LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Blood Shed Productions & Power Slug), Plus Mike Haggith Updates!!

Alright, this is almost certainly our last news post of 2014, as we have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to touch on for TONIGHT in the Eastern Upper Peninsula! However, we'll fill things out with another new concert for the 2015 schedule in February, and the latest from a prolific local solo musician, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Michigan hard rock cover trio Power Slug will return to Dan's Place in nearby Rudyard TONIGHT for their New Year's Eve party! Apologies for the short notice, the band just announced the show on their Facebook page last night, and it's also the first concert they've plugged in advance there since July. Fresh off of their most recent announced gigs two weeks ago at The Rapids Lounge, look for more entertaining heavier covers and classics from Chris, Chris, and Bob as they take the stage for one last time in 2014! For reference, this is the first full hard rock show that we've heard about at Dan's Place since Exiled's show last month, and it's nice to see this venue staying active! TONIGHT'S New Year's Eve show has a likely 9:00 PM start time, a 21+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's Power Slug covering The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band live last summer!

Next up, we have another new concert coming up on Saturday, February 21st, and it's a house party show from Blood Shed Productions to celebrate the release of their anticipated 11-way split demo! Yes, the ambitious disc (featuring 7 local acts and 4 from out of town) will apparently see it's initial release on that night next month, but who all's playing? Headlining slots at 10:30 & 9:00 PM are to be announced, but three bands who are featured on the compilation will be playing that night, including local rap/metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty (in their first local concert set in around 6 months) at 9:30 PM, and promoter Tyler Gibson's two main live goregrind projects, Crucify The Whore & Rotopsy, at 8:30 & 7:45 PM respectively. Tyler's other live band, the reunited death metal duo Brutally Fatal, will take the stage at 7:00 PM, while the show will begin with four Blood Shed rappers, including Mikey Thomas at 6:30 PM, Phat Boii at 6:00 PM, Legitly Logic at 5:30 PM, and Miracle Man at 5:00 PM.

We'll let you know when there's official word regarding the two open band slots, but for reference, the other 4 local bands on the split are grunge/hardcore duo Bad Back (who some attendees on the Facebook event page are strongly hinting should play), experimental grind duo This Is Your Band On Drugs (who haven't played live since the spring), the yet-to-debut Das Skalpell Kampf, and the studio-only Malignant Neoplasm. Might one or two of them be in mind, or perhaps one of the out of town bands? Stay tuned for updates! To be held at 130 Poplar Avenue (a central location that hosted a private Apocalypse Afterparty event in the summer), this will be an ALL AGES event, and if there's a cover charge or a known price for the split demo yet, neither have been posted. For more details, visit the above links! This sounds like an entertaining event whether you're into young rap talent or grindcore and metal, so keep it in mind for February in what may be all of the above acts' first shows of 2015! Stay tuned for more!

Finally for today, Haggith drummer and local solo artist Mike Haggith has been staying busy with a sudden new compilation album release that came out on Christmas Eve! A self-titled digital album (despite coming after "The Best of Mike Haggith: Volume II"), the compilation features 13 songs from Mike's five most recent studio albums, including two songs from "A Place Of Our Own", three songs from "Neighbourhood Watch II: Where It Ends", "The Issue (Resurfaced)" from "The Present Din", two songs from the original "Neighbourhood Watch", and four from "Suspended Animation", plus the live version of "Miss 76" from his "Live At Swampstravaganza IV" digital EP. The album also includes "The Snake", a new song from his next upcoming full length CD "The Warinside", which features backing vocals from Mike's Haggith bandmate Curtis McKenzie. "Mike Haggith" is currently available on a "name your price" model, so you can either have it free or you can pay any amount you choose for it, so do whatever feels right at this link!

In terms of being a review candidate for our monthly CD reviews, this compilation is far down the list, as we always give preference to new studio albums over compilations, and Mike has dozens of back albums and "The Warinside" ahead of it in line, but it's a well put together collection of recent solo highlights, so give it a look above! As for "The Snake" (which has been uploaded in full and as an abridged single to his YouTube channel in the past week), I'll hold full thoughts until our likely review of "The Warinside" next year, but give it a listen, as fans of Mike's music should be in good hands!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for our 2014 retrospective post later today, and a preview on 2015 at large tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Metal Band, The Exiled Concert Previews, And More!!

Before we head to The Delta TONIGHT for the Rock For Dimes charity concert, here's a new news post for this Friday morning, and it includes a new concert video, assorted updates, and the last of this weekend's concert previews, but first, here's a new local band to check out!

We have a new local metal band to add to our links, and they are Das Skalpell Kampf, a new noise/grind duo that's already signed on with Blood Shed Productions! Originally named Scalpel Fight before discovering that the name was already in use (and taking on a Das Bunkerfest/German inspired alteration of the name instead), the band joins the growing ranks of two-man acts in Sault Ontario, and is the newest project from AlgomA guitarist Boyd Rendell, though like his "Darby Wigwaas" stage name there, both members of Das Skalpell Kampf take on stage names. Specifically, the singer/drummer is "Fonzy Grozny" and the guitarist is "Chachi Grozny", with the first names playing off of characters from the sitcom Happy Days. I'm not 100% sure on which one Boyd is, but for what it's worth, Fonzy's vocals on their first demo track don't match Boyd's high screams from AlgomA and BeeFMoutH. A live debut date hasn't been announced, but where can you hear D.S.K.?

The band was already announced as contributing to Blood Shed Productions' upcoming 11 way split demo (details here), but you can hear Das Skalpell Kampf's first song "Never The Same" at their new Bandcamp page, and while the recording quality isn't great, it fits the Blood Shed mold for minimalistic grindcore, and we'll have to see where things go for this new band! Stay tuned for updates, and like them on Facebook to stay in the loop!

Next up, here's our last of this weekend's concert previews (barring any late notice announcements), as Rudyard, Michigan hard rock quintet Exiled will rock out at Dan's Place in their hometown TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! I will note that Exiled haven't plugged these shows in the past month, but unless there's something explicit stated about these shows' status, we'll count them as still on. Last seen at the Highland Clan Motorcycle Club last weekend, these will be Exiled's first shows at Dan's Place since the summer, and if you've enjoyed their modern and classic hard rock covers since their debut (or just want some regional live rock), come out to see Exiled in Rudyard this weekend! 9:00 PM start times are in effect for both nights, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charges. For more details, click here & here, don't miss Exiled TONIGHT OR TOMORROW, and we'll let you know when sharable videos turn up!

