This Weekend's Local Concert Previews, And A New Free Refill Video!!

Hey there, fellow metalheads! Today's a double post day, and quickly before we start, I wanna note that this is the 500th post that has been featured on the SMS' website since I launched it in December 2008. Amazing how it took just 21 months to hit that milestone! Thanks everyone for coming along for the ride! I don't have anything special planned at all to mark the occasion though, today is business as usual, as we preview this weekend's local metal and hard rock concerts! So let's begin!

We'll start TONIGHT for a prominent tribute band's local return, as Toronto-based Guns N' Roses tribute Gunz N' FN' Rosez come back to Sault Ontario! Veterans of Hempfest, GNFNR were last seen locally in January at The Speakeasy, and will now look to conquer the stage at The Rockstar Bar in their latest local stop! These guys definitely pull off a good version of the Guns N' Roses sound, and they have the look mostly down as well! They're definitely a good tribute band, and local fans will be sure to enjoy them as much as they did in January! Joining them tonight as the local openers are local classic hard rock cover band Turner Up, in a rare supporting performance! Expect lots of great classic covers from them in support of GNFNR, and if you wanna see just Turner Up this weekend, I'll have you covered a bit later! Now, tickets for tonight's show are $10 at the door, and trust me, this'll be worth the money. The show starts at 10:00 PM, and you must be 19 to enter. For more information, visit the above links or the official Facebook event page! This should be a fun concert, cause after all, who doesn't love hearing classic songs like this? Both bands are very talented, make sure to go check them out tonight! For a video preview, here's a video of Gunz N' FN' Rosez playing "Night Train" from a Niagara Falls show last month!



The tribute bands keep on coming tomorrow night, but this time, things get a lot more progressive, as Burlington, Ontario's 2112: A Tribute To Rush finally come to Sault Ontario! Originally scheduled to come here in June, the date was eventually cancelled, but 2112 are still making their way to town for a concert tomorrow night at the same venue, The Canadian Nightclub! Though there's no event page for the concert, a Facebook e-mail from The Canadian's Mary Lou Johnston and 2112's concert listings page both confirm this show, so it's definitely on! So this show will also take place at 10:00 PM, with a $5 cover charge, and like your usual bar show, you must be 19 to enter. For more details, check the above links! 2112 definitely capture the sound of Rush much better than the look of them, but the music is the main focus anyway, and they pull it off well! Rush are hard to cover, but they do an admirable job, and Rush fans will likely have a good time tomorrow night! Don't forget about this show, cause it'll be a good one, and it's the closest thing to Rush themselves that we're likely to get this year! For a video preview, here's 2112 playing "Red Barchetta" at a show in April!



Now, to the other Turner Up concert I alluded to earlier! You know that they usually play two shows on a given weekend, and keeping with that pace, they'll be back at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday night for a headlining set of their very own! Like the GNFNR show tonight, it will have a 10:00 PM start time and a 19+ age limit, but on Saturday, there will likely be no cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page and Turner Up's Facebook group! This should be a fun show, cause Turner Up always impress at their live shows with their classic hard rock sound, so check them out on Saturday if you don't see them tonight! For a video of Turner Up's current lineup playing "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw, click here!

And finally, we head to Sault Michigan for a concert set, as young local cover band Free Refill return to the stage as one of the entertainers at this year's Oktoberfest! Hosted by The Downtown Development Authority, Oktoberfest takes place along Portage Avenue in Sault Michigan on Saturday from 10:00 AM until midnight, with Free Refill among the performers playing on the big stage in the middle of Portage Avenue from 5:00 PM onward! Their MySpace page suggests they're on at 9:00 PM, but I can't verify an exact time for their set, nor other performing acts. Aside from the music, Oktoberfest will have a farmer's market, vendors selling food, arts, crafts, and more, as well as activities for kids as well! Sounds like a fun time, get more Oktoberfest details at this location! As for Free Refill, this is the last listed concert from their summer bookings, so this could be your last chance to see them for a while yet, so consider heading to Oktoberfect to check them out! They're a promising young band and have some good potential! Check the above links for more!

As for a video preview, we have a brand new Free Refill video for you guys to check out! We'd been without video footage of them for some time now because the old concert clips on their MySpace page were deleted, but we finally have a new Free Refill video to share! This is courtesy of YouTube user mortallycoiledsnake, who is one of the band members, though I'm not 100% positive on which one. If you visit that link and see no video, don't worry, they just made the video unlisted for whatever reason. It's freely available to check out if you have the link, and I discovered it on their official website today, so here's what you should know! It's from last month's Sugar Island Festival, and it's their rendition of the Metallica classic "Enter Sandman"! Not bad, though the guitar's definitely lower in the mix than it should be, and I think Mary Gilbert's voice suits a more melodic song than "Enter Sandman". The video's also shot at a far angle, but it's still good though! These guys have talent, and it's interesting to see how far they'll get in the coming months!



