LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tarnished), A New Local Band, And Much More!!

It's not too often where we have an all-Sault Michigan news post on here that's not solely focused on one band or concert, but we have a nice array of topics from the E.U.P. to touch on here, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and new Facebook pages from local bands (one new, one old) to acknowledge. Here's what you should know!

We have a new band to add to our Sault Michigan band links, albeit a year or so late (my profuse apologies!), and they are St. Ignace progressive metal quintet Heavy Lies The Crown!  Publically launched in November 2018 via their Facebook page, their lineup consists of singer Brandon West, guitarists Ted Olson & Highway 63's Nathan Switzer (who joined the band in June), bassist Danny Tucker, and drummer Cale Krist. Heavy Lies The Crown began tracking studio material with producer Danny Vail as early as February, with videos posted regularly to show off their progress on Facebook. In April, H.L.T.C. made their apparent live debut in Kalkaska at Troutzilla Fest, and followed that up with a show in Saginaw in September, coinciding with the digital release of their debut EP "Scatter Brain". Fans below the Mackinac Bridge have since seen them in Saginaw & Kalkaska again, plus in Hemlock and Grand Rapids, while physical copies of the EP dropped last month.

Unless I missed something, Heavy Lies The Crown do not appear to have played local concerts yet, though I won't get into a big debate here regarding the E.U.P.'s lack of local extreme metal bands and shows in the 2010s. At least this new band is finding concerts and an audience! Their exclusively Lower Peninsula gigs may be why it took me so long to discover Heavy Lies The Crown, in conjunction with me not knowing the members from prior local bands (Nathan aside), but they musically have the chops to leave a mark locally! I don't want to show my cards in full regarding their sound, as I am heavily leaning towards reviewing "Scatter Brain" (physical cover art recreation pictured) on the SMS this month, but if you like technical metal with American Head Charge-style vocals, you should find a lot to like here. Check out more from Heavy Lies The Crown on Instagram and via the above links, stream their album on Spotify, and here's video from their debut!



Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Sault Ste. Marie hard rock band Tarnished will return to Moloney's Alley on Tuesday, December 31st for that venue's New Year's Eve party! Clearly, their debut at the 227 West Portage Avenue nightclub on December 7th went well, as they have a high profile encore coming up in just over two weeks, though unlike then, their set will be shorthanded. As per the band's Facebook page, they will be playing as an acoustic trio sans drummer Tommy Korcal for unannounced reasons, though keep in mind that Tommy's infrequently seen prior band Project 906 haven't publically put their New Year's plans (if any) out there yet. As anyone who's seen Alex and Josh and/or Nathan at Biggby Coffee can attest, they know their way around an unplugged set, and that shouldn't hurt things come year's end! Potential admission fees and dinner specials aren't out yet, but festivities begin for this 21+ event at 5:00 PM, with Tarnished beginning at 9:00. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details as they roll in!

Finally for today, we go from a new E.U.P. band to a very much defunct one, but both have Facebook pages that I didn't know existed until just recently. In this case, the band in question is late 2000s Sault Ste. Marie grunge/alternative trio Half Stupid, who quietly launched a posthumous Facebook page last fall to archive their original run. Given how their MySpace page was decimated following layout overhauls and the music transfer errors, I fully welcome this development, and I wish more defunct bands would have something similar! Half Stupid was comprised of future Crooked Music owner Zac Crook on vocals/guitar, his later Plastic bandmate Matt Williams on bass, and Twisted Manikin alum Jordan Gendreau on drums, and they had a steadily rising profile around 2008 and 2009. Their Facebook page includes a handful of videos from an old Big Bear Arena concert, plus lots of promotional, jam session, and live photographs from 10 or so years back.

Intriguingly, Zac (I assume) teased in September 2018 to "stay tuned for something NEW in the near future", and elaborated in March that they were half done recording an original song they didn't get to record at the time, but there has been no apparent public follow-through since. This was a nice find when I was initially doing research for our Defunct Local Band Profile on Half Stupid (coming next month), and if you like grunge and 1990s alternative rock, these guys delivered the goods while they lasted. Check our more above, their link on the SMS is now updated, and here's one of their three Big Bear Arena concert videos from the archives!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site this week. Thanks everyone!