Also today, here's a unique (if short) new video from local grunge/hard rock quartet Haggith, more specifically, a drummer's-eye-view clip from their Devil's Night set at The Oddfellows Hall last month! It was shot during Curtis McKenzie's crowd warm-up before "Public Enemy", with camera work by drummer Mike Haggith, but it doesn't capture the full song, with Mike only manning the camera until he got ready to actually play the song. This video would have had more impact if the crowd was bigger, but give it a look below, and don't miss Haggith at Rock For Dimes at The Delta TONIGHT!



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

• As you may remember, local doom/punk trio The Revolution teased on their Facebook page earlier this month that they'd be opening at AlgomA's CD release party for their new album "Reclaimed By The Forest" TONIGHT at The Moose Lodge, but there has been no follow-up on that from AlgomA since. As it looks now, that appears to have been either a premature announcement, incorrectly dated, or very private, but if we hear anything concerning a local release concert from AlgomA, we'll let you know!
• Local all female hard rock quartet The Danger Cats will end a 2½ month break from the stage when they head to Toronto for their first ever out of town gig as a special non-competing band at this year's Govfest Battle of the Bands at The Velvet Underground this coming Thursday! Big opportunity for sure, hopefully it goes well, and that we see them on a local stage again soon! Click here for more info!
• Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock artist Kenneth "SweetKenny" Sutton revealed the cover artwork for his 11th solo album "Slobber" on his Facebook page on Wednesday, which features an oddly pirate themed motif. Looks good, and keep an eye out for the album, which is scheduled to be released on January 15th, and an SMS review of that or "Amazonian" is likely then too!

That's all for today, but I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Delta Waterfront Hotel for Rock For Dimes! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Concert Previews, Plus A New Ripcordz Video!!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Before we post our review of last night's Devil's Night all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall (the video uploads are likely gonna take a while), we have previews of this weekend's known & verified hard rock/metal concerts in the Twin Saults, and therefore, the first of November 2013! Note that while I know some bars in the area are doing late Halloween events tomorrow, none of the concerts we're previewing have an explicit seasonal theme, so be wary if you want to wear a costume. We also have a new Ripcordz video to cap off this post, but let's start with the only verified hard rock concert in Sault Ontario this weekend!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will make his debut at The Harp Pub & Grill TOMORROW NIGHT! A rare solo concert outside of The Roadhouse Bar & Grill (at least in recent months), you may remember that The Harp (at 701 Pine Street in the Food Basics plaza) used to be Madison's Pub until renovating and shifting to an Irish theme this summer, so Tym is both the first non-open mic performer of a hard rock vein at The Harp, and the first at this location since 2009. Aside from the central venue, Tym's show should be business as usual tomorrow night, with his diverse selection of unplugged covers (including many metal/hard rock classics) sure to entertain fans and Harp regulars! There's no announced cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and a 10:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Though I'm fairly certain that The Harp is acoustic-centric (like the new Coch's Corner), it's good to see some metal back at the former Madison's, even in this form, and hopefully Tym knocks it out of the park again! For a preview, here's Tym covering Heart's "Alone!



Switching to Sault Michigan for the rest of our previews, we'll start at Dan's Place in nearby Rudyard, Michigan, where Kinross classic hard rockers Banned will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT! Fresh off of their Halloween weekend set in Gould City (and a more local solo date for Alex Traynor in Pickford), this will be Banned first date within an hour of the Soo since playing at Dondee Lanes on October 4th & 5th, and their first in Rudyard in three months, so if you've missed Alex and company, keep tonight's show in mind for some entertaining covers and originals! Still curious as to why they no longer list their lineup on Facebook, is there more member turnover than we would assume? Tomorrow's show (which is about a half hour between the Soo and St. Ignace) goes down at 9:00 PM, there's no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend. For more details, click here! Hopefully tomorrow's concert goes well, and hopefully we'll hear more on Banned's current lineup (and get some more videos) in the coming months! For a preview, here they are playing their song "Deadbeat Dog" in Charlevoix!



Finally for the previews, Sault Michigan modern hard rock cover quintet RamWagon will play at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT for the third time! One of the various late 2013 concert weekends picked up from guitarist Nathan Switzer's now-defunct other band Sir Charge, this should be another entertaining weekend of heavier covers from this newer local band (featuring alumni of The Highest of Fives, Monkey's Uncle, and Full Throttle), so don't miss their sets this weekend in the Soo! There's no announced cover charge, both tomorrow & Saturday's shows should be 21+ events, and each should start at around 9:00 PM. For more details, check the above links! RamWagon have left a good early impression since their LemmaFest debut, and here's hoping they keep it up this weekend, so don't miss their return to the Sault Kewadin this weekend, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Cameo's "Word Up"!



Finally for today, here's a new video of Montreal hardcore punk legends The Ripcordz from their headlining set at The Roosevelt Hotel this past Thursday during J.D. Pearce's annual Halloween party! Filmed by ex-Chronic Demonic singer Sabrina Strange and shared on Destroilet's Facebook page last week, it focuses on the crowd moshing during two Ripcordz songs with little direct attention to the band, but this is a unique and neat angle to see the costumed moshers in full swing! Nice video, so give it a look below, and stay tuned for some new Destroilet videos in our next news post!



That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for our review of last night's Bear Hunters-headlined all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall, with photos and videos ongoing for their uploads tonight! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Banned), Glen Yaps On The Local Scene, And New Guitar Covers!!

The news keeps strolling in, so for this Wednesday afternoon, we have new guitar covers from a Sault Michigan musician, some very interesting new videos from a prominent musician on the local scene, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! Here's what you need to know!

