LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sykotyk Rampage), Half Past News, And More!!

Hey guys, here's one more post before I return home to Sault Ste. Marie! Today, we have news from a local music site (or two), some upcoming concert updates, and a major lineup change in a local hard rock band, but let's lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

A month after their successful return to the stage at the second Roosevelt Hotel punk night, local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage will return to The Rosie for the third punk night! This will be the first of two straight Thursdays featuring the "punk night" banner following the upcoming two week streak of metal nights there (more on those in a second), and given that it's taking place around St. Patrick's Day, Sykotyk Rampage are dubbing Thursday, March 17th "Sykotyk Paddy's Day" in honour of this show! Additional bands for this show have yet to be confirmed, but other prior punk night veterans could well return, so stay tuned for updates on that front! As with prior shows of this type, I'd expect no cover charge and a 9:30 PM start time, with a 19+ age limit as well. For more details, visit the Facebook event page! Sounds like fun, and yes, I should be at this one! I wanted to see Sykotyk Rampage this past Thursday, but with my Detroit trip, I couldn't swing it. Pencil me in as an attendee for this show, and you know this will fit the St. Patrick's Day theme well! After all, Sykotyk Rampage have tons of songs referencing alcohol and drinking, they'll fit just fine! Stay tuned for updates as they come in!

Next up, here's a major lineup change for a local hard rock band that, frankly, I never saw coming. Yesterday, it was announced that Half Past have parted ways with frontman Luke LeBlanc. This news came just two days after the band returned to the stage for a very well recieved concert at The Rockstar Bar, making the news even more shocking than it would have been. The news was broken in a note on the band's Facebook page yesterday afternoon, and though a specific reason for Luke's departure wasn't stated, I can guarantee that the split was amicable. I do know why he left, but out of personal respect, I won't publicize it unless the band does. Luke originally joined Half Past (then known as Fingerbone) in mid-2009, replacing ex-Driving Dave Home frontman John Barber as the band's singer. With Luke up front, Half Past played some notable shows like the 2009 Coch's Corner Halloween Party and Garden of Bedlam's website launch concert last spring. I have to say, Luke leaving is a big shock, as he's a great singer and a funny guy who really added to Half Past over the last 16 months. Hopefully we'll see him another band in the future!

With that said, Half Past are now on the hunt for a new singer. If you'd be interested in auditioning to join Half Past, message the band at their Facebook page, or e-mail bassist Arthur Lacasse on Facebook by clicking here! Remember, Half Past play mostly modern hard rock songs, with some really exciting originals as well, and I imagine they'll be after the best candidate possible to front the band in the future! I'll keep you posted on their singer search as news comes in!

Thirdly tonight, here's the latest lineup news on three upcoming metal concerts courtesy of local promoter Rich Moreland, who deserves lots of props for the high volume of shows he's been booking in town! Firstly, THIS THURSDAY'S metal night at The Rosie's lineup is now complete, as local hardcore quartet Changing Waves will join As It Stands and Desbarats death metallers For All That Is Lost on the bill. My source is Rich's personal Facebook page, and it looks like Changing Waves will be headlining this Thursday as well! Interesting to note that this will be the third straight Thursday that Changing Waves will be rocking The Rosie, following the last punk and metal nights there, so if you're a fan of theirs, then you've gotta be excited! Then, there's the We, The Undersigned concert at The Vibe Lounge on Sunday night, which is also being booked by Rich. He confirmed on his personal Facebook page as well that local grimecore trio Shit Liver will be one of the opening bands on that show, with WinkStinger potentially being the second opening band, though this is NOT confirmed officially yet. Sounds good to me, hopefully The Vibe becomes a more frequent metal stomping ground!

Finally on the subject of WinkStinger, they may have been added as a third local opening band for the Woods of Ypres show at The Rosie on March 10th. Though event or band pages don't verify this at present, WinkStinger guitarist Jason Ladouceur posted a comment saying "With Winkstinger!" on a Woods of Ypres Facebook posting about the March 10th show. That suggests what you think it suggests, but until something more official comes out confirming or denying this, I won't get too much further. It'd be cool to see them playing too though!

Finally, here's the latest on two well known local music sites run by Flat Stanley/Wishbone drummer Glen Thomas, those being the music site The Barking Eye and his long-running (but often controversial) forum Freq's Music Planet. In his latest news posting on The Barking Eye, Glen announced that he's planning to shut down the Freq's Music Planet forum at the end of the year due to a lack of time to properly maintain the forum due to expanding musical commitments. He's planning to focus on writing, recording, and graphics more, but has said that he'll decide at the end of the year whether he wants to shut down the forum or give it to someone else. The Barking Eye news site itself may be shut down as well due to lack of interest. Things will operate as usual for the remainder of the year though. I'm sure some of you might not shed a tear if either leaves, but regardless of content, Glen does deserve credit for starting a message board like this, maintaining it for this long, and attracting a decent sized group of users without major promotion. I can attest to how hard it is to start and maintain a forum, my attempts at SMS forums crashed and burned. I hope Glen doesn't shut down Freq's Music Planet, as there's some interesting stuff there that shouldn't be deleted, and I think there are uses for it in some form. Time will tell though!

As for The Barking Eye, I wanna say a little something. A news site like that isn't easy to find an audience for, and I can attest to that. When the SMS started as a Facebook group, it never took off very far, but with time and patience, look at where we are now! Sure, readership isn't at an ideal level, but Glen's a great writer and knows a ton about the scene, and I know people would be interested in checking The Barking Eye out if they knew about it! That's just me though, but do check out the above links to see what's up at both sites!

That's all for tonight, but I hope your March has kicked off well! Our next post will be our latest "Where Are The New Albums?" post, so stay tuned for that, and more! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Maximum RNR) And More Assorted News!!

Hey everyone, news has been slow over the past weekend, so I'm cobbling together my leftover cache of news for today, and hopefully I'll have more news and notes to share after TOMORROW'S Mike Haggith CD review! For now though, we'll start off today's news post with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Since his departure from Lion Ride early last year, I'm sure many of you have heard what local musician Brenton Ellis (a.k.a. Diamond Brent Panther) has been up to musically. Brent, under his old Lion Ride stage name, joined the Toronto hardcore punk band Maximum RNR last summer as their new singer, and after a tour run in Europe and a bunch of Southern Ontario gigs, Brent's finally coming home with Maximum RNR next month! I think this is Brent's first local concert since Detroit's last local show to date in December 2009, and at parts, Detroit and Maximum RNR have a similar sort of feel to them, so if you want a nice mix of punk, hardcore, and metal, this would be a good show to hit! It will take place on February 19th at Foggy Notions, and Maximum RNR will be joined by two more local bands that skirt the punk & metal boundaries! One is local horror punk quartet Frightlight, and the other is old school hardcore rockers Destroilet, in both of their first shows of 2011! They'll be right at home with this concert in terms of sound, and all three bands have a ton of momentum, so be sure to consider going! I'll be there, pending my camera charger's return, of course! This show will have a $3 cover and a 10:00 PM start time, and you must be 19 to enter. For full details on this concert, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like an awesome show, I'll keep you posted with updates as they come in!

