LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Pixo Control & Ten Kings), A New Album, And Gonqshow Updates!!

Let's touch on some recent big news items on the site today, including updates to an ongoing concert series, a surprise new album release, and LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS! If you're wondering, our River Jacks concert preview is coming in our next post. Now, here's what you need to know!

New Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Ten Kings will play outside of the Kewadin Casino umbrella for the first time next month when they rock The Savoy Bar & Nightclub on Friday, June 5th & Saturday, June 6th! It's great to see this regional supergroup expanding their territory to take some different stages, so whether you haven't seen Ten Kings live yet, or you're familiar with them from their Kewadin gigs, you might want to write these dates down! Just for reference, remember that The Savoy has hosted outdoor gigs under their old Summerfest umbrella in the past, but nothing indicating that is on the band's own Facebook event page. Both shows have 10:00 PM start times, neither has an announced cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend either. For more details, check the above links, and stay tuned for more from Ten Kings!

Next up, Sault Ontario hard rock/alternative trio The Pixo Control will headline a huge fundraising concert on Friday, June 12th at The Rankin Arena! The self-promoted event is intended to raise funds for the band to produce a quality North American tour this summer and full release of their upcoming debut CD, and to that end, the show will feature free pizza, games, prizes, and a cash bar as added incentives to take the drive out to The Rankin Arena for this event. You don't see a whole lot of fundraisers of this scale from local hard rock bands (Garden of Bedlam and Stillbroke had notable ones during their heyday), but if this can put a dent into what it takes to get their CD and tour rolling, then all will work out! Opening will be new local rock band Caroline Divine (featuring ex-Frasiers members) in their second announced concert, but what exactly do they play? Attendees can find out then, or at The Algonquin on June 5th!

Entitled "Pixo Plays For Food" and sponsored by Case's Music & The Rad Zone, tickets are available for $15 at both locations and via Pixo Control members. The event will take place on June 12th at 8:00 PM, though it is sadly a 19+ event. For more details, visit the above links! Adding to a surprisingly busy concert weekend at this Batchewana Street arena (joining The Danger Cats' roller derby sets the next day), hopefully this is a huge success for Michael, Steve, and Keeghan, so stay tuned as more info rolls in!

Also today, here's some info on a surprise album release, as Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock artist SweetKenny (real name Ken Sutton) quietly released his 12th solo album "Fleabag Hotel" on his Bandcamp page a few days ago! Honestly, a new mid-year release was likely given his usual schedule, but not as much was said about this one this time. Officially scheduled to recieve it's physical release on June 15th, the 11 song album is self-described by Ken as "a heavy rock, vocal, instrumental, high energy fun album", and it includes instrumentals and songs with vocals like usual. The album notably includes SweetKenny's Woodbangers Entertainment theme song "A New Dawn" among other new songs, some with amusing titles like "You Can Pet My Cat". Digital copies of "Fleabag Hotel" can be bought now at the above links for $12, but when can you expect a review on the site?

Not until July at the earliest, as we only reviewed last year's "Amazonian" in January, and we're still within our 6 month buffer period to avoid showing a bias or favoritism (Haggith's "Apocalypse" is coming in the next few weeks, and next month's review is to be determined.) Also, "Fleabag Hotel" is definitely next, as January's "Slobber" won't really be a "new" album anymore by the time SweetKenny's next review makes the site. Look for that then, and check out SweetKenny's albums above!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last while, all relating to upcoming Gongshow events at The Algonquin Pub! Our source for each is recent updates on the Facebook event page, and all are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Local doom metal trio AlgomA have been added as openers for the Wilt-headlined Gonqshow concert on Saturday, September 27th, though one more band is to be announced. I believe this will be AlgomA's debut at The Algonquin Pub, and their brutal sludge metal should be a good compliment, so keep this show in mind for the fall!
• Toronto thrash trio AxMinister are no longer listed as headliners for the Gonqshow event on July 4th, again via recent event page updates. A reason for their exit hasn't been announced, but hopefully nothing bad happened! The show (also featuring Alberta punk quintet Calling All Captains and local rapper Mikey Thomas) is still on though, and a replacement band is to be announced, but will promoters stay with the varied genre theme? Stay tuned for more!
• New local metal trio Faceityoureametalband (featuring RedD Monkey, Pillory, and Bear Hunters alumni) have been named as the final local openers for the Gatgas-headlined Gonqshow concert on June 27th! Good to hear that they're definitely not a one-off project, and they'll fit the show well, but we have yet to find an online page for them. We'll keep you posted when we hear more!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for some mid-week concert previews and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Vesperia, Of Tall Tales, AxMinister, And The River Jacks!!)

