will hold a release party for their debut CD in "early 2015".

The post suggests that the guys are starting over from scratch with their album rather than using what they recorded at The Smoke & Oak Room last year, while the "early 2015" timeline likely points to an April release at the earliest, assuming Ben doesn't return home until after the next school semester ends. Also, the guys' Urawk live karaoke series recently announced that they're "on hiatus" (source here), though it's not clear whether it's due to Beaumont Avenue's resumption of activity or not. Both of the guys' new concerts have 19+ age limits and likely 10:00 PM start times, and while the Rednecks show has no announced cover, bring $5 to The Rockstar Bar just in case. For more details, visit the Boxing Day show's Facebook event page & the above links! It's great to see Beaumont Avenue back in action for the season, so don't miss their hard rock originals & covers over the holidays, and stay tuned for updates on their CD and more!

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

• I'm surprised that we never mentioned this in a news post on here, but local metal/rap duo The Apocalypse Afterparty released the studio version of their song/The Fury cover "The Crowd" to their Reverbnation page in recent months! We'll hold our thoughts for now, assuming that we'll review the band's planned debut CD next year, but it's well recorded, so give it a listen above!
• On November 24th, local alternative/grunge band Haggith revealed on their Facebook page that their upcoming album "Apocalypse II" will likely be complete by next month, and is just undergoing mixing, while "XIV" is delayed until at least March due to the band's split with bassist James White and his White Wreckords studio. The band also revealed there that a surprise new live album named "Time Machine: Live" is also in the mixing stage for a planned February release, though we've heard little else on that front. We'll keep you posted as we hear more!
• The newest episode of Local2's music spotlight video series Tuned with Donna Hopper went online last week, and while it doesn't have a large focus on heavier or punk bands (mostly featuring an interview & performances by Toronto folk duo Scarlett Jane during their recent local show), Donna does plug the X-Mess acoustic punk show at The Algonquin Pub on December 20th in the concert calendar segment. It's still a good watch, so give the full episode a look above, especially if you like folk rock!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a video-heavy post TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!