Next up, Glen Thomas over at The Barking Eye has raised an interesting question in his newest posting there. What if there was a website for local musicians to sell their music? He's apparently been contemplating the idea for a while now, and when you first think about it, there could be a market for this. He figures that with only The Rad Zone left as a store that sells multiple local musicians' albums, an online store to market, promote, and sell music from local talent would be a logical next step. If he does launch into this, it'd just be for local bands and artists (maybe relocated Saultites too) who want to sell mp3 copies of their material on an independent site. There's a ways to go before he jumped into this 100%, but read what he has to say at this location. What do you guys think? I'd assume it'd be slow to get going unless some big name local bands agreed to sign on, but I think there's a market for a store like this.

The Rad Zone can be far for some people, many bands only sell their albums at their own shows, and certain local artists probably could get more press and attention if they sold their albums on a local focused site, rather than selling material through other major online sites. I do question Glen's feeling that single song downloads would be best, as that defeats the purpose of albums that many bands work hard to write and create, but still, this is an interesting thought. Check the above links for more, and if Glen furthers this idea, I'll let you all know!

Thirdly, here's an unexpected cameo by a local band in a belly dancing video, of all things! Loryen Zeytin, a Brazilian belly dancer, has uploaded a video named "Mesopotamian Metal II" onto her official YouTube channel, which includes a section where she dances to Sault Michigan death metal trio End of Existence's song "Recurring Dreams"! This take place from 1:22 to 2:02 in the video, and it's definitely something I didn't think I'd see! With that said, she is an attractive woman, and though I'm not sure how to accurately critique belly dancing, it looks like she knows what she's doing! The audio seemed very low though, is that just me? The video includes 16 belly dancing scenes set to numerous metal bands, including bands like Blind Guardian, Dream Theater, and Acrassicauda. Good stuff, and this is definitely interesting compared to a lot of local band appearances we see, so check it out below!



And finally, here's five smaller news stories in alphabetical order by band name:

• I can now confirm Changing Waves' complete lineup! The band includes Benjamin Kallonen on vocals, his old Face First bandmate Devan Lauzon on bass, and both of the Hagerman brothers (from Paraside), Mike and Alex on guitar and drums. Good to know, especially with band information so sparse, but hopefully that will change! Thanks to Devan Lauzon for the information!
• Half A Man have announced that veteran local drummer Mikey Bishop will be temporarily filling in for Doug Reed on drums for the next little while! Mikey's currently best known for his work in Summon, but local metalheads will remember Mikey and Half A Man frontman Erik Rintamaki as former bandmates in bands like Lower S.E.S. and Bludgeoned! Good stuff, and they have a gig to announce soon apparently, so keep an eye out!
• New local metal quartet Late & Loud are now on MySpace! The page includes basic band information and an upload of their jam session cover of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper", but nothing glaringly different is there compared to other pages. It says they're playing a show tonight at The Outback too, but I've heard nothing on it, so it could just be an open mic night or something. Click here to check out their new page!
• SooToday's most recent Friday Hot Shot was from Lion Ride's local concert on December 28th at The Canadian Nightclub! It appears to be a shot of Marco Lion and Cobra Carmander mid-song, and it's a nice preview for what should be a great album from Donna Hopper, whenever it's posted! Click here to check it out!
• All of Woods of Ypres' past studio albums (Woods I-IV, plus "Independent Nature") are now on sale on iTunes through their new label Earache Records! Except for "Against The Seasons" going for $4.95, the rest go for $8.99 or $9.99. If you want to buy them on iTunes, click here, but note that you must have iTunes already installed on your computer to purchase them through there. For more info, check out this poster!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of Mike Haggith's "Suspended Animation" TOMORROW, and more news to come as well! Thanks everyone!

HUGE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Buckcherry & Lion Ride), Plus Sneaky Pete & Riverin News!!

Hey guys, today's a huge news day, so let's not waste any time! We have news on a local band's new bassist, and the recording process of another local band, but first, we have two very exciting LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!! One marks a local band's long awaited local return, while the other is a major concert you guys could be very excited over! Let us begin!

The first major metal/hard rock concert of 2011 in the Twin Saults was announced last night, and for you modern hard rock fans, this will surely get you excited! On March 14th, Los Angeles hard rockers Buckcherry will make their long awaited debut appearance in the Sault area as the headliners at this concert at The Dreammakers Theater at Kewadin Casino! After false reports of them backing up Kiss on their later-cancelled 2009 local date, and inquiry about booking them for a show in August at Kewadin, Allstar Promotions finally have Buckcherry locked up for a local show! Now, you can hear them play hits like "Lit Up", "Crazy Bitch", and "Sorry" live at Kewadin in March, but that's not all, as there are opening bands! Firstly, California hard rockers Papa Roach will be in Sault Michigan for a second time after headlining at Kewadin in November 2009, and they'll have hits such as "Last Resort" and "Lifeline" in store for us once again! The other confirmed opening band is Ontario rockers My Darkest Days, who recently topped the rock charts with their hit single "Porn Star Dancing"! This is also their second local stop, following their show in September at Kewadin where they opened for Hinder. I wouldn't call My Darkest Days "metal", but Zakk Wylde does play on "Porn Star Dancing", so that's notable! Another opening band has yet to be announced. Check out all of the above links for details on the announced bands!

As previously stated, this show will take place on March 14th at The Dreammaker's Theater. Details such as the start time, certain house rules, and the other opening band aren't known yet, but Allstar Promotions have confirmed on their Facebook page that tickets will be about $38.50 (US dollars.) That being said, original estimates have tickets going on sale "at the end of the week", presumably meaning next week. I imagine it's all ages, but I'll let you guys know either way if it is or not. They've also said that this show will be a part of a Jagermeister sponsored tour of some kind, but I haven't found specific details on that front. I will of course keep you guys updated on this show as news comes in! This should be an exciting concert, and though I admit not being a huge fan of the three bands (save for Papa Roach's early years), there will be lots of rock to go around, and it'll be worth the money! Stay tuned for more news as it comes in!

