Sunday, June 10, 2018

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Project 906), Mike Haggith Updates, And Much More!!

Before we begin this post, I wanted to acknowledge some apparent concert cancellations, as Tym Morrison's advertised Mark's Breakfast Plus gigs from Monday-Wednesday evening appear to be off. Their Facebook event page was quietly deleted in recent weeks, and there's no promotion of them on SooToday either. A reason for their apparent cancellation wasn't announced, but there's no bad blood with the venue, given that he just played at Mark's on Saturday for their first anniversary. Don't miss Tym at The Water Tower Pub and Gliss next week! Now, here's some assorted recent news, a local solo artist's new updates, and some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!

Sault Michigan blues/hard rock quartet Project 906 have announced a pair of new concert dates for an upcoming weekend, as they'll make their Three One Three on Ashmun debut on Friday, June 22nd, followed by a charity concert set at The Strongs Tavern in nearby Eckerman on Saturday, June 23rd! The former concert will be the first hard rock show that we've covered at the former Back Door since Scarkazm's one-off booking there in 2016, and it's great to see this venue trying some heavier music again after far too long, so keep that show in mind! The next day's Strongs trip will see Project 906 serve as musical entertainment after a benefit fun run in support of Brenda Holmes, a Newberry woman who has been battling cancer as of late. The fun run proper will see stops at bars in Eckerman, Trout Lake, and Hulbert Township, including past Project 906 venue Hulbert Happy Hour, with runners meeting at The Strongs Tavern at 7:00 PM for dinner, raffles, and live music.

Hopefully Brenda beats this thing, cancer is awful for anyone to deal with, and be sure to visit the above links for full details on the fun run proper! Project 906's Three One Three show on the 22nd is a 10:00 PM, 21+ affair with no announced cover charge, while their set after Brenda's fun run is at 9:00 PM with a presumed 21+ age limit, and tickets can be bought for $20 at The Strongs Tavern, which include the run and the dinner/concert following. Visit the Friday show's Facebook event page and the above links for more details on Project 906's stacked lineup in two weeks time!

Next up, here's the latest from Sault Ontario/Manitoba alt-hard rock solo musician Mike Haggith, who recently arrived back in Thompson after spending some vacation time in his hometown Windsor! As per new updates on his Facebook page, Mike will play his first full-length solo concert set in Thompson on Sunday, June 24th at their Nickel Days festival (basically their Rotaryfest equivalent.) The Nickel Days schedule actually has Mike headlining on the 24th at 6:00 PM, while his new Thompson-based pop rock band Between the Ditches are co-headlining at 5:00 PM the previous day. Hopefully the sets go well on the big festival stage later this month, and follow Between the Ditches too if you've missed Mike drumming in a band! In the realm of new music, Mike did post this video to his page on Thursday, and it's of an acoustic rendition of his new original song "Over Indecision", which is presumably planned for his next solo album, details forthcoming.

Not a bad song in this form, downbeat but melodic, and I like the inclusion of some guitar-slap percussion for variety! It'll be interesting to hear how the teased album will sound (might it be all acoustic like his Thompson-era videos suggest?), but definitely check out "Over Indecision" below!



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

  • Defunct local alt-hard rock trio The Din cryptically changed their profile picture on Thursday to a black square that says "July 21 2018", with no further comment. I have no inside knowledge on what exactly the date means, but for what it's worth, July 21st is a Saturday this year, and is the expected date for Rotaryfest's Stage 2, in a year where the festival's music theme is centered around local band reunions. That theory could be wildly off base, but I'm just throwing it out there! We'll learn more soon, one hopes!
  • Reunited local funk/hard rock/improv collective Gianni Gagoots and indie/hard rock quartet Id Iota will both be among the musical lineup at this year's Northern Vibe Festival in nearby Ophir over the August 24th weekend! We're not calling this as a concert yet on the SMS because we don't know what day each band is playing on, but they'll be joining such familiar acts as The Road Waves and The Dynowaves, among others. This year's installment is shaping up well from what I've noticed so far, so visit their website for current and continuing details! Tickets are on sale there for $90 for the full weekend or $60 on Saturday alone.
  • According to their Instagram page on Thursday, local indie/punk quintet Northwest have finished their second EP, which will have four original songs, and they "will have new music to share very soon." I'm surprised this hasn't made Facebook yet, but this is great to hear, and hopefully the EP comes out in the near future!
  • In a Facebook page post on Friday, local punk trio Redundant indicated that their debut album will be released in "early July", and launched a contest where fans who like and share that post could win a free copy. This lines up with their earlier promise to release the album in time for their Vans Warped Tour set on July 17th, but will things go according to plan for this long gestating CD? Stay tuned!
  • In a minor housekeeping note on The Sault Metal Scene, I have relegated our link lists to our own feature profiles in favour of promoting our general links for venues, stores, photographers, festivals, and the like. This way, our sidebars are less self-centered and will give these active, useful pages some more attention from readers who only tend to read new posts. Plus, I'm know there's a former musician who will remain nameless that won't mind old profiles of his/her projects getting fewer mentions... 
  • It's apparently official: Richard Mulligan is indeed Treble Charger's current drummer! Rotaryfest's website's write-up on the local/Toronto indie/punk veterans credits him as a band member, which backs up earlier Wikipedia edits indicating that he replaced touring drummer Jason Pierce in 2013, and possible live concert acknowledgements in the interim. I know nothing about Richard as a musician beyond Treble Charger, but hopefully he's contributed well with the guys and continues to do so at Rotaryfest on July 20th!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

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