Kinross, Michigan classic hard rockers Banned have announced a return to Dan's Place in Rudyard for one night only on Friday, November 1st! This was announced on their Facebook page last night, along with noting a private party that they're playing this Saturday, and reiterating their shows in Hessel and Sault Michigan next month that were previously announced. This will be Banned's first stop in Rudyard (roughly a half hour from both the Soo and St. Ignace) in over three months, and barring any interim announcements, it will be their first public show in four weeks, so just in case, keep it in mind to see Alex and company rock out with their diverse originals and covers! A 9:00 PM start time and 21+ age limit are to be expected, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, check the above links! This should be another fun concert from this prolific regional band (even if a Halloween weekend show isn't in the cards this year), so don't miss out at Dan's Place on November 1st, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, I thought this might be an interesting discussion point, so I thought I'd share it here.Yesterday, Flat Stanley drummer (and former local metal band member) Glen Thomas posted four videos in his ongoing "Glen Yaps" series onto his YouTube channel that, unlike his past videos on recording and gear, talk about the Sault Ontario music scene as a whole. The four videos run for over an hour combined, but if you have the time, they're an interesting listen, as Glen talks about what's good and bad about the local music scene as it currently stands, including the metal angle of things. I won't spoil it all, because I won't do it justice summing it up, but he does mention that metal bands need a reliable location dedicated to the genre, they need their own space during Rotaryfest to get their music out to fans, and they should be more vocal on websites and forums like this one to discuss and promote artists. While he did take some shots at local news media, the lack of a Canadian rock radio station in the area, and some venues, his opinions are noticeably not as vibrant as they have been on his Freq's Music Planet forum, where he has been known to be more vocal in his criticisms.

I agree with a lot of what Glen said, and I think that if local news media was more open in it's coverage of local bands, and if there was more venues (or at least more genre-specific ones), it would help things. He was also very gracious when complimenting the SMS and my work here, and while I will agree that it'd be nice to get more comments on our posts, you can't force the issue, and many of the few we do get are only to correct errors, so it is what it is. I would have been curious to hear him praise or critique individual bands, but given the nature of these thoughts, maybe this was a conscious decision to avoid any controversy or bias that's already happened on his forum with certain bands, especially from certain events in late 2009. The local scene (regardless of genre) always changes and always has room for improvement (i.e. the lack of well used local music sites/forums), but he gave credit where it was due, including to home recording studios and other "do it yourself" methods of promotion, and venues that do well promoting one genre of music only, but opinions of listeners will be subjective.

I like Glen's honest opinions, and I often check his forum to see what he has to say on various issues (I miss his rumour mill posts, for example), but hopefully these new "Glen Yaps" videos gain some attention and create some discussion about the presented topics in their own ways! I've embedded part 1 below, but check out parts 2, 3, and 4 by following those links, and stay tuned in case Glen shares any other opinions like this online!



Finally for today, here's a local guitarist's YouTube channel that I recently discovered, and it's courtesy of former Intrepid guitarist Nick Pavlat, who has uploaded 13 solo guitar cover videos there in the last 4 months! The channel includes three Deftones covers and two Alter Bridge covers, but the other 8 cover a wide array, from Black Label Society & Chelsea Grin songs to Franz Ferdinand & Modest Mouse tracks, but check the above links to give them all a look! Some of the covers start a bit messily, but Nick does seem to know everything pretty well, and he has diverse influences, so hopefully he keeps at it and posts some more videos soon! I've embedded his cover of Hellyeah's "Stand or Walk Away" below, but see more above!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles and weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison & Plastic), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

Kepeing our recent streak of middle of the night posts going, today's mostly focuses on weekend concert previews, but we have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS tied to most of them, including some short notice ones, and some recent feature post updates, so read on below to learn more, starting with some new shows for the next few days!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison has announced two solo acoustic gigs for this weekend, including yet another Friday nighter at The Road House Bar & Grill TOMORROW NIGHT and a rare solo show at The Roosevelt Hotel THIS SATURDAY! Apologies for the short notice, the Rosie concert was only just announced yesterday, and I held the other one to avoid redundantly plugging it twice in a few days. Tomorrow's concert continues his recent regular run at the Trunk Road tavern, while Saturday's stop at The Rosie will replace what was originally going to be a full Caveman Morrison concert, but as they haven't found a new bassist to replace James White yet, Tym has taken over the Saturday booking to instead play his unplugged cover set. Should be an entertaining weekend regardless, and Tym's prolific acoustic sets are bound to entertain whether you're in the East or West End this weekend! Both shows have 10:00 PM start times and 19+ age limits, and neither have announced cover charges. For more details, click here & here!

Tym's solo gigs are always an entertaining time, so don't miss his unplugged metal/hard rock covers this weekend at either The Road House TOMORROW or The Rosie on SATURDAY, and for a preview, here he is covering Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" in concert!

Also in new concerts, new Sault Michigan hard rock trio Plastic have confirmed their third local concert date, as they'll make their Merchant's Bar debut on September 27th! This (along with their newly confirmed Alpena gig in October) was previously announced on drummer Paul Burns' solo Facebook page last month, but there was no direct indication of what band was playing it until Sunday. Hard at work with new concert bookings and song postings (including new original demos "Muffin Man/Parasitic Greed" & "Plant The Seed" at their Facebook page), the new shows join their second live gig (and Rudyard debut) THIS SATURDAY at Dan's Place, so we'll preview that show now as well! With two regional dates lined up for this month, look out for a varied blend of heavier and alternative originals & covers from Zac, Nick, and Paul at a venue near you, including at Dan's Place on Saturday! Admission prices for both this weekend's show and their gig at The Merch on the 27th haven't been publicized, but both have 9:00 PM start times and 21+ age limits.

For more details, click here and here! Plastic's new songs are very different, with "Muffin Man/Parasitic Greed" taking on a gritty sludge metal sound, and "Plant the Seed" taking on more of a classic southern rock vibe, but their cover selection indicated such a spread, and there's still lots of aggression to go around! Hopefully both shows go great, and don't miss them in Rudyard THIS SATURDAY! For a preview, here's the guys covering The Misfits' "Vampira" at LemmaFest!

Lastly for the known heavier concerts this weekend, newer local hard rock quintet RamWagon will make their first ever stops at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! As you may remember, these shows were among those originally scheduled for the now defunct Sir Charge before their breakup, but luckily, RamWagon (featuring Sir Charge's Nathan Switzer) picked up their gigs afterward, so we'll still get some quality covers from one of his bands this weekend! This talented band will be on at around 9:00 PM tomorrow & Saturday, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no cover charge for either night. For more details, check the above links! RamWagon have been impressing in recent months with their classic & modern rock covers, so don't miss out on their Rapids Lounge debuts this weekend, and in lieu of an embeddable preview video, click here for their unembeddable cover of Cameo's "Word Up"!

