LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Project 906), Leap Day Concert Previews, And More Updates!!

As promised, let's wrap up this weekend's concert previews today by looking at announced hard rock shows taking place on Saturday, February 29th (a.k.a. Leap Day!) To round things out, I do have some assorted recent news and notes, but let's start things with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

Sault Michigan hard/blues rock quartet Project 906 will play their first concert of 2020 THIS SATURDAY NIGHT when they return to rock The Strongs Tavern in nearby Eckerman! Apologies for the short notice, this concert was only announced by the venue's Facebook page on Monday. Continuing with their reduced live schedule in the past year, this will be Project 906's first publically advertised concert since playing in Hulbert Township in November, and it will be their first Strongs Tavern stop since June. It doesn't look like there's any special perks or themes to this one, but Project 906's hard rocking covers should go over well at this popular Western Chippewa County nightclub on SATURDAY, so don't miss out on all of the action then! SATURDAY's concert has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 21+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Project 906 live!



Next up, let's head east to Sugar Island, where fellow Sault Ste. Marie hard rock quartet 415E will play a rare non-Kewadin concert on SATURDAY NIGHT at The Hilltop Bar at 5393 Sugar Island Road! Long a ticket depot for the Sugar Island Music Festival, this nightclub and restaurant does host live music on occasion, and 415E will do the honours on Saturday for their Leap Day festivities! Most of the advertising focuses on their menu selections, so visit the above links if that interests you, but if you don't want to wait until May to hear 415E's Van Halen-influenced covers, consider a ferry trip to Sugar Island tomorrow! No word on if this is a hint towards the festival lineup this year. The band is advertised to take the stage at 8:00 PM, and expect a 21+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's 415E live a few years back!



Lastly for publically advertised hard rock concerts this weekend, let's head north to Sault Ontario, where new (and online page-less) local hard rock cover quartet Barely Covered will play their second concert on SATURDAY NIGHT at LopLops Lounge! Featuring 3/4ths of the mid-2010s cover band Changing Lanes alongside new singer Maggie Gasparetto, some readers may recall seeing Barely Covered at this same venue in September, but with a show under their belt and a Leap Day to celebrate, what sorts of covers from the 1980s-2000s will they break out? Remember, sound and setlist descriptions for Barely Covered are heavier than what Changing Lanes had. A very talented lineup is featured here, including Blues Harvest, Startlefish, and Wild Iris alumni, so definitely consider coming to see this one before the month's over! As usual for LopLops, expect a 9:30 PM start time, a $5 cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and I don't know of any public videos of Barely Covered yet!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• When researching our Defunct Local Band Profile on them earlier this month, I discovered that inactive local grunge/hardcore duo Bad Back had quietly taken down their Facebook page for unannounced reasons at some point since they dissolved in 2016. I wish bands wouldn't do that, but their Twitter page remains online, so I have changed our link on the SMS to that account, and it was very helpful in completing our profile!
• Local punk trio Redundant have been named as the local openers for the Buckcherry concert at Soo Blaster on May 13th, as per recent updates on the Facebook event page. Not a perfect genre match, but this is a huge platform for their first local date of 2020, and members do have tickets to sell in case you want to get them in person, so contact them at this link for details!
• I have moved local death metal duo This Is Your Band On Drugs back to our inactive band links, as they have not issued a public update since quietly dropping out of their planned reunion set at the For Those About To Grind concert at The New A one year ago yesterday. Chase has been very busy in the past year with his own solo endeavours, but best of luck to him and Nick in the future!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for some long overdue news on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Barely Covered & The Wyld Stallyns), CBC Searchlight Info, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, just an acknowledgement that members of Soundcheck (specifically guitarist Terry Eaton, drummer Glen Thomas, and ex-drummer Steven Flint) hosted local blues rock trio Mojo's weekly jam night at Reggie's West last night, due to members' commitments with Maxx Entertainment running sound at the Jack DeKeyzer show at The Machine Shop. We don't consider jam and open mic nights to be "concerts", but had this had more notice, I'd have at least mentioned it on here, and I do apologize! Now, here's some recent news and notes, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one on SHORT NOTICE!

Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will reportedly return to LopLops Lounge for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, we only learned of this concert via personal Facebook postings earlier this week, though it was quietly listed on the venue's website's events calendar (albeit spelling "Stallions" the non-Bill & Ted way). A one nighter due to the recent run of Friday concerts there by local folk/blues duo The Town Criers, this will be The Stallyns' first show since their Rockstar Bar cancellation last week due to a band member illness, but in longer terms, this will be their first announced show here since April. Unlike then, this show isn't on "Bad Idea Thursday", and there isn't an advertised "pizza and a pint" deal, but the Elements side project's wide array of covers should fit LopLips well TOMORROW! Expect a $5 cover for this 19+ show, which has a 9:30 PM start time. Visit the above links for more details, and here's The Wyld Stallyns live!



Next up, the aforementioned LopLops website's events calendar also listed a show on Saturday, February 29th by a new local band named Barely Covered, so what should you know in this regard? This show does have a Facebook event page, which describes this band as playing "rock, punk, and pop covers" from the 1980s-2000s. Meanwhile, LopLops' website lists a wide array of acts ranging from Nirvana to The Descendents to The Matthew Good Band among their live cover selection. In other words, they definitely fit our coverage, and I'd link them on the SMS if they had a known online page! Lineup-wise, this band is effectively succeeding the mid-2010s cover rock quartet Changing Lanes, though sound descriptions for that band were softer. Returning from that group are guitarist Steve Myers (ex-Sense of Truth/Parabol), bassist Josh Norling (of numerous other bands on bass & saxophone), and drummer Roy Kreutzberger (ex-Startlefish/Leaves Off Trees.)

In lieu of the relocated Buzz, the lead singer of Barely Covered is Maggie Gasparetto, who I am unfamiliar with from prior bands, though you may have seen her with the guys already, as Barely Covered made their live debut at LopLops on September 21st. I profusely apologize for missing that show on here, but now we know about them, and look for an entertaining show on Leap Day at month's end! Expect a 9:30 PM start time, $5 cover, and 19+ age limit once again. See above for more details, and hopefully we hear more from Barely Covered soon, online page or otherwise!

Also today, it's that time of year again, as CBC Music's annual Searchlight competition is back in it's annual quest to find Canada's best unsigned and undiscovered musical talent! Partnering with The Juno Awards this year, first round voting opened on Tuesday, and will run until next Thursday at 3:00 PM, with the 50 highest voted bands and 50 judges panel selections moving on to the second stage, which will be eventually whittled down to a first place winner on March 5th. The top prizes this year include a placement and industry showcase at this year's Allan Slaight Juno Master Class in Toronto, a week's residency at Studio Bell in Calgary, slots at JunoFest at this year's Junos in Saskatoon and at the CBC Music Festival in Toronto, and tickets to the Juno Awards proper. There's a lot to look forward to, but of course, this is the Sault Metal Scene, and there is a lot of local representation in the Ontario province to vote for, so who should you search & show your support for?

As usual, indie punk quintet Northwest have thrown their hat in the ring, as have alt-rockers Man Feelings once again, and other locally relevant acts this year include Hannah Nicoletta, M.D. Dunn, Renee Landry, and former Shattervox frontman Eric Brombacher's current Toronto rock project Eric & The Soo. I could be missing others, but it's great to see this many local musicians alone in the running! Again, I think exposure for Searchlight would be greater locally if CBC Music had an FM signal in Sault Ste. Marie, but hopefully some local connections make the top 100! You can vote once a day per artist, so click here to search for and check out all of this year's entrants!

Finally for today, here's a lineup update for an upcoming Sault Michigan concert, as Detroit hard rock quintet The Lows have been added as the openers for the Candlebox concert at The Dreammakers Theater at the local Kewadin Casino on April 18th! The news was broken on the Facebook event page, and this will give The Lows an earlier than expected local debut before their "Rapids Sessions" gig at The Rapids Lounge on June 12th. Very nice platform for this band, and hopefully the Candlebox show boosts their attendance when they come back north! To promote the concert, Lows frontman Angelo Coppola shared this video on the event page on January 4th where he plays a solo blues rock song all about this particular concert. This goes above and beyond the usual plugs you see from touring acts toward a specific tour date here, and it's a well done (if short) while it lasts! Give it a look below, and get your tickets for $30-$35 each at this link!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!