LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Banned), Pop Evil Videos, A New Album, And More!!

Here's a Sault Michigan-heavy post for your Friday morning, and it includes videos from a big recent concert, a surprise album release, and even a few Sault Ontario notes, but let's kick things off with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for readers in the E.U.P.!

Kinross, Michigan classic/hard rock trio Banned will return to The Runway Bar in Hessel for one night only TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, Banned only announced the show via their Facebook event page late last night, though the venue's Facebook page has covered it since Tuesday. TONIGHT's show will mark Banned's first gig since taking a road trip to Engadine (outside of our coverage range) last week, and their first in Hessel since a deer season party in November. That said, this concert is also tied to special festivities, as it coincides with the annual Snowsfest in Hessel, with this taking place during the festival's annual Pub Shuffle, so if you like pub crawls and such, click here for full details on participating venues and the favourite bar contest! And in case you're curious, this year's theme is cartoons, hence the cartoon imagery on The Runway Bar's Facebook page when covering this concert, but if there's a hidden meaning behind only using underwater-set cartoons, I don't know it.

TONIGHT'S show at The Runway Bar (I mean, Bikini Bottom?!) has a 9:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and a 21+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, best of luck with Snowsfest and the pub crawl this year, and here's Banned live!



Next up, here's (so far) the only public videos that I've found from the Pop Evil concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Valentine's Day! Uploaded by YouTube user Om G shortly afterward, these videos are of the Muskegon hard rock quintet playing their songs "Boss' Daughter" and, as embedded below, "Ways to Get High". These aren't optimal looks at this concert due to the vertical camera angle, shaky visuals, and muddled audio, but while the vocals come through fine, Leigh's range doesn't hit the heights I'm used to from Pop Evil's studio versions. These work well enough though, so check them out above & below!



Also today, here's a surprise, as Dafter hard rock solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton has released yet another studio album to his Bandcamp page! Entitled "Music For The Body", this is officially SweetKenny's 25th official album, and his second of 2018 already, but it does depart from his recent formula of intended scores for other media. Instead, this is an EP-length release featuring 6 instrumental tracks, including his recent song "Bikini", and as it turns out, he's intended "Music For The Body" to be used for fitness purposes, specifically aerobic or Zumba workouts. That's an angle I didn't expect, but hey, it shows his diverse thinking! You can buy this EP at the above links for $7, and can stream it for free there as well. It's great to see SweetKenny release a new non-score album, even if it's a fitness EP, but might we see a review of it on the site? It's possible, but given that we just reviewed "The Dogs Are Watching" last month, it wouldn't be until July at the earliest due to our 6 month anti-bias buffer period.

As well, keep in mind that SweetKenny has released six studio albums since the beginning of 2017, so I'd be shocked if he didn't have anything else put out by July. Given that, a fitness-geared EP likely wouldn't be our optimum choice for a review over a potential full length album (score or otherwise) that follows, but stranger things have happened! Give SweetKenny's new album and more of his extensive back catalog a listen above!

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

• Local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback announced on their Facebook page last week that they have begun pre-production for their debut album, and will post updates on it along with "a few surprises." No word on when and where they'll officially begin recording tracks for it, but the guys did note that their planned next concert will be in May. Intriguing, so stay tuned for more from A.D.S. as it rolls in!
• Local indie/hard rock quartet Id Iota and DJ Seith took a road trip to Espanola for rare out of town concerts last Friday and Saturday as part of the Boogie Mountain Night Jam skiing event there, as cited at this link. Hopefully the shows were a hit, and that both Id Iota and Seith made some new fans out east! However, no public word yet on Id Iota's teased new bassist.
• Former Bear Hunters guitarist Mike Vincent posted the first track from his planned second solo album onto his Bandcamp page on Wednesday! Entitled "Apocalypse", this is a well recorded technical death metal instrumental that fans of his other recent solo material should like, so give it a listen above! For what it's worth, Mike still hasn't formally released "Ultimate Chaos" in an formal album packaging on Bandcamp or elsewhere that I've seen, with the songs still only posted as separate single tracks.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!