LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Pixo Control & Ten Kings), A New Album, And Gonqshow Updates!!

Let's touch on some recent big news items on the site today, including updates to an ongoing concert series, a surprise new album release, and LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS! If you're wondering, our River Jacks concert preview is coming in our next post. Now, here's what you need to know!

New Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Ten Kings will play outside of the Kewadin Casino umbrella for the first time next month when they rock The Savoy Bar & Nightclub on Friday, June 5th & Saturday, June 6th! It's great to see this regional supergroup expanding their territory to take some different stages, so whether you haven't seen Ten Kings live yet, or you're familiar with them from their Kewadin gigs, you might want to write these dates down! Just for reference, remember that The Savoy has hosted outdoor gigs under their old Summerfest umbrella in the past, but nothing indicating that is on the band's own Facebook event page. Both shows have 10:00 PM start times, neither has an announced cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend either. For more details, check the above links, and stay tuned for more from Ten Kings!

Next up, Sault Ontario hard rock/alternative trio The Pixo Control will headline a huge fundraising concert on Friday, June 12th at The Rankin Arena! The self-promoted event is intended to raise funds for the band to produce a quality North American tour this summer and full release of their upcoming debut CD, and to that end, the show will feature free pizza, games, prizes, and a cash bar as added incentives to take the drive out to The Rankin Arena for this event. You don't see a whole lot of fundraisers of this scale from local hard rock bands (Garden of Bedlam and Stillbroke had notable ones during their heyday), but if this can put a dent into what it takes to get their CD and tour rolling, then all will work out! Opening will be new local rock band Caroline Divine (featuring ex-Frasiers members) in their second announced concert, but what exactly do they play? Attendees can find out then, or at The Algonquin on June 5th!

Entitled "Pixo Plays For Food" and sponsored by Case's Music & The Rad Zone, tickets are available for $15 at both locations and via Pixo Control members. The event will take place on June 12th at 8:00 PM, though it is sadly a 19+ event. For more details, visit the above links! Adding to a surprisingly busy concert weekend at this Batchewana Street arena (joining The Danger Cats' roller derby sets the next day), hopefully this is a huge success for Michael, Steve, and Keeghan, so stay tuned as more info rolls in!

Also today, here's some info on a surprise album release, as Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock artist SweetKenny (real name Ken Sutton) quietly released his 12th solo album "Fleabag Hotel" on his Bandcamp page a few days ago! Honestly, a new mid-year release was likely given his usual schedule, but not as much was said about this one this time. Officially scheduled to recieve it's physical release on June 15th, the 11 song album is self-described by Ken as "a heavy rock, vocal, instrumental, high energy fun album", and it includes instrumentals and songs with vocals like usual. The album notably includes SweetKenny's Woodbangers Entertainment theme song "A New Dawn" among other new songs, some with amusing titles like "You Can Pet My Cat". Digital copies of "Fleabag Hotel" can be bought now at the above links for $12, but when can you expect a review on the site?

Not until July at the earliest, as we only reviewed last year's "Amazonian" in January, and we're still within our 6 month buffer period to avoid showing a bias or favoritism (Haggith's "Apocalypse" is coming in the next few weeks, and next month's review is to be determined.) Also, "Fleabag Hotel" is definitely next, as January's "Slobber" won't really be a "new" album anymore by the time SweetKenny's next review makes the site. Look for that then, and check out SweetKenny's albums above!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last while, all relating to upcoming Gongshow events at The Algonquin Pub! Our source for each is recent updates on the Facebook event page, and all are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Local doom metal trio AlgomA have been added as openers for the Wilt-headlined Gonqshow concert on Saturday, September 27th, though one more band is to be announced. I believe this will be AlgomA's debut at The Algonquin Pub, and their brutal sludge metal should be a good compliment, so keep this show in mind for the fall!
• Toronto thrash trio AxMinister are no longer listed as headliners for the Gonqshow event on July 4th, again via recent event page updates. A reason for their exit hasn't been announced, but hopefully nothing bad happened! The show (also featuring Alberta punk quintet Calling All Captains and local rapper Mikey Thomas) is still on though, and a replacement band is to be announced, but will promoters stay with the varied genre theme? Stay tuned for more!
• New local metal trio Faceityoureametalband (featuring RedD Monkey, Pillory, and Bear Hunters alumni) have been named as the final local openers for the Gatgas-headlined Gonqshow concert on June 27th! Good to hear that they're definitely not a one-off project, and they'll fit the show well, but we have yet to find an online page for them. We'll keep you posted when we hear more!

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