The other new concert is smaller in scale, but a big deal nonetheless! On December 28th, Lion Ride make their long awaited local return! Yes, the local punk/metal rockers will be back home for a hard rocking concert over the Christmas break at The Canadian Nightclub! This will be their first local show since May when they headlined at The Canadian on the May 2-4 weekend, and after seven months away, they'll be back in the Soo to deliver some metal to their hometown fans! I'd expect to see Carmine Romano back as their touring bassist for this show, as he's played with them at their most recent Toronto-area gigs. Full details have not been announced yet, but it will be a Tuesday night concert with an announced 8:00 PM start time (that seems early.) I'd expect a 19+ age limit as well. The cover charge hasn't been announced yet, nor have the openers, though the Facebook event page hypes that the openers will be "wicked". More details will be posted there in the near future, so stay tuned over the coming weeks for updates! This should be a great show, pencil me in to be there! I wonder if we'll hear some stuff from their forthcoming full length album at this show? Check out the above links for more details, and while we're on the subject, they'll be playing a show in Barrie at The Foxx Lounge on December 3rd, click here for info!

Two more stories for today's update, and firstly, we have some big news from a local hard rock cover band. On Monday, Sneaky Pete announced the addition of bassist Sean Berlinguette (far left) to the band, replacing Dave Grimaldi, who left the band in July after moving to Sudbury. The band described him as an "active local recording & songwriting musician" who's worked with "some of the Soo's premier musical acts." I'll take their word on that, but I haven't found anything online concerning past bands Sean worked with. Still, the band glowingly praised his abilities on their Facebook page, so hopefully he's the missing piece of the puzzle! And yes, this photo is from the photo shoot they were hyping. The band added that they're ready to go public 'in the near future", they've been aggressively polishing their sets since Sean joined, and they might be playing live "when you least expect it". Nice to see their lineup complete again, and hopefully now they can finally play live! We've been waiting for months for them to make their debut, we'll have to see what's in store next for Sneaky Pete! Check out the above links for more!

And finally for today, local industrial hard rock duo Riverin are the latest subject of the "Attack of the Garage Bands" series on Glen Thomas' music blog The Barking Eye! This is the series that talks about how certain local bands self-record their own material, and it previously featured local metal acts Sykotyk Rampage and Tym Morrison in past installments. This time around, guitarist Matt Clement offers up info about how Riverin write their music, what instruments they use, how they record the material, and what programs they use. Lots of technical information to go around, and maybe some musicians out there can take some cues from Riverin for home recording! They also told Glen that they want to expand Quartertone Studios to a full basement recording studio in the near future, which sounds promising! There's also lots of info on the band and some embedded tunes to check out as well. Nice to see Riverin get some extra press, and hopefully we'll see the fruits of their labour sooner rather than later! To check out this post, and more, click here, and I'll have more on Riverin very soon!

That's all for tonight, but stay tuned, cause I have lots more to share in the very near future, including a special post where we detail updates to past bands discussed in our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile series! Thanks everyone!

Lots Of Assorted Stories, Including A New Solo Project & Upcoming Album!!

One more post before tonight's Grady concert at The Grand Theater, which will be my first concert there since the YMCA Battle of the Bands in March of 2009! Today's post is full of assorted news stories, including some concert updates for this weekend, news on an upcoming metal concert next month, the latest news from The Barking Eye, and a newly announced local album, but first, here's a brand new local rock solo project!

Browbeat frontman Dutch Vanderploeg has launched his own solo project, which is now online at Reverbnation to check out! My criteria for including solo projects as bands on the SMS is a bit strict, as they must have a clear aim to be an act that releases music and features their own material, rather than just a profile for a musician's other bands or a glorified classified ad to get into another band. Dutch's qualifies, and here's what you should know! His page doesn't have a lot to say on the project aside from his musical ambitions, but he does say that he'll be posting "never before heard songs" on the page very shortly. One wonders why he's going the solo route for certain songs rather than making them Browbeat originals, but maybe he feels the song sounds better when it's just him on all of the instruments. One song is posted so far, entitled "Eyelids Fall", and it does sound like something Browbeat would play, which is a compliment! It's unique in that the chorus has a sort of dream like softer quality compared to the more hard rocking verses, which helps set it apart! His singing is melodic and matches the song well, and his guitar work is nice and catchy! Good song, maybe we'll get a chance to hear it live down the road! Stay tuned for more on Dutch's solo project down the road, and click here to visit his new Reverbnation page and check out his stuff!

Next up, remember when I first mentioned local solo musician Mike Haggith on Thursday? Well, I left out one major note: He has an album in the works! It's entitled "Suspended Animation", and it's described as an "upbeat rock album", though still heavy! He will be finishing the mastering and the vocal tracks for the album at his label Rotten Records' main studio in Windsor next month, with the instrumental portions completed already. By my count, this is his 43rd solo album, and it promises to be one of his heavier offerings! It will have 10 tracks, and instrumental previews of two ("Sun Perfume" and "The Institution") are now available to stream on his Reverbnation page. For all current details on "Suspended Animation", click here! What I've heard sounds good, but I won't judge in detail until the final product is released. Mike told me through e-mail that he plans to release the album locally on January 5, 2011, and if it goes for sale on his internet pages, you can guarantee I'll buy it and review it on the SMS! Stay tuned for more Mike Haggith updates as I hear them, and our "Where Are The New Albums?" update on December 2nd, which will feature Mike's new album! And remember to go see him at the open mic night at The Outback tomorrow night!

Thirdly today, here's some updates on some of this weekend's hard rock concerts, as two of the scheduled weekend sets have seen adjustments. Firstly, Northern Michigan metal trio Peril have cancelled their scheduled concert this Saturday at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino. This was confirmed on their official Facebook page and in this poster, misspelling of "Sault" notwithstanding. A reason for the cancellation wasn't given, but Peril WILL be in town on Friday! This is a one night only weekend for them, so make sure to see them on Friday night at around 9:00 PM! No cover charge, you must be 21 to enter. The other updates concern this weekend's Turner Up concerts, which have been moved from The Vibe Lounge to The Canadian Nightclub. This was confirmed by drummer Scott McClurg in e-mail correspondence, and further backed up by the Facebook event page for this weekend! Regardless of location, those should be fun shows, and it will could be your first chance to see Turner Up's new frontwoman, Johnny Lunchbox singer Krista Marshall! Stay tuned for more on these concerts on Thursday for our weekend concert previews!

Fourthly, here's the newest article from Glen Thomas' great local music blog, The Barking Eye! His newest article has a hard rock bent, as it talks about the new band from a former local musician! Months ago, I mentioned local hard rock guitarist Paul Tikkanen on here, who was a member of local metal bands like Tikkanen and Thansis Colle in the 1980s. Well, Paul has resurfaced in a brand new hard rock band named Blackmeat Powder, who are based out of Peterborough. Glen talked a bit about them and their biography, and detailed a bit of Paul's local past, including the fun Glen and Paul had in Thansis Colle. Good stuff, and Blackmeat Powder have a nice sound going for them! Classic hard rock sort of sound, with a hint of Rush here and there, with nice melodic singing! Paul's the newest addition to Blackmeat Powder, and will apparently be playing live with them soon. These guys will be a good addition to our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile series down the road, so keep an eye out! Check out the above links for more, click here to read Glen's article, and to check out another of Paul's past bands, Sinisteria, click here!

