LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Demon King, Project 906, And Generations), And More!!

Here's a packed news post for your Monday night reading, which mostly features LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next three months on both sides of the border, plus an inactive band note, so let's get things rolling!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations have announced five upcoming concerts for the next month and a half, courtesy of their Facebook group yesterday, so where can you see them next? The band will return to The Kiln at Searchmont Resort for Saturday nighters on January 24th and February 21st, so clearly their debut there on January 3rd was a hit for them to get rebooked this fast! You can also see Valerie, Joe, Pierre, and Tony back at The Full Throttle Saloon for two more concerts on Saturday, February 14th & Friday, February 27th, with the former falling over the Family Day long weekend (and on Valentine's Day). Lastly, their busy February will also include a one-nighter at The Water Tower Pub on Friday, February 20th, and because that venue never books the same band on consecutive nights, and The Kiln only books bands on Saturdays, the two gigs pair well to keep them busy all weekend!

The Kiln and Water Tower Pub gigs are all at 8:00 PM, the Full Throttle Saloon shows are at 9:30 PM, all are 19+ events, and none have an announced cover charge. Fans of this veteran group will want to circle these winter dates on their calendar, so visit the above links for more details! 

Next up, Family Day weekend for Sault Ontario = Presidents' Day weekend for Sault Michigan, and hard rock fans in the E.U.P. won't be lacking either, as local blues/hard rock cover quintet Project 906 will return to Snow's Bar & Grill in nearby Cedarville for a Valentine's Day concert of their own on Saturday, February 14th! The band mentioned this show at the end of their Facebook post thanking everyone for coming to see them at The Merch on Saturday night, but didn't note that the show will coincide with the annual Les Cheneaux Islands Snowsfest, the annual winter festival held jointly in Cedarville and Hessel over the long weekend. Full event details are forthcoming (check back on the Facebook event page), but this will be the (at least) fifth straight year where either The Islander Bar or Snowsfest included a regional hard rock band playing at Snow's Bar that weekend, typically during the annual pub crawl. Project 906 previously did the honours at Cedarville in 2023. 

We'll let you know when more comes out regarding the exact itinerary for Snowsfest and how bands tie in, but it's good to see 906 making the hour's trek again for what should be a busy weekend! Expect a 9:00 PM start time, 21+ age limit, and no cover charge on Valentine's Day. See above for more from updates from Project 906 and Snowsfest!

Also newly announced is a big Sault Ontario death metal concert for the spring, as Nashville-based death metal band Demon King will make their local concert debut on Tuesday, March 24th at Soo Blaster! Not to be confused with Maynard Hayes frontman Damon King (though imagine if they were added to the bill!), Demon King bring their own brand of technical blackened death metal to the forefront, and they have a ferocious and punishing sound that should start a good sized pit in two months' time! A multi-national touring roster will also include London progressive death metal quartet Sentiment Dissolve (who headlined at Jay's Piston Broke Pub this past May) and Norwegian death metal band Celestial Scourge. Both will deliver the brutality you expect, and how often do bands literally from Norway come here? Local openers will include death/thrash metal trio Pillory and progressive metal quartet Convergence.

Both local bands are making their first announced live concert appearances of 2026, and they are solid choices to set the tone! Promoted locally by Mikhal Muto via his newly created agency Underground Events SSM (more on them soon), this all ages concert has a 7:00 PM start time, and while tickets are not on sale yet, they will cost $15 in advance and $25 at the door, and will be available through the local bands, at The Rad Zone, and online. If yo u love death metal, especially of a technical and complex variety, you won't want to miss out on this concert, so visit the Facebook event page for more details!

Finally, I have moved local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters back to our inactive band links. This may not come as a surprise to many readers given their sporadic updates in the 2020s, but the band was last publically active on January 13th of last year, when they posted a belated music video for their song "Collapse The Sun" on YouTube, one of two new music videos spearheaded by guitarist Mitch Sirie that month. After previously being inactive from late 2021 onward, The Bear Hunters awoke from "hibernation" in July 2023 to play a private event that drummer Johnny Belanger put on at Robbie Adamson's church in Leeburn. Despite teasing that they'd be working on new music, no updates followed for almost a year, when Mitch said on their Facebook page that a final album and concert would be in the works, as connected to a contest relating to wearing band t-shirts.

Updates never came on the album or farewell gig, and while the two videos from last January (including a music video for their live favourite "Squirrel Buddy") were welcomed by long-time fans, the "Collapse The Sun" video was 100% archival content, and "Squirrel Buddy" was co-opted from Mitch's 2023 solo project Sir Hell, and only featured Johnny among other Bear Hunters members in audio or video. Mitch did say "slay tuned for more" at the time, and hopefully we do get more eventually, but their activity levels have been slow since the end of 2017, and members have talked about the eventual end multiple times in recent years. Hopefully we do hear from Nik, Mitch, Justin, and Johnny again, even if it's only once more, but stay tuned for more updates on the site this week! Thanks everyone!