LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck), Tarnished Concert Preview, And New Videos!!

I was not expecting to rush a new news post on the site today, but I completely blanked on previewing a concert taking place TONIGHT, let alone cover a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this weekend! Blame general quietness as of late & holiday prep, I do apologize for these being so delayed (and partially too late). To round things out, we have some new videos related to local musicians, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place TONIGHT, after previously playing there last night! I profusely apologize for the short notice and for missing yesterday's concert entirely, both were only announced via their Facebook event page on Monday, though given their recent track record for advertising their own concerts on Facebook, that's an eternity by comparison! I should have caught these well before now, I apologize again, and I hope last night's concert was a hit (same for Thursday's open mic night at Reggie's West!). Yesterday's and TONIGHT'S concerts were/are Soundcheck's first normal concerts since their Reggievelt shows two weeks ago, and if you believe their most recent Facebook post, their last shows of 2021, so if you want one more chance to see Cameron, Terry, Paul, and Glen live this year, head downtown TONIGHT!

Both shows had/have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits, but please respect and honour any & all social distancing and public health measures at Reggie's, and vaccine passports must be shown to enter the bar. Don't miss out on Soundcheck TONIGHT, I am again sorry for missing yesterday's show, and here's Soundcheck live earlier this month!

Next up, let's head across the river to Sault Michigan, where local hard rock quartet Tarnished will make their Bird's Eye Outfitters debut TONIGHT as the featured band for their 1980s hair metal theme night! Again, apologies for being so late to preview this concert, but at least I did cover it when first announced, so we're not entirely in the woods here.... but given that Bird's Eye Outfitters is an outdoor store, you'd be well equipped if you were! This will be Tarnished's first Soo date in a couple of weeks, but elsewhere in the E.U.P., you may have seen live at Huck's in Rudyard last week. If you know anything about Tarnished's range of covers, you'll know that 1980s hair and glam metal is a staple of their setlists, and they're quite a fitting band for an '80s hair theme night, especially given their current hairstyles (Nathan excepted), so don't miss out tonight if you're free and in the area!

Yes, attendees are encouraged to dress in '80s hair band-inspired outfits, and while no one has advertised a contest for them, there will be drink specials. An early 7:00 PM start time (again, I'm sorry) is in effect for tonight's festivities, which have no announced cover charges and a likely 21+ age limit, but again, please respect any public health measures at Bird's Eye to keep yourself and everyone else safe. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Tarnished live!

Now let's look at a couple of new videos with no attached concerts to let slip through the cracks, starting with a new full-album upload of local classical metal band Theatre of Night's 2010 debut album "Christmas Night"! Uploaded to the band's YouTube channel on November 10th, this may have been intentionally timed for the 10th anniversary of this album's expanded reissue from November 2011, given that all 12 of the songs return here, but that's just speculation. So much of Theatre of Night's Christmas output in recent years has been centered around live performances and re-recordings with female vocalists that I'm kind of surprised they're bringing the original-ish "Christmas Night" back like this, but it was a very solid album that will get you in the holiday spirit! This album features long-time bandmates Craig Harrison and Steve Giles alongside Steve's brother Greg as their then-drummer.

For this YouTube copy, the track listing has seen very belated edits, "Woods IV"-style. "Carol of the Bells" was moved all the way to track #2, while a number of song names were altered, though aside from "The Nutcracker" becoming "Dance of the Sugarplums", all are just shortened, in what (to me) looks like consequences of the video dimensions & chosen font. If you want a TSO-style metal take on Christmas classics, give Theatre of Night's debut album a listen below, and stay tuned for more from their camp!

Finally for today, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where new local punk band Vanity uploaded a short new video to their YouTube channel on Wednesday of them playing a snippet of Avenged Sevenfold's "Unholy Confessions". This is just a short guitar harmony video with no Keegan/Ljubov present at all, and you can only really hear the lead guitar, but is sounds good while it lasts, and it's nice to see Vanity spreading their wings further into metal! Give it a watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned (in all likelihood) for this month's CD review on the site next! Thanks everyone!