Finally for today, here's some updates to a few of our monthly feature posts in our Defunct Local Band & YouTube Channel Profile Series (MySpace changes/deletions and YouTube video expansions aside!) In our profile on Devastation of the Heavens, I replaced Operation: Killdozer with Jack Spades to freshen up bassist Justin Lam's other band work, and I made a similar addition to our Faithless Sin profile to add bassist Ryan Gratton's new band Chronic Demonic. In our YouTube Channel Profile on Elements of Madness' channel, I amended the info to note that the band is now inactive, while I added hoopy31's latest local concert upload (of Shinedown playing "Simple Man" at least month's Kewadin Casino concert) to his channel's profile, as he now has 2 local hard rock concert videos there. I also noted that while his channel doesn't have a 50% concentration of local videos anymore (4 of hoopy31's 6 current videos are from a Detroit-area metal show), I'm not going to change history and remove it from the site, as it had 100% local hard rock videos (albeit just one total) at the time we chose it. Stay tuned for more updates in the YouTube series soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post hopefully tomorrow, including a long awaited local debut from a newer local band! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Haggith & Plastic), A New Local Band, And More Updates!!

One more post before we preview this weekend's metal/hard rock concerts (mostly in Sault Michigan), as we're touching on a few different topics today! Along with some updates to one of our monthly feature series, we have the first confirmed local bands for an annual Halloween tradition, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the fall, and first, a new addition to our local band listings, so read on below for what you need to know!

New Sault Michigan hard rock trio Plastic have a Facebook page now, so we can officially add them to our local band links! It was launched last week, but only started getting major updates on Monday. As you may know, Plastic debuted at LemmaFest in June, and they feature Half Stupid's Zac Crook, Cherubic Red's Nick Moreau, and Bent Rollercoaster's Paul Burns in their lineup, with their page's biography outlining much of their past band work & connections (including a band named The Clam Jammers that Zac & Nick were briefly in.) In terms of other things we didn't know, they reportedly formed after just three rehearsals, they're influenced by everyone from Black Sabbath, Nirvana, and Pantera to Ray Charles, Feist, and Frank Zappa (how's that for diversity?), and in a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, they'll indeed be playing a solo gig at Dan's Place in Rudyard on Saturday, September 7th! This was one of the concerts that Paul had made event pages for on his solo Facebook page, but the Soo, Alpena, and Rogers City dates this fall are still unconfirmed as Plastic shows.

The Rudyard show should be a 21+ event with a 9:00 PM start time, while a cover charge isn't known. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I'm intrigued by Plastic, especially after what we've seen from their LemmaFest set, so stay tuned for updates, and remember, contact band members to get tickets to their surprising Misfits opening set in Detroit in October! (Note that the YouTube tab on their page won't open for me on Firefox, but it just features live videos from Zac's YouTube channel.)

Speaking of bands with new concerts, Sault Ontario alternative/grunge quartet Haggith will play a special benefit concert on Thursday, October 3rd at The Rockstar Bar to benefit the family of the late Jack Bryant, who passed away in July at the age of 71. Haggith's connection is that frontman Curtis McKenzie's girlfriend April is a granddaughter of Jack's, so it's great to see the guys coming together to help raise money to help cover final expenses for the Bryant family! Curtis also said that other bands will be playing, and though none are explicitly confirmed yet, one of the many side bands featuring Haggith band members could be likely. The event will also feature a door prize, raffles, and complimentary dinner, and as best as I can tell, it is publically attendable if you buy a ticket. They're $20, and you can buy them from both the band and Bryant family members in advance, while I assume you can get in at the door too (and the event starts at 6:00 PM.) For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Also, apologies for this being so late to get on the site, I wasn't sure right away if there'd be a public ticket push. This should be a nice way to help out the Bryants at this time of need, and kudos to Haggith for pitching in to help get the word out and provide entertainment on October 3rd, so if you want to contribute or attend as a fan or friend of the band/family, get your tickets A.S.A.P.!

In other concert news, the first two local bands have been confirmed for this year's 8th annual Halloween Party from local concert promoter Johnny Pints, which makes it's first ever Roosevelt Hotel appearance this year! As confirmed on the Facebook event page yesterday, local horror punk/metal standouts Frightlight will make their fifth straight appearance at this yearly event on October 26th, and you know that with their aesthetic and songs, they'll fit perfectly! No word though on whether Eddie Fright or Slim Cadaver will handle bass, but Slim's played at all but one of their 2013 concerts. The other confirmed local band is hardcore punk quintet Destroilet, who should be raring to go for another high profile local concert this year (let alone in their own Halloween Party debut), so they should fit in well! A fourth band is to be confirmed, keeping with last year's theme of three local bands and one out of town band, and for reference, last year's other local acts were Sykotyk Rampage & Redundant, so there's a pair of ideas.

Headlined by Montreal hardcore punk legends The Ripcordz in their second local gig of the year, tickets will cost $10, which is higher than past years, but with The Ripcordz back, the price fits! They go on sale on October 1st, with the door price jumping to $15. For all other details, check the above links, and hopefully this year's Halloween event is the biggest of them all!

Finally for today, here's some more updates to our past Defunct Local Band Profiles to keep them more accurate & current (and remember, MySpace link changes & deletions and YouTube video enlargements are common across the board, so I'll just mention truly new edits!) On both our Cherubic Red & Bent Rollercoaster profiles, I added links to the aforementioned Plastic when noting members' other bands, as they now have a Facebook page. Back to Sault Ontario for the rest, I replaced The Scary Uncles, Faithess Sin, and The Belmonts with The Thrill Junkies, Winkstinger, and Stutzgummer when noting SIGHdEFECT's members other band work on their profile, while I made a number of edits to Bring the Fallen's profile, including adding ex-members Aaron Gasparetto and Joey Graham to their lineup, and adding references to both their reunion gig last month at The Oddfellows Hall & their EP release that took place that same night. Finally, I switched SIGHdEFECT with Winkstinger to reflect ex-No Arrow bassist Jason Bourcier's more recent work on our No Arrow profile. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews tomorrow morning! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Powerslug & RamWagon) And Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews

We're back with a new Sault Michigan-area post today, which doubles as our first weekend concert preview post for this week (Sault Ontario's coming tomorrow), as there are a bunch of heavier-leaning concerts going down across the river from through Saturday! However, some of these are SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so read on below for what you need to know!

