LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Molten Imp, Slumshine, And Soundcheck), And Esquire Club Concert Details!!

Today's post was going to be totally different, but some interesting LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS dropped for the fall from two sources, namely Second Line West venue The Esquire Club and local promoters Dryer Fire! The former reflects The Esquire's return to proper nighttime weekend concerts from local cover bands after months of pandemic-influenced matinee gigs, while Dryer Fire have four currently announced shows for the fall at three different downtown venues. Genres vary wildly on both fronts, but here's what you should know on their hard rock/punk-featured gigs ahead!

We'll start with Dryer Fire, who have booked the recently revived art punk solo project Slumshine to open for British Columbia folk solo project Ghostly Hounds on Saturday, September 17th! This show will take place at Dryer Fire's temporary venue at 285 Wilson Street, with Nicole extending the lease there into October (more on the second fall show there in a bit). Slumshine just returned to the stage for the first time post-pandemic at the Sault Ste. Marie Museum this past weekend, but one presumes there won't be the same capacity restrictions at 285 Wilson on multiple fronts, so this could be the first chance many of you have to see Brent & his pink ski mask on a public stage in over 2 years! While Ghostly Hounds don't play punk up front, there are darker thematic elements on display, and they should entertain with their personal take on acoustic folk next month in their local debut!

This presumably all ages concert has $15 advance tickets that you can buy online at this link, while the door price jumps to $20. Regardless, doors open at 7:00 PM. Should be an entertaining show for fans of unplugged folk rock hitting multiple genres on the way, so keep this one in mind, and visit the official Facebook event page for more details! The next two Dryer Fire shows don't have hard rock or punk acts, but note that ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno's solo folk project Penno Cash will open for Zachary Lucky at The Elks Hall on September 20th (details here).

Next up, let's leap to The Esquire Club, who have announced a full band schedule through mid-December for weekend nighttime cover band action, and they first dip into primarily heavier waters on Friday, September 23rd & Saturday, September 24th when classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck make their return to this popular venue! Soundcheck were not part of the rotation for The Esquire Club's "Buckets, Bands, and Birds" matinee series earlier this year, so this will be their first set of concerts there since November 2021. Good to see Terry, Cameron, Paul/Rob, and Glen back at a relatively fresh venue, at least as far as recent bookings go, and hopefully their hard rocking covers find a strong audience there next month! Note that in a comment on the Facebook picture of the schedule, singer/guitarist Terry Eaton implied that Soundcheck were at least in talks to return there on November 4th & 5th as well, but are not listed to play those dates.

If the poster is any indication, pop rock cover quartet L!me will be playing that weekend instead, but we'll let you know if the poster is in error or not, especially as Soundcheck only have the one weekend booked there otherwise. Bands playing at The Esquire Club this fall are starting at 9:30 PM nightly with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and look for more from Soundcheck soon!

We'll next head back downtown to 285 Wilson Street for the final of Dryer Fire's fall concert series (as of today, at least), where local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp will make their live concert debut on Friday, October 21st as one of the openers for Peterborough doom rapper Garbageface! Local fans will be no stranger to Garbageface from four regional concert appearances in the late 2010s at both Live705 events and at the former Oh!No festival in Leeburn, and his intense, distinctive brand of hip hop should be welcomed back by fans! Like in Garbageface's prior local stops, this is very much a mixed genre show, but how will Boyd Rendell present Molten Imp as a live act, both as a solo artist now and given the soundscapes he programs? It'll be interesting to find out! Yes, this is the show teased on Molten Imp's Facebook page, and will mark Boyd's first live concert set since AlgomA's final gig in 2019. 

The other scheduled performer on October 21st is Owen MK, a local "dark synth pop" artist who I've never heard of and can't find an online page for. I'll let you guys know if anything else surfaces, but Owen's presence adds to the genre free-for-all! Same as the Ghostly Hounds/Slumshine gig, expect no age limit, doors opening at 7:00 PM, $15 tickets at this link, and $20 door admission. Visit the above links for more details on this and other Dryer Fire-booked events hitting the Soo this fall!

Finally for today, let's take one more look at The Esquire Club's late 2022 concert schedule! First off, if you don't know who Buzzsaw Jaw (playing there next month and in December) are, I do know that they are the current band from former Stiffler's Mom bandmates Michael Davies & Jon Ferguson. Whether they play heavier songs on average or not, I don't know (I can't find an online page for them yet), but keep that band in mind! You may also have seen that local classic/hard rock cover quartet Obsession (now featuring Jess Amodio on vocals) are booked for two weekends ahead there, but the band already confirmed those dates on their website and we listed them already from there. Also, the poster clearly shows the weekends of October 7th-8th & November 18th-19th as having a replaced band with the original band name taped over, but a G is poking out from the November listing.

I may be wrong, but this does look like Tripod The Dog were originally booked for one/both weekends (Mark and crew had mainly been seen at The Esquire Club in the pandemic era), but according to the poster's Facebook caption, "one of the bands cancelled dates". If this was Tripod, hopefully nothing bad happened, and that we see them back on stage in due course! You'll note that the November 18th weekend gigs do have a replacement actively covered on the SMS, but we'll cover those shows in an upcoming post, as this one has been going on a bit long already. See above for much more from Dryer Fire & The Esquire Club, and that's all for today, but stay tuned for more on the site soon! Thanks everyone!