That's all for now, but stay tuned tonight for the SMS blog's 501st post, which will be this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, as we talk about Fifth Way and Marky Lion! Stay tuned for that tonight! Thanks everyone, and go see some concerts this weekend!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (2112 & Grady) And New Local Concert Videos!!

Well guys, we have a packed post today that's full of interesting news and notes, including brand new local metal concert videos, and kicking things off, two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS that you should know about! So here's what you should know in this packed update, but first, remember to check out this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on Lower S.E.S. in the post below!

Firstly, we have a very short notice concert, and I apologize for not having this earlier, but this band is not on Facebook or MySpace, so it slipped me by until today. Burlington's 2112: A Tribute To Rush will make their way to Sault Ontario THIS FRIDAY for a show at The Canadian Nightclub! This was confirmed by The Canadian's Mary Lou Johnson by an e-mail sent today to members of their Facebook group. You may remember that 2112 were originally advertised to play at The Canadian in June, but the show was cancelled a day before, and the band had never announced the show themselves on their website. Well this time around, there's no dispute: 2112 ARE COMING! They list the show on their concert listings page, so both band and venue have confirmed it! This show will take place on FRIDAY NIGHT at 10:00 PM at The Canadian, with a $5 cover and a 19+ age limit. Check the above links for more! Rush are a very hard band to cover, but 2112 do an admirable job, and fans should enjoy their live concert, cause they pull off their sound pretty well! Check them out, and again, sorry for the short notice!

The other new concert I have today marks a long awaited metal return to a local concert venue! On November 16th, Grady make their long awaited return to Sault Ontario, in their first local date in over a year! Their last stop here, in October of last year, was dogged by a low turnout from both a weekday placement and that whole threatened boycott, but this time, there hopefully will be no issues! Based out of Austin, Texas, they'll bring their unique brand of country-influenced metal to... The Grand Theater?! Yes, a metal band returns there for the first time (I believe) since May of 2009, when Sense of Truth took part in the free Skate4Cancer fundraiser show there! It's been a LONG time coming for a heavier concert there, and it's great to see something up our alley there again, cause The Grand's a very nice venue! This show, presented by Beyond Borders at LopLops, will be at 8:30 PM on November 16th. No word yet on if this will be all ages or not, or on admission prices. The Facebook event page says that tickets will be on sale at LopLops' official website, but forms for Grady tickets have yet to be posted. Expect them to be no less than $5 though, and admission at the door should be available. Check the above links for more!

This should be a great show, Grady are a great band who effectively mold gritty metal with some nice Southern tinges to create a unique sound! I had fun at their show last October, and, as Facebook says, this show will definitely "rock you into December"! Check them out if you haven't already!

Closing today's post are some new local metal videos, and firstly, we have brand new videos from new local metal trio Sativa Rose! These come from their concert at GLOW Nightclub this past Saturday (the first metal show at GLOW since the renaming), and they are two more performance clips of some of their covers! Both of these videos come courtesy of YouTube user John Veale's YouTube channel, and both feature a guest singer in place of Adam Veale and Andrew Angelic. The guest singer is Jason Roy, and he doesn't have a bad voice, though on heavier stuff, he does get a bit more chaotic and messy. This is especially evident on their cover of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell", but it's well played, even in what sounds like a different tuning. The video I'm embedding below works better, it's Sativa Rose (and Jason) covering Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me"! They have the song down better, Jason's voice matches up more, and it sounds good! They have definite talent, and I can't wait to see them live! If it wasn't for my cold, I'd have been there on Saturday! Oh well, check out the videos above at the relevant links, and "Talk Dirty To Me" below!



And finally, remember on Saturday when I featured the newly uploaded YouTube videos of Garden of Bedlam's headlining set at the Rotaryfest Second Stage? Well, only six of the eight performed songs were online when I first discussed them, with "Your Disgrace" and "Around The Bend" absent. I had feared that there was a technical or sound issue with the recordings, but never fear, the band uploaded them to their official YouTube channel later on Saturday! Both are again soundboard quality recordings, much better soundwise than the ones I filmed were, but are far from the stage compared to mine. Great audio, and great songs too! "Around The Bend", the band's newest public original, sees them exploring ballad territory for the first time, while I've embedded the heavier and catchier "Your Disgrace" below to check out! Definitely a great show, and it's nice to have a better take on their full set online! Check the above links for more, and here's "Your Disgrace"!



That's all for today, and I know I promised a couple things for today's post, but I wasn't expecting a lot of major stories to flood my newspile over the last many hours. So tomorrow, look out for a newly discovered local metal band, a band looking to play here, and a couple more local metal videos! That is, if nothing major comes out before then. Stay tuned for that, and more, as well as our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profiles on Fifth Way and Marky Lion by Thursday! Thanks everyone!

A Concert Cancellation, A New Local Band, And Much More!!

Greetings everyone! I have some more local metal news to share with everyone on this fine Wednesday evening! Mostly assorted news that's piled up lately, but we're kicking things off in style with a new local metal band and a concert cancellation. So here's what you need to know!