For a second straight week, local hard rock trio Powerslug will play a special Thursday night concert TONIGHT at The Back Door! Apologies for the short notice, the show was announced on Friday via The Back Door's Facebook page, but I only just heard about it yesterday. The guys must have had a successful gig on the Fourth of July to get called back for a second Thursday nighter, and though we still lack online pages or media to plug tonight's show, Chris, Bob, and Chris should have a hard rocking good time to chug your mug with at this popular Ashmun Street venue! (Also, as The Back Door has now hosted multiple hard rock bands, I've added it to our Sault Michigan concert venue links on your right.) No admission cost has been publicized for this 21+ show, and a 9:00 PM-ish start time is likely. Check the above links for more details! Powerslug should deliver once again in their second Back Door appearance, so don't miss it, and keep an eye out in case some new dates, videos, or pages turn up!

Also in late notice concert announcements, new local cover/hard rock quintet RamWagon will play their second & third live gigs TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Satisfied Frog! Apologies for the late notice, they only just announced the shows on their Facebook page last night. These concerts follow their live debut two weeks ago at LemmaFest, and it's great to see them expanding to more venues and shows following their successful launch! Remember, RamWagon are essentially a hybrid of Full Throttle's original lineup and Analog Deficiency (3 members of each are involved, including common guitarist Nathan Switzer), and that alone speaks for what should be a solid mix of modern and classic rock covers, so keep their Frog debuts in mind for this weekend! Admission should be free for these 10:00 PM concerts, and like other bar gigs, these should be 21+ events. Check the above links for more details! It's nice to see a local hard rock band back at The Frog (at least, one that's been announced), and hopefully this propels RamWagon to more successful local dates to come! No embeddable videos yet, but click here for a Facebook-only cover of Cameo's "Word Up"!

Now, here's the previews of this weekend's previously announced heavier shows across the river, starting with the next two live dates from Kinross classic/hard rock quintet Banned! Though public updates have been slow so far this month, they're scheduled to return to Rudyard for two shows in the next few days, including a set in their outdoor Music In The Park series TONIGHT, which they'll follow up with a return to Dan's Place THIS SATURDAY! While they're very familiar to the Music In The Park shows (having debuted there in 2011 and returned last year), the Saturday gig will be their first ever at Dan's Place, so if you're in the Rudyard area, prepare for a full weekend of Banned's varied and often heavy rock assault! Both shows start in the late evening (tonight at 7:00 PM, Saturday at 8:00 PM), with no announced cover charges at either, while I expect tonight's show to have no age limit, and Saturday's to be 21+. Click here for more details! Banned's expanding repertoire and cumulative skills should work in their favour in their Rudyard returns this weekend, so don't miss the action TONIGHT or Saturday, and for a preview, here's a flashback to Banned's live debut in Rudyard 2 years ago, as they covered a Quiet Riot classic!



Finally for the weekend previews in the Sault Michigan area, local hard rock/metal quartet 415E will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Their second concert weekend at The Rapids Lounge since debuting, it's great to see this newer local band (featuring Nixxon Dixxon, Highest of Fives, and Splitshot alumni) back in the Soo following recent St. Ignace gigs, so if you're up for a run to the casino this weekend, 415E will be bringing their Van Halen-inspired originals and covers back for some good times! (I do wonder, why haven't they played outside of Kewadin Casinos yet?) Admission should be free for tomorrow & Saturday's shows, there's a 21+ age limit, and 9:00 PM start times are likely. For more details, visit the above links! 415E are on the rise, so don't miss the action at the Sault Kewadin, and for a preview, here's 415E covering some Van Halen classics in January!



That's all for now, but stay tuned either tonight or early tomorrow for our Sault Ontario weekend concert previews! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned), The Return Of These Sins Of Time, And New Videos!!

In our first of two posts today (our review of last night's all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall is coming later today), we have some assorted recent news to touch on, including a band return, new videos, and a bunch of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this year! For reference, weekend concert previews (including at least one new show confirmation) are coming TOMORROW MORNING, so keep an eye out for that, but let's begin this run of new posts with the information below!

Kinross hard/classic rock quintet Banned have announced seven new concerts (over 4 weekends) for later this year, as per their Facebook page yesterday! The guys will first head out to Dan's Place in Rudyard on Saturday, July 13th for a one night only gig (no word on why), and though you may remember Banned from some early shows at the town's Music In The Park series, I think this is their first ever show at Dan's Place (a recent favourite of Powerslug's), so keep that in mind in July! The other new confirmations are for the fall, including returns to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on September 20th & 21st and November 22nd & 23rd (their first announced dates there since March), and a weekend engagement at The Runway Bar in Hessel on November 22nd & 23rd (following two one-off gigs there this summer), so mark those on your calendars for some diverse hard and classic rock originals & covers! All but one of these gigs start at 9:00 PM (the Rudyard show's at 8:00 PM), all have 21+ age limits, and there's no announced cover charges. Check the above links for more details!

Nice to see the shows piling on for Banned through the fall, and hopefully there's lots more to come as their name continues to grow in the Eastern U.P.! Note that the new gigs somewhat reinforce what looks like a break for all of next month, as no official public dates for June 2013 have been announced at present, but we'll keep you posted if anything turns up. Stay tuned for more from Banned when it comes in!

Next up, local hard rock band These Sins of Time are back! You may remember T.S.O.T. from our posthumous discovery of them early last year (they'd broken up in December 2011), but as of a week ago via their new Facebook page, singer Alexa LeClair had resurrected the band for new work locally, so what should you know? Influenced by bands like Papa Roach and Hinder, the These Sins of Time name had been used by in projects dating back to 2009, amidst scattered solo work that Alexa undertook, including at least one solo EP release & numerous postings on her YouTube channel. Their most recent 2011 run saw them play some sort of acoustic gig at the former Steamy Bean, along with making plans to complete a full lineup and record a demo, but only now does it look like major plans will be restarted. Details on members haven't been revealed yet, but it looks like guitarist Dalton James Boissoneau (also of Acention) may be back in the fold, though no word on if drummer Mitch Harris is back too, or if their other openings have been filled.

