LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (CureCon), Alberta Intrusion Concert Preview, And More!!

Before our review of last night's Soo Art Rocks! concert makes the site, we have a new news post for your Saturday afternoon, so what's in store? Some assorted recent news and notes, a preview of a concert going down TOMORROW NIGHT, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for an intriguing concert event later this year that, while having a lot of blanks to fill, has a lot of promise, so here's what you should know!

Local classic metal quartet Project 421 will reportedly be on the lineup for CureCon, an ambitious convention on Saturday, August 12th where local vendors and artists will come together to support each other, donate to regional charities, and support local businesses. To be held at the Royal Canadian Legion on Great Northern Road in a rare concert at that venue, this event is a co-production of Live705 and upstart local company Ma Lady Menace, ran by local entrepreneur Douglas Ewen. I'm unsure what the company name means, but Ma Lady Menace specialize in selling "crash course crates", which are basically LootCrate-esque boxes filled with just content for fans or newcomers of a media franchise or band, and now they're experimenting with live event promotion and plan to work with Live705 on some events. Very intriguing, we'll have to see where this all goes, and Ma Lady Menace are now linked on the SMS!

As far as I can tell, Project 421 (who confirmed their involvement on their Facebook page) are the only band to publically say they're performing at CureCon so far, in their first announced concert since Halloween, though we may see them somewhere prior yet. Great to see the guys back regardless, they've been missed! Live705's involvement would suggest that A Dire Setback are playing too, but I have not heard confirmation of any other acts yet. Ma Lady Menace have noted that merchandise tables and advertising are available towards the convention proper, but I'm unsure if they're seeking bands the same way or have groups in mind internally. For more details on that end of things, click here! The live band portion of CureCon will be at 8:00 PM on August 12th after the convention portion wraps up, which itself starts at 12:00 PM. Admission will be $20 in advance or $25 at the door for the whole CureCon events, or $15 for just the convention or concert alone.

The concert itself is a 19+ event, but CureCon's prior events have $5 entry for children 3-12 years old, and kids under 3 are free, while there will reportedly attached contests and band Crash Crates, details presumably forthcoming. There are a lot of unknowns yet regarding CureCon, like what kind of convention this will shape up to be (Comics? Home show? Anything & everything?), the remaining band lineup, and more, but I like the ambition on display, and I'm definitely curious to hear more details regarding CureCon, Ma Lady Menace, and other attached entities! Stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's a pair of concert previews for shows over the next couple of nights, starting with The Alberta Intrusion, a concert featuring three touring punk bands from out west that are headlining at The New American Pub TOMORROW NIGHT! Those three bands are The bands in question are Edmonton pop punk trio The Old Wives, Edmonton punk rock standouts Worst Days Down, and Calgary punk quintet The River Jacks, and they should deliver their own entertaining takes on the genre tomorrow, so be sure to check all of them out! Of note, some readers will have seen The River Jacks at The Algonquin Pub two years ago as a headlining act during their Gonqshow concert series, so if you wanted an encore, here it finally is! Local punk trio Stegadeth (replacing Talk Shit) will open the proceedings, with frontman Bill Bennett having previously opened for The River Jacks locally with Stereo North, and they should be a fine fit tomorrow, so don't be late!

Promoted by Six, Two, Oh. in their first fully promoted concert in over two months, you can apparently still get $5 advance tickets at Advance tickets are apparently now available at Northland Music, Case's Music, The Rad Zone and Big Guns Barbershop near the library downtown, though note that the price jumps to $7 at the door. A 9:00 PM start time is listed, and this is a 19+ event. This should be a great concert for punk fans, with a trifecta of intriguing Alberta acts and some local action from Stegadeth in store, so don't miss out tomorrow night, and here's The Old Wives live!



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

• Local blues/hard rock trio Electric Church are reportedly working on their debut studio album, and have been recording tracks at Mission Control Studios! We were first alerted to this when the studio shared a picture on their Facebook page of Spencer, Elijah, and Beau with Dustin Jones, and the band confirmed on their own Facebook page that they are "working up some new songs... for the album." Very cool to hear, hopefully more updates come out soon!
• The Gore Street Cafe will apparently be forced to relocate to a new venue in July, as per owner Nicole Dyble on their Facebook page on Monday. Plans reportedly called for the cafe to leave the laundromat at month's end, but for "a number of reasons", things have been extended a month. Despite many varied concerts, events, and a fan friendly business model, the cafe has had a rough go in the past year, and while Nicole hopes to find a new venue, she admitted that "the future of the cafe is uncertain." Hopefully things work out for the cafe, they're doing great things there, and fingers crossed that they find a new locale this summer!
• Were you added by a Facebook friend account called "TheSault MusicScene" yesterday? If you were curious, I am NOT behind it, and name aside, I don't believe it's related to the early-mid 2000s music website. The new page is intended to help promote & advertise local concerts of any genre, and while they haven't said who's running the page publically yet, I believe the lead administrator is a musician & former promoter.  If this page is maintained and kept up with, it could be a great resource, so keep it in mind! However, as a personal Facebook account with most posts hidden from non-friends, I can't link it here unless they relax the privacy settings so it's publically vieawable.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Soo Art Rocks! preview next! Thanks everyone!