LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Destroyer & Handsome Sandwich), Show Postponements, And Much More!!

To kick off this post, we have two late clarifications for shows this weekend, including a postponement and an apology. For the former, it came out this morning that Kinross, Michiagn classic/hard rock trio Banned have postponed their Runway Bar concert in Hessel from last night to TONIGHT, as per their Facebook page. A reason for the postponement wasn't announced, but the venue had advertised the show being on Saturday previously, so the band must have gotten mixed up. We went with Banned's advertising for recency's sake, but they have since corrected the date, so keep their Hessel return in mind for TONIGHT! Also, I want to apologize for missing the late notice return of Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck to The Rednecks Saloon last night, as that show was only publically announced online yesterday evening with an hour's notice, way too late for us to rush a post to cover it.

The show started at an unusually early 7:00 PM as a continuation of efforts by Soundcheck to retain patrons during Rednecks' Friday chicken wing nights, having debuted the concept with an 8:00 PM show earlier this month. I have no idea if the matinee timing is helping with attendance moreso than at The Park Grille's live band experiment, but hopefully it was a great show, and profuse apologies again for missing this show on the site! We'd have covered it in our weekend concert previews had it received more notice!

Now, here's a pair of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the coming months, starting with a trifecta of hard rock and punk music at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, June 10th as part of their kick-off to the summer season! The bands playing in two weeks are new genre-less (albeit alt/punk sounding) trio Handsome Sandwich in their Rockstar Bar debut, alternative hard rock trio The Din, and reunited hard rock quartet Eclipse, so prepare for a solid night of musical entertainment from these three acts! Notably, this show will also help re-open the venue's outdoor patio for the season, so keep that angle in mind if you've missed it lately! Visibly a co-promotion of Paperclip Productions and The Din, there is a $5 cover charge is in effect for this 19+ concert, which has a 10:00 PM start time, and a merchandise table for all three bands is also being hyped. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and don't miss this intriguing union of rising bands in two weeks time!

Also newly confirmed is the return of Windsor-based Kiss tribute band Destroyer, who will make their (at least) fourth local concert appearance when they rock The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, July 29th! Continuing their recent trend of biennial concert appearances, in the Soo, this will be Destroyer's first appearance here in 2 years, last rocking the same venue in late May 2015. As fans will have seen in their prior local gigs, Destroyer bring a faithful looking and sounding tribute to Kiss at every show, so if you want the best, here's the next best thing! As of this writing, there is no advertised opening band, which would be typical, but remember that the now-dormant Griphook opened for Destroyer locally in 2015. Unusually, The Rockstar Bar has yet to acknowledge this show publically on their own Facebook group, but expect an announcement in the coming weeks, I would assume.

This 19+ concert should have a 10:30PM-ish start time, and while tickets don't appear to be on sale yet, note that the 2015 Destroyer show here had $12 advance tickets at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk, while door admission jumped to $16. Again, tickets are NOT on sale yet, and may not even be that price. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and stay tuned for updates as they roll in!

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 doom metal trio AlgomA's third split album has been announced, and it will see them sharing a cassette tape with local/St. Catharine's goregrind trio Shit Liver! The split was first announced via this image on AlgomA's Facebook page on Monday, and it will come out via AlgomA's old label Dead Beat Media, who have put out all AlgomA releases sans the Hooded Menace split. A "summer/fall" release date is currently listed, so stay tuned for this unique retro split as more details roll in! No word though on if this is the teased second album from Shit Liver, or if they are still working on a solo follow-up CD, but stay tuned for updates!
• Local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters and death metal duo Twistory have both been added as openers for the Ruptured Birth concert at The Oddfellows Hall on June 4th (one week from tomorrow), as per promoters Heavy North Entertainment on the official Facebook event page last week! This will be both bands' first shows of 2017, with The Bear Hunters last seen opening for Norilsk in the fall, and Josh & Robert last advertised publically opening for Foam last June. Very solid additions, so visit the above links for full details on this brutal all ages concert!
• June 17th's planned Oddzfest II event at The Oddfellows Hall has been postponed until "later this summer" due to "some minor booking issues", as per promoter Josh Stephney on the Facebook event page yesterday. Josh didn't elaborate further, but with he & the headliners coming from out of town, either of them may have had a scheduling hang-up. Very disappointing to hear, but stay tuned for word on Oddzfest II's new date!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates next week! Thanks everyone!