Facebook postings so far include requests for covers, lyric postings, and a solo vocal sample of an original song named "How You Behave", but click the above links for more details! I'm very curious to hear what T.S.O.T. bring to the table in their latest return, and Alexa's quite a good young singer (we don't have enough female hard rock vocalists on the Ontario side of the border), so check out her solo and band work above, and These Sins of Time are back in our local band links!

We'll close this post with new videos, starting with a new music video of sorta from Dafter, Michigan solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton, and it sets his recent original instrumental "Burn Notice" with edited footage of Ukranian pole dancer Anastasia Sokolova performing on "Ukraine's Got Talent". It seems sort of random (especially with the last part not of her dancing), but if you like the song or this style of dancing, it'll work for you, so give SweetKenny's new video a look below! (This was uploaded on his YouTube channel on May 13th.)

Finally, here's the latest song postings from local grindcore label Blood Shed Productions! After a couple weeks off from new uploads, the Ringsnaps Gibson-led studio posted two new tracks onto the label's YouTube channel in recent days of his grind solo project Crucify The Whore's new song "Bunk, Shake, and Headache" and a new song from his band Tomgrindy that's embedded below (though I won't give the title or embed the full video due to a sexual title reference and possibly disturbing imagery in both clips.) The Tomgrindy track is fuller and longer, and the backing music is more substantial, but both tracks will still mainly appeal to people who like pig squeal vocals and can handle the themes. Check out the new Tomgrindy song below, and stay tuned for updates on what's being hyped as their first solo demo, along with a C.T.W./Brutaly Fatal split demo too!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for my review of last night's Sleep When You're Dead concert later today! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Powerslug), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

News has been slow this week, but luckily, the weekend has a bunch of heavier acts playing live, so that makes up most of today's news post at the SMS! Today, we have 5 metal/hard rock shows in the Twin Saults area to preview, plus lineup notes from a Sault Ontario metal band, so let's begin today's post with a popular Sault Michigan act's weekend plans, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a newly announced show of theirs!

Sault Michigan hard rock trio Powerslug have a busy weekend coming up, including a newly announced show at Dan's Place in Rudyard TONIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, I only heard about this on frontman Chris Leask's personal Facebook page the other day, and you know how we only tend to hear about their shows on late notice without a band page to promote them. This new show in Rudyard (roughly a half hour between the Soo & St. Ignace on South Tilson Road) joins an already announced date at The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in Barbeau TOMORROW NIGHT (as the venue promoted with their own event page), and while this is a bit more of a drive than Dan's Place is (40 minutes to an hour from the Soo or St. Ignace), either venue should handle Powerslug's hard rock covers well, and their talents speak for itself, even if there's no preview videos to back that up! Admission should be free for both of these gigs, you must be 21 to attend either, and I'd assume 10:00 PM start times are in order. Check the above links for more details!

It's great to see the guys staying busy this weekend, and hearing about more shows in Rudyard is good too, as Dan's Place hasn't been overly common for metal shows lately that I've seen (though Powerslug were there in December.) Go chug your mug with Powerslug in Rudyard or Barbeau tonight and/or tomorrow, and hopefully we'll hear (& see?) more from them soon!

Now to the rest of this weekend's announced metal/hard rock concerts, starting with Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's latest solo gig TONIGHT at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on Trunk Road! His second solo acoustic concert of 2013, Tym's been making The Roadhouse a favourite live venue of his in recent months, and though it is far in the East End, I'd say it's worth a trip to see him rock out with some proficient and entertaining metal & hard rock covers! Admission should be free for this 19+ concert, and a 10:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Tym's solo concerts are usually must-see, so don't miss out on his latest solo unplugged this evening, and if you miss out, he'll be back at The Roadhouse two weeks from tonight! For a preview, here's Tym covering Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" in 2011!



Finally for the weekend heavier previews is the next two gigs from Kinross hard rockers Banned, who have a similar itinerary to Powerslug for the weekend, that being Friday & Saturday gigs at two different bars in the Sault Michigan area! TONIGHT, this frequently seen outfit will return to The Runway Bar in Hessel for the first time in almost three months, while they'll hit Todd's Tavern in Moran, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT for the first time in 2013! Note that these are also Banned's first shows since they (possibly) confirmed lineup changes, as they now feature photos of singer Tara Starr & guitarist Denny Smith on their Facebook page. It would make sense for both to fully be in Banned now, as singer Mike Straw's band status was downgraded to "occasional" last year, and guitarist Alex Schrovenwever has largely been absent due to college out of town since August, so just in case, watch out for Tara and Denny this weekend in case they're indeed new full band members!

Both venues are roughly 50 minutes south of Sault Michigan, but Moran is 20 minutes closer to St. Ignace than Hessel is, so keep that in mind if you live that direction. There's no announced cover charge for either gig, you must be 21 to attend, and the shows start at 8:00 PM tonight and 9:00 PM tomorrow. Check the above links for more details! Banned should rock this weekend no matter where and how their lineup looks, so get ready for some entertaining covers and originals in the Eastern U.P. this weekend! For a preview, here's Banned covering a Guns N' Roses classic last year!

Finally for today, here's a lineup change relating to Tym Morrison's local metal trio Caveman Morrison! The band's early 2012 lineup has apparently been reunited, as they announced the return of Redundant bassist James White to their lineup yesterday, replacing his former Browbeat bandmate Dutch Vanderploeg. The news was broken on the band's Facebook group via edits to the group description, but a reason for Dutch's departure wasn't announced. This is James' second stint with the band, having replaced Jacques Marceau in late 2011 for a few months before initially leaving last year, which led to Dutch's own return to Caveman Morrison following his first run with the band in mid-late 2010. It's disappointing to see Dutch apparently leave the band again, but hopefully he returns to live music soon, as he's got a lot of talent that should be utilized! As for James, his skills on bass are undoubtedly good, and here's hoping he lasts for the long term in his second go-round with Caveman Morrison! Stay tuned for updates on their next shows in the coming weeks!

That's likely all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post hopefully tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & Powerslug), New Year's Weekend Concert Previews, Plus The End Of Splitshot!!

It's time for our final concert preview post of 2011, and though the Sault Ontario side of things is surprisingly quiet for metal concerts, there's some hard rocking for you guys to take in in Sault Michigan to send out 2011 and welcome 2012 with! So that's the focus today, but there's also some lineup details for one band and a note on one ending their run outside of town this weekend, so let's kick things off with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!!