And finally, here's three quick smaller news items. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band/venue name:

• The Roosevelt Hotel is holding another metal night on December 9th! That's all we really know so far, but after the success of the first one, the metal will return! Bands are to be announced, but if you want to play, or want more info, contact promoter Rich Moreland at this location! Keep up to date at the official Facebook event page!
• I apologize for missing this for so long, but local experimental grunge trio SBD have posted a new song on their Soundclick page! It's called "Don't Fart", and it has a very oddly amusing style and "appropriate" lyrics. If you're easily offended by toilet humour, don't listen, but if you're not, give it a spin! On a musical level, it's not bad, and it has a bit of a solo too!
• A new review of Woods of Ypres' newest CD, "Woods IV: The Green Album", is now available to check out at this location! It's from a German webzine named Vampster, and it's entirely in German, but just run it through Google Translate to get it in English. I find the "Twilight" comparison to be out of left field, but the translation describes the melancholy sound of the album well! Check it out, if you wanna translate it!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for my Grady concert review TOMORROW at some point, and I will see you guys at The Grand Theater tonight! This'll be a good one!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Darwin Project), Upcoming Concert Updates, And More!!

Anyone out there want some local metal news and updates? I've got you covered! Today, we mostly clear out my old backlogged news stories, along with sharing some big news from a pair of bigger upcoming concerts, and more! But first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

For the first time since the summer, Cheboygan hard rockers The Darwin Project are coming to Sault Michigan for three area concerts later this month! Firstly they'll be at Joe's Bar in nearby Rudyard for a pair of weekend dates on November 19th and 20th, followed by a show at The Savoy Bar in Sault Michigan on Wednesday, November 24th! Rudyard is in our "local" range, so if you wanna make the drive out there to see The Darwin Project, then make note of that! I'm trying to get better in tune with shows at bars in our range but not in town, hopefully I'll have more soon! And the Sault show is slightly different in location and in time, being in the middle of the week, but there's no wrong day to rock! No cover charge is listed for any of the above, but there's a listed start time of 10:00 PM on the band's MySpace page. Expect a 21+ age limit at all three shows. Expect solid nights of accessible but heavy hard rock from these guys, who seem to have developed a good following in the area! Check out the above links for more details, and to check out some samples of their originals!

Now, to some big updates on a pair of upcoming shows featuring metal bands, and we'll first discuss this month's anticipated Total Chaos punk show at The Oddfellows Hall featuring local metal acts as openers! The first headline is that this show has been bumped up from November 25th to November 21st. No reason for the date adjustment was publicized, but according to Total Chaos' MySpace page, they're actually playing a show in Ottawa on November 25th, so it looks like a simple tour itinerary adjustment to me. Secondly, the poster for the show is now out, and you can see it on your left! Looks good, nice punk feel! Promoter Aisha Day is also looking for people interested in putting up posters for this show or handing them out, so if you would like to help get the word out, message Aisha at this location! The poster also confirms there that the show will have an $8 cover charge, with doors opening at 6:00 PM on the 21st. Sounds about right, hopefully there's a good turnout!

My last point is that local death metal band Bring The Fallen are back on the bill, as per the poster and the Facebook statuses of various band members. But wait, didn't they drop off of this show following the departure of lead guitarist Andrew Chiarello? Well, there hasn't been any official updates on their pages since he left, but bassist Nolan Rainville's Facebook page does feature a wall conversation from Monday with some band members where Andrew does refer to taking part in an upcoming BTF jam session. So what's the situation here? Is Andrew back already? Is he playing the Total Chaos show only and leaving again? Or is there something else we don't know? I'll keep you guys posted if I hear more! Check out the above links for all of the current updates on this concert!

While we're on the subject of concert updates, here's some news concerning Grady's long awaited return to Sault Ontario on November 16th at The Grand Theater! Firstly, an opening band has been announced for this show, and they are The Motorleague, a punk rock band from Moncton, New Brunswick! I wouldn't call them metal, but they have a nice energy level and some entertaining hard hitting tracks to boot, so definitely give them a spin! Also, SooToday have jumped on the promotional bandwagon for this show by posting their own event page for it! It seems like their event pages for upcoming shows are fewer and farther between lately, so it's nice to see this one get some exposure! This was actually my source for The Motorleague's involvement, and their MySpace page backed that up, in case someone doubts that. Seriously consider hitting this show, guys, cause the promoters have had some setbacks when it comes to getting the word out on this concert, and there's some great quality music in store! Grady will bring a ton of great stuff to the table thanks to their "country metal" stylings that definitely have a unique coolness to them! Remember, this show starts at 8:30 PM on the 16th at The Grand Theater, tickets are $15 at LopLops Lounge or at this location, and I assume it's 19+. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

And finally for today, remember last week when I talked about the Sault Star article on CD Plus' closure that never came? Well, an article on the closure is finally online... just not from them. As it turns out, Glen Thomas of The Barking Eye posted his own retrospective article where he discussed what CD Plus meant to him and to music lovers in the community. He included some remarks about what we'll have to resort to now for music, and some notes on another fondly remembered music store, Mr. Disc. Things definitely are changing locally for music stores, as now we've lost CD Plus, Mr. Disc, and Music World, along with New Moon Records in Sault Michigan, and I could be missing others too. I did notice that Glen didn't refer to HMV or The Rad Zone in his piece, which some could see as alternatives on varying levels. But I have to say, I'm surprised he didn't mention that CD Plus was great for recognizing local musicians and selling their albums, instead mostly focusing on it as an outlet for underground and obscure titles. Still, it's a nice read, and hopefully a new similar music store, CD Plus or not, comes to town down the road! Read Glen's article, and more, at this location!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news this weekend, along with my review of Sunday's Crash Karma/Desperate Union show on Monday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (River Witch), New Videos, And Our Next CD Review!!

Hey there everyone, I have some more local metal news and updates to share on this Tuesday afternoon, including the latest from The Barking Eye, a cool new fan video for a song from a local metal band, the 100% confirmed identity of TOMORROW'S CD review, and kicking things off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! So here's what you need to know!