(EDIT: 4:32 PM): According to a posting on The Canadian Nightclub's Facebook group by Mary Lou Johnson, the planned performance by Burlington's 2112: A Tribute To Rush has been cancelled. No reason as to why was given, but to be fair, the band never announced the show on their website. In their place tomorrow night will be DJ Beetle, so if that's your thing, head on out! According to the same posting, Mary Lou mentioned that a Bon Jovi tribute band would be playing at The Canadian next weekend. I will research which band it is and will plug the show in my next post if I can verify which band. Stay tuned! Shame that 2112 cancelled, but they do a good job covering Rush, hopefully they will come here for a show one day in the near future!

Next up, I have discovered a new local metal band! They are called Hammerspace, they are a progressive metal band from Sault Michigan, and I just came across their MySpace page in some Google crawling I conducted earlier today! They launched their page on April 26th of this year, though depending when they wrote their description, may have been together since January. These guys have played live at least once, rocking out at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill on May 6th, and believe me, if I'd have known about Hammerspace then, I'd have alerted you guys to the show! The band consists of singer Logan Reed, guitarists Justin Smith & John Bergeron (creator of the local psychedelic/trance project Immortal Danish), former Burn The Day bassist Tim Padoba, and Bent Rollercoaster drummer Paul Burns! Nice to see them getting back into the local scene!

Hammerspace have no videos online that I've seen, but lucky us, they have audio! Click here to check out four live songs from a practice session in April! My assessment of them is: Not bad, the songs have a nice groove, though Logan definitely sounds better when he's using angrier harsher singing than with his cleaner singing voice. I imagine it'll be better to judge Hammerspace though when they get better audio samples, or more live shows booked, but they have obvious promise! I can't wait to hear more, and when I do, you'll find out here!

Thirdly today is some updates from local music store Case's Music, which has been a well known source of musical instruments and lessons for many years! Owner Mike Case handed over ownership of Case's Music to his nephew Jay Case and his wife Carrie Suriano, who will be renovating the Spring Street-based building this summer prior to a grand re-opening in September! Local music fans will be sure to recognize Jay from his work in numerous local bands, including Bigsuit, The Chris Belsito Band, The Wild Turkeys, and Big Wheel & The Spokes, so he's definitely got the music genes in him, and should do very well as the new "Case" of Case's Music! So to all you musicians out there, things are in good hands over at Case's Music! Sad to see Mike retire though, he was an ardent supporter of young local musicians, it was apparent each year with the Case's Music Battle of the Bands he put on, which helped give some young local bands their first exposure, including 2008 high school division winners Stillbroke! Also of note, Jay will be bringing many new musicians with him for the re-opening as additional teachers at Case's Music, mostly bandmates of his, including Crank Sound Distribution's George Ravlich (himself a veteran of some local metal/hard rock bands) as a bass instructor! Check out SooToday's article on the Case's Music ownership change by clicking here!

Before we close with some assorted quick stories, here's a new video I found online from local metal guitarist/solo artist Brendan Christie! It's an acoustic performance of the first movement of a new classical piece he wrote called "Ode To Darkness", and I have to say, I like it! It has kind of an ominous melody that would fit well in a metal song if he chose to go that route with it! I've always been impressed with Brendan's talent, this is just another example of the things he can do on his guitar that set him apart! Check it out below, and visit his YouTube channel for more videos from him, or his MySpace page for audio samples and more!



Finally for today, three more random stories from my news pile, in order by band name:

• SooToday has been running a weekly feature called "Friday Hot Shot" since April, which features a locally relevant photo of some type taken by Donna Hopper. This past Friday, it featured a photo of Lion Ride guitarist Marky Lion from their concert on May 22nd at The Canadian Nightclub! Curious that there was no review of the show posted too, but I'll take what we can get! Check out the great photo by clicking here!
• My apologies for the lateness of this, I don't know how it slipped me by! A new local band named Nocturnal Majesty (out of Sault Ontario) are looking for a drummer who would like to play for them! Kory Derasp from the band stresses that anyone interested must be a serious drummer. Their old drummer left for family reasons. If you're interested in trying out for this position in Nocturnal Majesty, contact Kory Derasp at this location! Just to note, they practice on Mondays and Tuesdays. Sorry for the late posting of this, Kory!!
  
• The announcements of bands playing the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival has been incredibly slow, hopefully they announce a full lineup soon! Regardless, I have found another confirmed band! Boston rock band StilrizE will be back for the festival, playing on July 23rd as one of the support bands for Three Doors Down, along with Finding Clyde and many others! You may recognize StilrizE as one of the bands who backed up Papa Roach last November at Kewadin! I don't think StilrizE are really "metal", but seeing as they're part of the festival, they should get mentioned! More about the festival as it comes in!

That's all for now, I will have much more in the next few days! Friday is likely for a new post, I have an announcement to make on Friday concerning the SMS' 3rd anniversary, so keep an eye out for it, because I need your help concerning it! Stay tuned!