Kinross hard rockers Banned will return to the Sault Michigan stage on New Year's Eve to rock Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) and send out 2011 in style! This New Year's Eve job (as they often call their shows) will be their first since their Pickford concert over Halloween weekend, and their first since confirming their new lineup (who I'll have more on in a second), but the music should be as varied and hard rocking as ever! As far as I can tell, they won't be playing at The Bird tonight, this is a one night only deal this weekend. They'll be on at 10:00 PM tomorrow night, there's no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend. For more details, check the above links! It's great to see Banned back on stage, and hopefully they rock The Bird all night long as they welcome 2012 with their fans! And as for their lineup, Banned have added singer/keyboardist Mike Straw to their lineup, and enlisted bassist Jim Pentland to replace the departed Alex Schrovenwever, officially making them a quartet. The new members were quietly added to their Facebook page's lineup at some point in the past two months.

No word on if they played with Banned at the Pickford show in October, and I'm not familiar with either Mike or Jim musically, but hopefully they complement Alex & Don Traynor well for the new lineup, and go see them all rock The Bird tomorrow night! For a preview, here's Banned covering AC/DC's "TNT" in Sugar Island in August!



Also new this weekend, local hard rockers Powerslug will return to the stage to rock Dan's Place in nearby Rudyard for New Year's Eve! No word on if they're playing tonight, I haven't definitively heard either way, so I'll assume they're only playing tomorrow. My source for this new gig, Powerslug's first since their Kewadin Casino weekend earlier this month, is guitarist Chris Gurnoe's personal Facebook page, and apologies for the short notice. As expected, nothing was posted on the old River Witch Facebook page, which was deleted from Facebook anyway earlier this month, so I've deleted it from our band links, but if Powerslug ever launch a new official band page, I'll be sure to let you guys know! This talented quartet will likely be on at around 10:00 PM tomorrow night, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details, and I'd recommend calling Dan's Place to see if Powerslug are playing tonight or not before risking a drive out to Rudyard in case they are doubling up this weekend. Go check out their hard rocking sounds this weekend at Dan's Place, they'll be sure to impress, and I'll try to keep tabs on future Powerslug updates as they come in!

Now to the New Years Weekend shows we already knew about, starting with local hard rock quintet Swayze Train's debut at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino! We've seen this talented band from members of Electric Motor Fish, Clownsack, The Slackjawed Rats, and Insipid Brutality numerous times in the second half of 2011, and now they'll finally land at The Rapids Lounge tonight & tomorrow night to ring in a new year with some solid hard rock and metal covers! I wish I could show you guys how they sound or look in concert (hopefully some media will come next year), but don't sleep on Swayze Train, they're one of the more promising new bands in Sault Michigan, so don't miss them! They should also be on at around 10:00 PM tonight & tomorrow, there's no announced cover charges, and once again, you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for more details, and definitely consider seeing this talented quintet at The Rapids Lounge this weekend for your year-end hard rocking needs!

Lastly for announced Sault Michigan-area hard rock shows this weekend is the announced return of local hard rock quintet NoXcape to The Satisfied Frog tomorrow night & Saturday night in their own New Years Weekend bash! Now, I want you guys to take these shows with a grain of salt, as I've heard extremely little from NoXcape since September regarding a real band update, and though their Reverbnation page still lists these shows, it's possible it's just scarcely updated. As far as I can tell, they're still together, and unless I hear otherwise, I'll treat these shows as on, but be wary in case there's nothing going down at The Frog from them this weekend. If NoXcape are indeed returning to the stage this weekend, they'll be on at 10:00 PM tonight & tomorrow, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Hopefully NoXcape are playing this weekend, as their Absolute & Shift pasts indicate a solid hard hitting sound, but if I hear anything otherwise, I'll let you know. For now, consider these shows at The Frog tonight & tomorrow!

And finally today, though this is just out of our local range, I wanted to bring these up as they're the last chance you can see this local band before their breakup. Local hard rock quintet Splitshot are breaking up following the conclusion of their concert weekend at the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace tonight & tomorrow night, as previously indicated by bassist Kyle Beaumont to me in an e-mail last month. I find it a bit odd that their last shows aren't local, but St. Ignace is only just an hour away, and if you wanna see them one last time before Splitshot parts ways, it won't be a huge drive. Of course, 3/5ths of Splitshot will begin to devote their musical focus to Trail's End next year, but Splitshot will be remembered for giving us a lot of great hard rock sets from their fall 2010 inception through the end of this year, and though the lack of posted audio or video from their sets was always a disappointment, their talents spoke for themselves live. They filled the gap between Nixxon Dixxon and Trail's End nicely, and they'll be missed locally! I'll likely be moving Splitshot into our inactive band links early in the new year, but go check them out in St. Ignace this weekend, and make sure to see most of their lineup with Trail's End next year!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of Garden of Bedlam's "Everything Will Die" and our look back at 2011 below! Thanks everyone!

Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews And A Note On Our Band Links!!

As promised, here are the previews of this weekend's hard rock concerts in Sault Michigan! With such a high amount of concerts on both sides of the border this weekend in such a short span, I had to do it like this to keep things even and give the bands across the river the proper amount of attention. At the end, we have a housecleaning note concerning our band links as it amounts to the "active statuses" of bands we cover. Now, to the previews!!

Marquette hard rockers Nudge are returning to The Satisfied Frog in Sault Michigan this weekend! They'll be there tomorrow night & Saturday night in their first local concert stops since their two consecutive weekends at The Frog in June to deliver two great nights of hard rock and metal covers! The band haven't been promoting these shows as vigorously as their last few local shows, but they're definitely on, so take note of them (as well as frontman Danzo McCracken's acoustic solo set TONIGHT!) Both Nudge shows will start at 10:00 PM, you must be 21 to enter, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Nudge should deliver some great tunes this weekend, as they are a very talented and hard rocking quartet who always leave an impression locally! Head to The Frog this weekend for the shows, and for a preview, here's Nudge covering System of a Down's "Violent Pornography" circa November 2008!