Sault Michigan modern/classic rockers River Witch have announced two more dates in town for this month! We haven't heard much publically from them since last month, but they finally posted a band update onto their Facebook page detailing their next local shows, which will take place on October 29th and 30th at The Bird! Note that the post mentioning these shows says that the shows are on the 20th & 30th, but the 20th is a Wednesday and wouldn't make sense, so I'm under the assumption that they made a simple typo. They also announced two shows for this coming weekend at Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace, which is outside of our "local" range for SMS coverage, but make note if you're in the St. Ignace area! Apparently, River Witch were at The Bird for a couple of weekends prior as well (band members' Facebook pages confirmed this), but the band never announced them on their page. Still, my apologies for missing them! Looks like the River Witch shows on the 29th and 30th have a 21+ age limit and a 10:00 PM start time, with no announced cover. For more details, click here!

Remember, River Witch are the band made up of most of the former members of Blind Baby, with Aaron Fasel & Chris Gurnoe in place of Tadd Gravelle & Bill Ogston. I'm told that Blind Baby play covers and possibly originals, but I have yet to hear audio of them in this current form. Check out Blind Baby's old material at this location for a possible glimpse at what to expect, and I'll keep you posted as I hear more from River Witch!

Next up, here's a cool discovery I found on YouTube earlier today! I'm sure some of you will be aware of fan-made music videos for songs, where they make up their own visual accompaniment for a song they like, be it band clips, effects, stock footage, or what have you. Well, I found one from YouTube user TheUnlovedEntity that may pique your interest in a local fashion! Under their "company name", Sanctuary Studios Production, they posted their own fan music video for Woods of Ypres' doom ballad "Allure of the Earth" from 2004's "Pursuit of the Sun/Allure of the Earth", and I have to say, it's not bad! TheUnlovedEntity puts their own spin onto the song by adding a lot of video clips that feature or refer to space, astronauts, moon landings, rocket blasts, and so on. I don't know if I'd agree that it's a good lyrical fit, but musically, it flows mostly pretty well! The videos used are pretty cool and can be affecting, with all having filters and effects placed on them, making everything seem like it's shot through thermal heat sensitive cameras. Possible reference to the sun? It is a major topic in "Allure of the Earth", after all.

This video is well edited and put together, and it's nice to see a local band get a video like this, instead of a photo slideshow or something simple. Good song too, it shows Woods of Ypres' musical versatility well! Check it out below, and click here for more Sanctuary Studios videos from other bands!



Thirdly, here's a long overdue look at the latest SMS-relevant article on The Barking Eye, which is Flat Stanley drummer Glen Thomas' great music blog! After a two plus week break from updates, Glen posted a new article on October 1st which was referred to as "The Barking Eye Flashback Attack!" In this first post of this new series, Glen posted three solo demos from local musicians of the scene's past, including the song "Things You're Missing" by '80s rock band Total Stranger (featuring local singer/guitarist Steve McPhail) and "Candy" by The Frank Rodi Project, a pop rock-sounding band that Glen once drummed for locally. However, this makes the SMS cause the last song he posted is definitely of the metal persuasion! It's from former Driver/Hostage frontman Paul Pozzebon, and it's a solo metal track called "In The City"! Not bad, has sort of a Judas Priest vibe, with great riffing and pretty good singing! Glen had said that Paul seemed to drop out of the music scene completely, I wonder what happened? Good song, check it out below, and more from Glen at The Barking Eye at this location, including the newest demos from his old band Wishbone!



And finally, I just wanted to make two SMS notes for tomorrow. First, our next CD review WILL be of Kiss' "The Hottest Show On Earth: Live In Sault Ste. Marie", as I had previously suggested! No other new local metal albums are out as of today, so I will get to reviewing our live album from August's Kiss concert later this evening! Stay tuned for that tomorrow at some point, possibly as soon as midnight! The other note is that a special SMS banner to hype you guys up for next week's Sevendust show at Kewadin Casino will be posted tomorrow as well, and will remain up for the week leading up to the concert. Should be a great one, hopefully you guys have tickets! Stay tuned for those TOMORROW! That's all for now though, but I should have more news Thursday or Friday, along with weekend concert previews! Thanks everyone!

Sykotyk Rampage, Barking Eye, And WLSO Updates, Plus More News!!

Time to clear out some more assorted stories from the newsdesk before we get to tomorrow's SBD CD review! Today, we have another new album announcement, the latest news on a local music site, how some of you could become a local radio DJ, and more! Let's begin this news post!

Just days after the release of their new album "Bella Disgusta", Sykotyk Rampage have officially announced their 24th album for release in a few months! Entitled "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of Intellect", you may remember this being mentioned during Sykotyk Rampage's "Attack Of The Garage Bands" feature on The Barking Eye from this past June. Well, the band have finally expanded on that, and have announced the first concrete details on this new album onto their Facebook page! The new album will have no less than 25 SONGS, clocking in at a 90 minute runtime. Curiously, all 25 songs have one word titles, and the album as whole is described as "A double album delving into the realm of hallucinogenic musical brainscans.". Might "G.M.W.T.O.I." return to more psychedelic effects-filled past works like on early Sykotyk Rampage albums? Time will tell! This album is completely recorded and has an announced release date of December 1st (pushed back from the original September date they gave on The Barking Eye.) I dunno if that date will hold though, as Sykotyk Rampage's past two albums were delayed from the listed release date on Facebook, but again, time will tell! I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime, click here for the current details on "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of Intellect", and buy "Bella Disgusta" today!

...speaking of The Barking Eye, Glen Thomas has been adding some new stories to the rising local music news blog, so here's the new stories he's posted! The newest article is a new installment in his "Attack of the Garage Bands" series, where he details the recording processes used by Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison to record his 2006 "Solo Project" CD! Tym discussed the equipment and programs he used to construct it, and he makes some interesting notes about the work it took and what he learned. For example, he mentions that he considered getting an outside singer for the songs because of his lack of vocal strength then, and that he readily admitted the flaws from his recordings then, including giving allusions to a second solo album! I'd love to hear more originals from Tym, here's hoping something else comes out! Whether you're a fan of his work, or want to see another way to self-record material, check this out by clicking here! The other new article doesn't directly relate to metal, but if you own musical instruments, this should interest you. It led from the recent news story about Blues Harvest saxophonist Josh Norling getting two of his saxophones stolen, followed by a lot of very good suggestions from Glen about how to prevent music gear theft, and other stuff you should know.

Definitely read that article if you own musical instruments or other music gear, this could help more musicians avoid what happened to Josh. Click here to read that article as well! Good stuff, I'll have more from Glen and The Barking Eye as it comes out!

