LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Fall Of Earth & Mean Bikini), The Ripcordz Concert Preview, And New Videos!!

We are officially in the fall months, and let's kick things off with a packed post on this Friday morning, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one more weekend concert preview, and some new live videos. Here's what you should know to kick off your Labour Day long weekend!

Cumberland, British Columbia punk quartet Mean Bikini will make their local concert debut on Wednesday, September 27th when they headline at Algoma University's on-campus nightclub The Speak Easy! It is great to see The Speak Easy being used as a metal/punk venue again, as we haven't covered a SMS-amenable show there in over five years (pandemic acknowledged). A unique band in the sense that half of their lineup is non-binary, Mean Bikini's intense brand of skate and hardcore punk (dotted with some political lyrics) should find a very receptive audience later this month, and while all of their music on Bandcamp so far is relatively new, you have to start somewhere! Online page-less local folk punk/emo solo project Agnosticism (led by Vanity First/Hails guitarist Mikhal Muto) will open the proceedings in their first gig since playing at a private house party event with multiple other acts on August 19th.

This concert is one of four being put on by local promoters Dryer Fire this month, half being at The Speak Easy, and I hope that both do well to encourage more promoters to resume booking concerts there, especially after they completed some big renovations post-pandemic! This mid-week concert has an announced 7:00 PM start time, tickets are $10 in advance at this link or $15 at the door, and while one assumes this will be 19+, many past Speak Easy concerts were open to underage attendees if they had valid Algoma University student ID, so inquire within if this still applies. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, if you've been craving a proper metal show, this should help, as Edmonton melodic deathcore quartet Fall Of Earth will make their local debut on Friday, October 6th at Soo Blaster! Another relatively newer band with no posted media before the 2020s, Fall Of Earth bring a hybrid of metal subgenres to the table along with a standout live performance, and as they hit the road in support of their new album "From The Ashes", hopefully local metalheads come out in full force for this one next month! Reunited local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters will play their first public concert in almost two years as openers, and if you discount that Mellow D's Underground-hosted event given the venue's pop-up nature, this will be their first truly public show with a permanent address since 2019, when The Bear Hunters opened for Seax & Warsenal, also at Soo Blaster. Hopefully there's much more from Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny to come, and it's great to have them back!

The opening band will be newer local metal trio The BAG, fresh off of their set at Lopstock in July, and they should set the tone with their in your face (if mostly untitled publically) original slate and select covers! Promoted by Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger (who also hosted the big, yet private & friends-aimed event in Leeburn last month), this concert has a 7:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and admission of $15 in advance or $20 at the door. I am not sure if they're selling tickets online or if they will be solely available through local openers/the venue, keep posted for updates on that front. This should be a great time for metal fans, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Now let's wrap up this weekend's known hard rock and punk concert previews within an hour of city limits, and it's the big one, as Montreal hardcore punk trio The Ripcordz will make their post-pandemic return to the Soo TONIGHT at The Loft at The Algoma Conservatory of Music! Like The Bear Hunters above, this will be Paul Gott & crew's first stop at a permanent local venue since the fall of 2019, but they've never stopped, we just had a pandemic and the move of usual local promoter J.D. Pearce to contend with. Now they're back for another furious night of hardcore punk originals old and new, and if you saw their seven local dates from 2013-2019 or their numerous trips prior, you won't want to miss out on tonight's festivities! Local support will come by way of alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (who opened for The Ripcordz the last time they came here) and newer local punk rock quartet Far From Fine.

Fresh off of their sets at The Northern Vibe Festival, hopefully their Loft debuts go swimmingly tonight! Promoted by ex-Destroilet drummer Matt Waples in his debut booking, tonight's 19+ and 8:00 PM show has $25 tickets on sale at this link, and uniquely, Matt plans to hold a $500 raffle IF the show sells out of online tickets. Ploy to sell out the concert or just trying something different? I don't know, but if you want a shot at $500, don't wait to buy at the door! This should be a fun concert for hardcore punk fans, and long overdue in many respects, so visit the official Facebook event page for more on tonight's action, and here's The Ripcordz live!

We'll close today with new videos from Nostalgic Band frontman and veteran acoustic singer/guitarist Tym Morrison! This past Saturday, he took the hour+ drive east to Thessalon for a private booking of some description at the Pinecrest Tent & Trailer Park there, and as luck would have it, Christopher Paci was there that day and decided to film some of his set for his YouTube channel! How their paths crossed, I don't know, but Chris filmed Tym covering Toto's "Africa", Oasis' "Wonderwall", and as embedded below, Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive". Granted, this is the only one not zoomed in, but it is the longest of the three, and allows us to see the cabin space that Tym was playing at on Saturday at a little better. I'm not a huge fan of these songs, but Tym performs them as strongly as you'd expect, and his full solo concert setup came with him to Thessalon, so check these out above & below, and don't miss Tym TONIGHT at The Trading Post!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!