Before we begin, I wanted to apologize for yet another missed Mourning Wood concert, as the classic/hard rock trio played a short notice matinee concert at The New American Pub on Saturday night, as per their Facebook page that day. The alert came too late for us to slide it into a timely post, but it was their first New A set in two months. Had this show have had more advance notice, we'd have definitely plugged it here, but our apologies either way! Now, today's post is entirely devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, all from a newly announced concert series taking place over mid-2015, so here's what you need to know!

Local concert promoter J.D. Pearce has announced a summer concert series called The Gonqshow that will see at least 10 different concerts hit The Algonquin Pub over a four month span between May and September! The first time that he's announced such an ambitious long-term run at a venue since the short-lived Heavy Thursdays at The Rosie, most of these concerts will have $5 cover charges, and all will likely have local opening bands. You can get more details at the official Facebook event page, but the first Gonqshow date (barring any interim announcements) will see Calgary punk sextet The River Jacks make their local debut on Wednesday, May 20th! Taking place early in their cross-Canada tour, their up-tempo punk sound with a folk tinge and message should find an audience here next month, so keep this show in mind as the Gonqshow begins! For reference, The River Jacks have touring bands joining them across Canada, just not in the Soo.

Local openers are being sought for this and most other shows that J.D. has planned for The Gonqshow this year, so message him at this link or above if you want to open for The River Jacks next month! Unless later stated otherwise, this is a 19+ event with a $5 cover and a likely 10:00 PM start time. For more details, visit the above links! This should be a great way to kick off this series, so don't miss The River Jacks' folk/punk attack!

Two Saturday night events (on May 30th and June 27th) await a public announcement of who's playing them, but next among announced Algonquin Pub events in this series is a wildly diverse concert on Saturday, July 4th that will be headlined by masked Toronto thrash trio AxMinister in their local debut! Possibly familiar as well for sharing the stage with locals AlgomA at a Sudbury event in June, their gritty pounding thrash originals should also make lots of fans on the Fourth of July (the SMS' eighth birthday too!), so keep them in mind! When I said this was wildly diverse, I meant it, as Alberta pop punk quintet Calling All Captains will open in their own local debut, and while a far cry from AxMinister, their energetic alternative sound will be familiar for fans of bands like A Fall From Innocence, so they'll find a good response as well! Capping off the wide sound array will be local rapper Mikey Thomas, and fans of his Blood Shed sets will know his skill for that genre!

There's arguably a little something for everyone at this show, which will again likely be a 19+ affair with a 10:00 PM start time and a $5 cover charge, so check the above links for more details, and whether you love thrash, punk, rap, all, or some of the above, keep this show in mind for July!

Next on the Gonqshow slate is an Algonquin Pub concert on Saturday, July 18th that will see Sudbury hardcore punk quartet Of Tall Tales make their own local concert debut! Some readers may recognize them from sharing the stage with local bands at the last two Rock 'N Roar Battles of the Bands in Spanish (they and locals Beaumont Avenue both placed last year, earning opening slots at last August's Rock 'N Roar Festival), but this will be our first chance to see O.T.T. on a local stage. Their originals (which give me a Howard Jones-era Killswitch Engage vibe at times) should impress many local fans in July, so definitely check them out, especially for their Backstreet Boys cover! Local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades will be one of at least two local opening bands for this show, and message J.D. A.S.A.P. via the above links if you want to open for this show too!

Again, this show will have a $5 cover charge, 19+ age limit, and 10:00 PM start time unless stated otherwise, and we'll let you know if something is! It's great to see Of Tall Tales finally make their local debut, and they should leave a huge impression, so keep tabs on this show as more updates roll in! 

Lastly for today, we'll head to The Algonquin Pub on Thursday, July 23rd, where Toronto folk/death metal quartet Vesperia will make their local concert debut amidst the Gonqshow! Formerly known as Bolero and featuring Hallows Die drummer Dylan Gowan in their lineup, Vesperia's melodic extreme metal sound will definitely pique the interest of many metalheads, especially given their experienced and talented lineup, so do not bypass this one in July! For reference, Shit Liver are playing with both Vesperia & Hallows Die in Sudbury this Friday, click here for more details. Local openers are completely undetermined as of this writing, but again, if you want to open, message J.D. via the above links! Like the above shows, this one will likely have a $5 cover charge, a 19+ age limit, and a 10:00 PM start time unless stated otherwise. For more details, visit the above links, and definitely remember this show for some summertime metal brutality! Stay tuned for updates!

There are four more shows in August and September among the Gonqshow roster, which we'll touch on in an upcoming post to spread them out, but the above links will give you info on them before then! J.D.'s outdoing himself once again, so kudos for what should be a stacked summer concert season, and I'm sure he's not done yet! Stay tuned for more here and on Facebook to come, and for more news and notes as they roll in! Thanks everyone!