Thirdly today is a note that is mostly geared towards those of you who attend Lake Superior State University. The fall semester just started today, and already, notices have popped up on campus to find new DJs for LSSU's campus radio station! Yes, WLSO: The Sounds of Lake State (that's 90.1 FM) is on the hunt for new on-air DJs, radio show hosts, and mobile DJs for live broadcasts and events, and if you go to LSSU, you are eligible! Paper ads are floating around the school, but in case you haven't seen them yet, here's what you should know if you wanna be a WLSO DJ! There will be a meeting at 6:00 PM TOMORROW EVENING at the WLSO office downstairs at The Cisler Center for interested students. There will be free pizza and pop on hand, and the guys will give you all the details you need on how you can host your own show or programming block on WLSO! Because remember, there won't be metal blocks this semester unless some metalheads become DJs, so consider heading to that meeting! For more info, e-mail WLSO's Brian Springett at station_manager@lssu.edu, and watch out for details on verified metal programming when a schedule pops up online! Remember, that's 90.1 FM!

And now, we have three assorted news stories to share today that deserve mention, even if there isn't a lot to say on them. So here's what you need to know from three local bands, in alphabetical order:

• Caveman Morrison have updated their official website to reflect the addition of Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger to their new lineup, and to add many new songs to their live setlist. Oddly, Johnny's profile doesn't reference his other bands, but it's a good read, while their setlist now has a ton more metal songs and tracks of other genres that you could see live, so check that out too at this location!
• Sault Michigan's Free Refill have launched an official YouTube channel! No videos yet, but The Sault Metal Scene has subscribed, and as soon as a video is uploaded there, I'll let you know! For more, click here!
• Lion Ride have announced their return to the live stage, which will take place on October 14th for a show at Toronto's Bovine Sex Club as part of this year's Indie Week Showcase! Click here for more details, or visit Lion Ride's official Facebook page! No word on a local return or on their upcoming debut album, but when something does come out, I will let you know!

And finally today, I wanted to share something SMS related that is now online. A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed by CBC Radio 3's Lisa Christiansen for a piece that is featured in the newest installment of CBC Radio 3's Full Metal Podcast! I was interviewed about the SMS site itself and about our local scene, and it takes place 67:25 into the podcast, running for about 4 1/2 minutes. I was admittedly VERY nervous for this, as I've never had an audio interview like that before, so if you listen and noticed that I said something incorrect, lacking in details, or poorly thought out, my apologies! I think it went well though, and if you wanna check it out, click the above links! I was also asked to select a local band to be featured on the podcast after my interview, and I selected "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)" by Woods of Ypres! The band I picked had to have a CBC Radio 3 page already, so I chose the most prominent of the local metal bands on there, if you're wondering why I picked them over another band. So if you want to check out my interview (and the rest of the podcast, which is great), click the above links, but remember this: Regardless of the attention the SMS gets, I'll always want it to be for the bands over myself. They put the hard work in, and they deserve the most attention!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow, for our next post WILL be my review of SBD's "Sonic Experiments: Mulligan Edition"! Then, stay tuned afterwards for our "Where Are The New Albums?" update post, my reviews of Sykotyk Rampage's "Bella Disgusta" and Thursday's Endast show, weekend concert previews, and much more local metal news and updates! Thanks everyone!

Weekend Concert Previews, Barking Eye Updates, And A New Concert Video!!

Hello there, local metalheads! I have more stuff to share on this fine Thursday, including previews of this weekend's (known) local hard rock concerts, the latest notable news articles on The Barking Eye, and a notable concert video from a concert from last year that was recently posted online! But first, we'll start with your local concert previews for this weekend! Before we kick that off, note that Tym Morrison's show scheduled for tomorrow at The Roosevelt Hotel has been cancelled for some genre conflicts, let's leave it at that. Now, onto the scheduled concerts!

I'm starting with the two shows in Sault Michigan because these could be the last time you see this band for a while, at the very least. Tomorrow night and Saturday night at The Bird, local hard rockers Nixxon Dixxon hit the stage for the last time before drummer Jake LaLonde heads to California to attend the Musicians Institute (and yes, I'll have updates on if he made the next round of the Full Ride contest when they come out.) With Jake's plans out west, and from comments made by frontman Brandon Carr on his personal Facebook page, the band appear to be going on a hiatus or break in the meantime, if nothing else. So this could very well be your LAST CHANCE to check Nixxon Dixxon out for a long time, make note of that! They'll be on at 10:30 PM both nights with no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 to enter. They're a great band with loads of metal covers and select originals in store, so at least consider going, because who knows when you'll see the band back playing shows.

No matter what, they've accomplished a great deal for a band their age, and we already remember them fondly, whatever the future holds! For more, visit their official MySpace page, and for a video preview, here's Nixxon Dixxon covering Alice In Chains' "Rooster" from the Pop Evil show in February!



Now, in Sault Ontario, we have two hard rock shows, this time courtesy of Turner Up once again! The local classic hard rock quintet return to Foggy Notions this weekend for a pair of concerts, and disregard the Facebook event page, they ARE playing on Saturday too, as confirmed in band members' Facebook statuses. Nothing that I can tell about these shows that are too different from normal Turner Up shows, so there'll be a 10:30 PM start time, a likely $3 cover charge, and a 19+ age limit for both concerts. Should be fun, as usual, though if you miss them this weekend, you're bound to see them again very soon, cause they have a solid weekend booking schedule! For more infomation, visit the above links, and for a preview, check out a video of Turner Up (with current frontman Brent Royer) covering Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Wanna Be" at a recent Rockstar Bar concert at this location! I can't embed it here, but hopefully something embeddable pops up soon!

And now, for two news stories to close this post, and first, we have the newest metal-relevant stories from Glen Thomas' informative music blog, The Barking Eye! The largest & most intriguing revolves around the ongoing rumours that would see Northern Raceway (formerly 5th Line Speedway) become an outdoor concert venue. In case this is before your time, Northern Raceway was a former local racetrack that was active from 1965-1987, and is now unused, with the old track and grandstands still there unattended. Glen backed up a lot of the positive speculation about this rumour in saying that Northern Raceway is a "gold mine" waiting for development, and it's size & location (near a KOA campground and away from most of the city) would be perfect for holding major outdoor concerts. However, he pointed out that residents around the area had spoken out AGAINST turning it into a concert venue when the rumours started due to the noise issues, and property damage concerns were also raised. That being said, there's no definite facts about the possibility of turning Northern Raceway into a concert venue, just lots of ongoing speculation, but what do you guys think?

Glen pointed out that rumours picked up after Castle Farms in Charelvoix stopped hosting concerts in the 1990s, which makes sense to give the area another big concert spot. I could submit that Runway Park could fill that void, given that they hosted Bell Border Jam and WOULD have hosted the cancelled Skid Row outdoor show had it stayed on, but there hasn't been a major concert there since 2008 that I can remember. If there was actually a devoted group with the right funds to turn Northern Raceway into a concert spot, I'd be for it, but honestly, I just take these as rumours. Interesting rumours, but rumours nonetheless. Check out the article for yourself by clicking here! Among other notable articles, Glen weighed in on Garden of Bedlam's huge opportunity opening for Kiss, the new local pop rock band Cherry Crush (featuring Foggy Notions owner Taryn Bugyra on lead vocals), and a mini article about the old Sault Music Scene Facebook group from shows in the 1970s and 1980s! Good stuff, click the above links for much more, cause Glen has a lot of interesting things to say about the scene, past and present!

