LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & Mourning Wood), More Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Here's likely our last weekend concert preview post on this busy weekend, but we'll begin with a late notice confirmation, as Gnaeus WILL join The Pixo Control for TONIGHT'S LopLops Lounge concert prior to their Rotaryfest Second Stage debuts TOMORROW! Our source is The Pixo Control's Fscebook page, as the official event page oddly doesn't list a second band. Good to see, they're a natural fit, so if you can't make Rotaryfest, head to LopLops TONIGHT! Now, we have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (including SHORT NOTICE shows), the last of our previews, and some more notes, so here's what you should know on this Friday afternoon!

Local classic/hard rock trio Mourning Wood will return to The Rednecks Saloon for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band only confirmed the shows via this Facebook event page overnight, marking a rare event page for one of their concert weekends. After a weekend off, it's great to see Terry, Steven, and T.J. back in their usually busy form, with this weekend's Rednecks sets bookending the guys' Rotaryfest debut on Stage 1 at Clergue Park, so if you prefer some all ages afternoon action, be at Rotaryfest at 1:00 PM sharp! On the event page linked above, frontman Terry Eaton also clarified the band's special guests for their Rotaryfest set, with local country singer Mark Tarantini and pianist/guitarist Scott Infanti joining them for apparently the whole set, clearly indicating their country ties, so if you like that side of Mourning Wood, this will be a nice treat! Mark will also join Mourning Wood for a set at Rednecks TONIGHT, so keep that in mind as well, but no word on if the Jeff McNiece guest spot listed in the program will still occur.

Also, if you were wondering about the labelling of the band as "The Woods" in the above photo, that appears to be just a nickname for the individual members and not a name change, as they're still credited as Mourning Wood on the event page. TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S Rednecks concerts are 19+ affairs with no announced cover charges and 10:00 PM start times, so check the above links for more details, don't miss their Rotaryfest set tomorrow either, and here's Mourning Wood live last year!

Next up, we'll head across the river to look at Kinross, Michigan classic/hard rock trio Banned's August concert calendar, as per their Facebook page on Wednesday! Following their previously announced Soo Kewadin shows over the July 31st weekend, Alex, Don, and Wayne will return to The Sugar Island Music Festival in nearby Sugar Island on Friday, August 7th, which will precede a show at The Runway Bar in Hessel on Saturday, August 8th, so if you're up for some Banned action at either this long running local festival or a headlining bar gig, you have options in a few weeks! For reference, The Sugar Island Festival's lineup is very similar to past years, with it's band roster mainly comprised of festival regulars with scattered newer talent, but click here for the full schedule. Following a road trip to Drummond Island on the 15th, Banned will also return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Friday the 22nd & Saturday the 23rd!

While nothing past August 1st is announced on Kewadin's entertainment page yet, it's great to see Banned back under the Kewadin umbrella again, so keep all of the above shows in mind! The Runway & Kewadin shows have 21+ age limits, no cover, and 9:00 PM start times, while the Sugar Island Festival is ALL AGES, admission is free for kids & $10 for adults for the whole weekend, with advance buttons available at Grooves Music&& Sugar Island merchants (click here for details!) Banned will be on at 7:15 PM, and are the fourth of eight Friday bands, joining such notables as Retro Troop, Missy Zenker, and headliners 3-Zip. Check the above links for more info, and stay tuned for more on Banned's upcoming shows!

Also today, here's our last of the weekend previews (barring an extremely late notice show), as local glam/power pop trio Caroline Divine and indie/alternative quintet Aldous will join forces after their Rotaryfest Second Stage debuts to rock LopLops Lounge TOMORROW NIGHT! Joining the spate of Stage 2 performers playing extra gigs over the Rotaryfest weekend (like TONIGHT'S Pixo Control/Gnaeus show at LopLops and the Stereo North/Long Shot show at The Rockstar Bar), this will unite two rising young bands at one of their favourite venues, with Caroline Divine's retro yet current take on hard rock and Aldous' fast-rising indie rock originals sure to impress as they round out their busy Saturday, so whether you want an encore or just prefer a nighttime bar concert, you have options! A 9:00 PM door opening time is listed for this 19+ concert, which has no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and here's Caroline Divine's full set at Lopstock II last month!



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 event name:

• Edmonton pop punk quintet (and recent Gonqshow headliners) Calling All Captains are looking to play Sault Ste. Marie again on the way back home from their tour, with this Facebook event page hyping a "house/garage show" for Saturday, July 25th, or at least the intent that they'd like to play a show of at least that level next week. Heavy North Entertainment have reportedly expressed some interest in putting this show on, but if you can help out, message Calling All Captains above!
• In late updates to TONIGHT'S Man & His Machine-headlined house party concert at 124 Anna Street, the 11:00 PM headlining slot may not be booked for a local act (though rapper Mikey Thomas expressed interest), while the opening slot by local thrash/grind band Them will be retracted to a duo for unannounced reasons, which presumably means that bassist Austin McCrae won't be featured, even though he's playing tonight with Brutally Fatal. If we get any lineup confirmation, we'll let you know!
• In advance of their local concert debut at The Algonquin Pub this coming Thursday, Toronto metal band Vesperia are the focus of this new Sault Star article by Jeffery Ougler, where frontman Morgan Rider talks about the band's upcoming Wacken Open Air appearance and battle of the bands run at the hailed German metal festival, plus his music background and day job. It's a nice article to hype next Thursday's show, so give it a look at the above links! (Note that the article still lists Fractal Generator as opening, though they've since dropped out of the show.)

That's all for today, but I'll see you guys at Rotaryfest TOMORROW, as I plan to hit at least 4 bands on each stage, so hope to see some familiar faces out and about! Thanks everyone!