And finally, here's another major local concert video, and shockingly, it's not from Kiss' show last Tuesday! Nope, I can't forget about other major shows in the area, and this fits the bill. YouTube user escherich1987 uploaded a video from Papa Roach's concert at The Dreammakers Theater at Kewadin Casino from last November onto his YouTube channel! It's a video of Papa Roach playing their song "Forever" from the show, but note that the video quality is quite jittery and shaky. That being said, the audio holds up better, but it has clippy sound with washed out bass, especially in the heavier choruses. Not the best video we've seen from the Papa Roach show quality-wise, but it never hurts to have more local concert videos, especially this late after the show. Check the video out below, and yes, I have at least one more Kiss video to share, so stay tuned!



That's all for today, but guess what's tomorrow? The new SMS poll, that's what! And of course, the results of last month's poll. What did you guys vote as your favourite show of the first half of 2010? We'll find out tomorrow, and as for the new poll topic? It's about local radio, and not about station issues or the controversy from early in the year. Let the debate begin! Stay tuned for that, and more, very soon!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Who Made Who & Crued), Plus Kiss News, And More!!

As promised, it's time for some more local metal news and updates, and kicking things off are LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! And since yesterday, I found another, so there's two new concerts to tell you guys about! Here's what you need to know!

Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC are coming to Sault Ontario... again! Just one month after their show at The Canadian Nightclub next week, the popular AC/DC tribute band will be back in town for a concert at The Rockstar Bar on July 24th! That will be Who Made Who's third local concert in a six month span, how about that? There's a twist to this one though, as there will be local openers! Wishbone, the local rock band featuring former Browbeat drummer Chris Smith on bass, will kick off this concert! Nice seeing them back booking shows, even if they're not metal, I'm a fan! The show starts at 9:00 PM on July 24th, it is 19+, tickets are $6 and can be bought at The Rad Zone and at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk downstairs from The Rockstar Bar! If you show up at the door with no ticket, it will cost $9 to get in. This should be a fun concert, and judging by the fact that there's ticket sales and an opener, it looks like there's a lot being put into this concert! Who Made Who are a great AC/DC tribute, click here to check out more, and make sure to visit the Facebook event page! If I hear more on this concert, I'll let you guys know!

So what's the second concert? Well, if you like tribute bands, you'll love this! Crued: The World's #1 Motley Crue Tribute Band are coming back to Sault Ontario this fall! The popular Toronto-based tribute band will return to The Canadian Nightclub on September 24th for their first show here since May 1st! A start time of 10:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page, expect a cover charge of $5 or less, and you must be 19 to get in. I had to miss Crued in May due to a trip out of town, maybe I can make it to this one! They look and sound the part as much as possible, and they play tons of Motley Crue classics past and present! If you're a Crue fan, you're bound to have a good time! Check out more from Crued at their official MySpace page!

The Canadian's sure been ramping up on the tribute band bookings, haven't they? Just as an aside, you know what tribute band I personally want to see back at The Canadian? Sandman: A Musical Salute To Metallica. They had a great Metallica sound, some of the members were in Helix, and they played my first ever 19+ bar show in June 2008! Here's hoping they're back some day!

Next up, here are the latest updates on the Kiss concert on August 10th at The Essar Center! Sorry skeptics, I told you they would come here! First off, did you remember to get your ticket today at the box office? A limited number were released for sale today at the box office and online at this location! I imagine they went fast, but try for a ticket A.S.A.P. just in case! Now as you can see on your right, an official poster for this concert has been released, click on it for a larger version or click here for an interactive huge version. Notice who's listed as the special guests? Garden of Bedlam, of course! Cool to see them on a poster of this calibre, just wait until we see them opening this concert! Also of note: $1 from each ticket sold will go to The Wounded Warriors Fund to benefit wounded war veterans, which is an awesome gesture! No word though if it's for all tickets or just the ones since the new date was announced. And as best as I can tell, the live CD recording of the concert that we would have gotten from the cancelled December 15th Kiss show will NOT take place at this one, but if I'm wrong, I'll let you know! Remember, tickets are $99.50, tickets from the cancelled date will be honoured, and you can get refunds for those tickets at the point of purchase if you want.

While we're on the subject of Kiss, here's some more updates from local news sources on the show! SooNews.ca reported the news of the new date for the concert on Monday, click here to read the article! The Sault Star posted a similar article three days ago, click here to read it too! None of the articles tells us anything new or groundbreaking, but really, after over a year of Kiss discussion in the local media, can you blame them? Remember, Kiss and Garden of Bedlam at The Essar Center on August 10th, I will see you all there!

And finally for today, lots of news from Glen Thomas' excellent news site The Barking Eye! His newest article is his first "Attack of the Garage Bands" segment, which is particularly interesting to us at the SMS because it's all about Sykotyk Rampage! It features a lengthy write-up on Sykotyk Rampage contributed by guitarist Dirk Becker, including how exactly the band writes and records their unique brand of hard rock! Interesting to see their own take on the songwriting and recording process, I guarantee no other band does it the same way! Dirk also contributed some extra band news, including confirmation of bassist Brian Cattapan's departure (he moved to Sudbury, but he will be featured on the band's upcoming albums), and confirmation of the band's 24th album, which will be a double album coming out in September, entitled "Genius Mushrooms with Thoughts of Intellect"! Can't wait to hear that! Check out the entire Sykotyk Rampage piece at this location, maybe you'll learn a few things about how to craft your own brand of blue Chinese metal crash punk! Also stay tuned for the release of "Bella Disgusta" this summer!

Also new on The Barking Eye, a short article where Glen promotes Reverbnation, the popular music site that many local bands are finally using actively, a plug for the Kiss show on August 10th (with some skepticism), and an article featuring some old videos featuring local bands and Saultites! Two have a metal connection, including one featuring Saultite Keith Danby (a veteran of some local hard rock bands way back), and much to my surprise, the music video for "Puzzled" by Human Disorder (featuring Saultites Jason Taillefer & Joe LaVergne from Phatstick), which I uploaded to YouTube last month! Check out the new articles at this location, and for more Barking Eye updates, join the new Facebook group for it by clicking here!

I'll leave you guys today with a picture I scanned from Sault This Week on Wednesday, of a local metalhead accepting his diploma at a recent mature students graduation ceremony at Roberta Bondar Pavilion! You can tell he's a metalhead with the devil horns and the Jack Daniels hat! Looking back, I should have flashed the horns for my Grade 12 grad photos! I found the photo amusing, especially being on the front page of the paper, so I thought "Well, why not scan it? Metal's spreading locally as it is!" Tomorrow, I should have a new post with updates from Browbeat, Silver Dream, a local guitarist from a few of Tym Morrison's old bands, and maybe some stuff on Kiss, Garden of Bedlam, and Woods of Ypres. You'll have to swing by the SMS tomorrow to find out what'll be up! Also, remember that Tesla are playing tomorrow night at Kewadin Casino, my newest out of town bands (with Saultite members) profiles will be up by Wednesday, and the SMS turns 3 years old in just 9 DAYS!!!!!!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison, Ultraviolence, & Frightlight), And More!!

Big post today, and before we get to news as scheduled, are you wondering what went down at the "secret concert" last night? I will tell you this much that I have heard: Local horror-themed punk/metal band Frightlight made their long awaited return to the stage last night, in their first Coch's Corner show since October! It was also their first live performance with Caveman Morrison's Jeff "Shrek Ogre" Richards on drums, replacing Larry Mousseau, who appears to have left Frightlight earlier this year. That sounds awesome in itself, hearing those guys play lots of horror movie-themed originals, but why was it so secretive? Probably because THE MISFITS were there, signing autographs and mingling with the fans! That's not a typo either. I wasn't there, so I don't know all that went on, but that's what I've heard. Out of respect for the intentional low-key nature of this show and the secrecy that was maintained, I won't post a photo or link from or related to it from any Facebook sources. But for those of you who don't believe this story, let me say this: I have never spread rumours on here, every story I report is through research and verified sources. If I had just heard word of mouth without proof, I would NEVER report it here. So yeah, that's the secret show for you, and if you were in attendance, consider yourself VERY lucky!

Now, onto some more exciting news, starting with not one, not two, but THREE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!! And after that, stay tuned for some updates from The Barking Eye, and if you look close, maybe you'll find out which album I'm reviewing in the next few days somewhere in this post!

Let's go in chronological order for the new concerts, and kicking things off is the long awaited publicly advertised return of Tym Morrison's solo show! After weeks without a new acoustic set from the Caveman Morrison mastermind, he played a private birthday party on Wednesday at The Gliss Rest-O-Bar on Great Northern Road, which is on the same corner as Lucky 7 Mini Mart. The concert went over so well, he's back for a publicly open set there on Saturday evening! Consider this a preview for the show too, as it is this weekend. Compared to most of Tym's solo shows, this has an early start time of 6:00 PM, but the music's good no matter how early, so don't stop yourself! There's no cover charge, but seeing as this is a restaurant/bar, you'll wanna bring money to buy something lest you get kicked out. Should be fun as always, Tym puts in a great show each time he plays, and his acoustic stuff can both rock hard and hit a soft spot depending on your mood! Remember, he also takes requests! Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event page, and remember to check out some of his great Caveman and solo material at his official website! Sorry for the short notice too, it was only announced yesterday.

...speaking of Tym's solo material, this month's CD review on The Sault Metal Scene will be of Tym Morrison's "Solo Project" CD!! I wanted to link my next review with an upcoming local concert, and this fits the bill very nicely! Look out for my review of it by Tuesday, possibly earlier!

Next is a show that I think takes place on Tuesday, but I want you guys to take this concert with a grain of salt. According to the Hot Spots section of the newest issue of Sault This Week, Toronto "drunk n' roll" band Ultraviolence will be back at Coch's Corner for the first time in a few months! Knowing Coch's Corner shows, there would be no cover charge with a 10-11:00 PM start time. If you wanna hear some great AC/DC-ish hard rock that's perfect to drink to, this is your band! Now I feel mostly comfortable with covering this show on here for a few reasons, including their past history here (Coch's likes booking Ultraviolence), the fact that it's in the paper at all (the ad for Coch's Corner is rarely wrong), and the fact that J.D. Pearce from Coch's Corner said he was pretty sure they were playing when I asked him about it yesterday. That being said, the band have not plugged this show on their MySpace page, and they recently announced the departure of drummer Alexis Von Kraven, so I had doubts for the show being on. So I will list this show in the concert listings on your left, BUT keep in mind that for all I know, it may have been cancelled, but there's enough to go on to confirm it as being on. Stay tuned!

Finally for new shows, we go back to the band we kicked off today's post with: Frightlight! If you missed the "secret show" and are hoping for an openly advertised show of theirs to hit, this will definitely interest you! On July 10th, Frightlight will play their first publicly open concert since Halloween when they rock Coch's Corner once again, this time as the openers for Toronto surf garage punk rockers The von Drats! Their MySpace page lists no venue, but bassist DanO von Drat confirmed that they're playing at Coch's Corner in a posting on the SMS' Facebook page. The von Drats play a unique combination of 1960s-ish surf rock and goth-influenced punk, which makes for some strangely listenable tunes! Not "metal" by any stretch, but you gotta check them out, click here to do so! Of course, if you want heaviness, Frightlight will bring an awesome horror themed punk/metal attack to start off the night! Featuring J.D. and Rick from Fitswitch, Shrek from Caveman Morrison, and Mike Gingras on bass, these guys definitely bring the goods, and will have lots of great originals in store on July 10th! The show will likely start between 10:00 and 11:00 PM on that night, and has no announced cover. More details will be posted as I hear them!

And finally for today, prolific local rock drummer Glen Thomas has posted some intriguing new stories onto his local music news site, The Barking Eye, which I recommend you guys read more often! The biggest new story he posted concerns how local bands get studio recordings made and released, which actually outlines the self-recording process pretty nicely if you want to self-record material rather than enter a professional studio! Glen refers to Sykotyk Rampage in the piece as one of many examples of local bands who record their songs themselves at home. If you're in a band and want to record good sounding original material, read Glen's article at this location, which could help you take the next step without forking out too much cash! Apparently, Glen will be profiling bands who self-record in an upcoming series called "Attack of the Garage Bands", so stay tuned for that as well! Also now on The Barking Eye: Updates on the in-progress local recording studio named Basswerx, and a small update on a music school opening near Bawating Collegiate that will be run by Stiffler's Mom/Sin Stereo guitarist Mike Davies! Check out The Barking Eye today, there's lots of great local music talk from a guy who definitely knows what he's talking about!

Alright, so here's where today's post ends. But are you wondering why there's nothing about last month or this month's poll? Simple, I'm posting about that tonight! I don't like doing two posts in a day, but I got piled with news in the last couple of days, so I can't let things slide. In the meantime, you can vote on the new poll already, it's up on the left of the page, but we'll wait til tonight to discuss it. Stay tuned for that and much more, including my review of Tym Morrison's solo album by Tuesday, and lots of other stuff you'll wanna check out!