Also this weekend in Sault Michigan is the live debut of new local hard rockers NoXcape! The quintet featuring former Absolute bandmates Ben Huyck on guitar, bassist Bill Spence, and drummer Justin Lawless, plus singer Nick Landreville and Krosswalk guitarist Joey Beairl will head down to Dan's Place in nearby Rudyard for their debut show on Saturday night! I've heard promising things about the full lineup, and judging by their past bands, they should do great in their first concert! It looks to have a 10:00 PM-ish start time and a 21+ age limit, with no announced cover charge. Check the above links for more details! Always good to see a new band pop up, and hopefully NoXcape can go as far as possible! For a preview, check out some original demos featuring just Nick and Ben from their MK-Ultra days at this location! Very late 1990s vibe with this stuff, hopefully they keep this vibe going with NoXcape! Check them out in Rudyard on Saturday!

And finally for the weekend concert previews, Kinross hard rock trio Banned will make their first ever 21+ concert appearance this Saturday at The Sundown Lounge in Pickford! I'm not familiar with this bar in any way, but their address is 18664 S M 129, and I heard it's a nice establishment, so remember that if you go see Banned this weekend! The new and diverse group will have a solid slate of classic and hard rock covers for their fans at this show, and they proved to be entertaining and talented at their debut last month, so don't miss them! The show has a 9:30 PM start time, and there's no announced cover charge. Check the above link for more details! Should be fun, hopefully they do great in Pickford this weekend! For a preview, here's Banned covering Bad Company and The Red Hot Chili Peppers in Rudyard last month!



And finally, here's a note concerning our band links on the SMS. As part of our page redesign last month, we started segmenting bands in the twin Saults by whether they're active or inactive/defunct by placing them in separate sections. In case you weren't sure, my criteria for if a band is "inactive" is if they either officially declare they've broken up (i.e. State of Misery), most of the band forms a new band in lieu of the older group (i.e. Out Of The Mouth Of Babes), or if a band goes one complete year without a visible sign of activity (i.e. Detroit.) As such, our band links have been basically accurate since the re-sorting, but this month, we're going to start moving a few bands to the inactive band links due to, well, inactivity. Three bands (by my count) will have been inactive for a whole year this month, and the first one we'll likely move to the inactive links will be The Issues, the punk/metal project from a few current members of Winkstinger. The last sign of activity from them that I can verify is a song upload to their Facebook page on August 5th of last year, and with nothing since, we'll likely classify them as "inactive" starting tomorrow. They're a very entertaining band though, give them a listen at this location!

The other two bands I have on "inactivity watch" for this month are from Sault Michigan, but we'll approach them as they come. I'm doing this to keep our band links relevant to the current state of the scene, so you guys know exactly which bands are active & alive and which bands are not, but are still worth checking out. That's all for today, but stay tuned tonight or early tomorrow for a HUGE post featuring an awesome LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, big news concerning a local band's next albums (how does SIX new albums sound?), and much more! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (NoXcape), The Alcoholic White Trash Preview, And Much More!!

Hey guys, I have a stacked news post today to help round out the month of July, so we have a departure in a local metal band, updates to one of our monthly feature series, more assorted news, and a preview of a big concert taking place tomorrow night, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for a recently renamed new local band! Remember the new Sault Michigan metal band MK-Ultra (featuring former members of Absolute & Riot! By Night) that we've been mentioning here and there this year? Well, they're finally making their live debut next month, and with a new name to go with it! The band announced on their Facebook page on Wednesday night that they've changed their name to NoXcape (pronounced "no escape"), launching a new Facebook page to go along with it. It's bare at the moment, but what we do know is that NoXcape will make their live concert debut on Saturday at Dan's Place on South Tilson Road in nearby Rudyard, Michigan! The show will be at 9:00 PM with no announced cover charge and a 21+ age limit. Nice to see them finally debuting, especially with an improved name, but I wonder how they'll sound and look at the show next weekend? We know singer Nick Landreville, guitarist Ben Huyck, and bassist Bill Spence will be there to lay down some nu metal influenced originals, but we still haven't heard official word on their drummer or possible second guitarist, just that the drummer's first name is Justin (Lawless from Absolute?) Still, it's nice to see NoXcape on a local stage finally! Check the above links for more details, and I'll keep you guys posted! Next up, here's a concert preview for a concert taking place tomorrow night, and if you love hardcore punk and metal, you'll wanna be at this one! Two touring hardcore punk bands from Victoria, British Columbia will hit The Roosevelt Hotel's stage tomorrow night, including headliners Alcoholic White Trash and "gnar rockers" Lesbian Fist Magnet! They'll bring lots of crossover thrash goodness to The Rosie tomorrow, and I have a feeling you guys will really enjoy them! Two local openers are in store as well, those being local cello punk trio RedD Monkey and extreme metal quintet Winkstinger, who are both solid choices for this type of concert! Remember, this show was originally scheduled for The Canadian Nightclub as an all ages show, but with the massive flooding there two weeks ago, the show had to be moved, so kudos to The Rosie for having it now! However, this show is NOT all ages anymore, and now has a later start time of 10:00 PM, but the $5 cover remains the same. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a great show despite the venue change, and hopefully there's tons of punk and metal fans in attendance tomorrow to enjoy the high energy music in store! For a preview, here's Alcoholic White Trash rocking a Vancouver stage in July 2008! Thirdly today, it looks like local death metal band Unleash The Blackened Sky have parted ways with singer Steve Rhodes. No official statements have been made as to his departure, but his official Twitter page says his band is "none at the moment", and a recent posting on his personal Facebook page says that he's not "in a show playing band anymore". Seems pretty definitive that he's left the band in some fashion, and with no real band page updates in almost a month, this could be all the proof we get. Steve is the third member of their original "Bring The Blood" lineup to leave the band in their brief two month existence, following the departures of Kory Derasp & Dan Souliere. I don't know why Steve left Unleash The Blackened Sky, but it is disappointing, as he was a solid death growler and left a good mark in the local scene this year, particularly during State of Misery's half year run! His two shows with U.T.B.S. (as Bring The Misery) were works in progress, but the band had promise, and hopefully they come back soon with a full lineup again! Best of luck to Steve though, his growling talent would be an asset for bands looking for a death metal singer! Stay tuned for updates from Unleash The Blackened Sky as I hear them! Now, here's a few assorted shorter stories from the last little while. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or company name.

• I've regrettably moved internet rock radio station Energy Rock Radio into our "Other Local Metal Links" because, at least right now, they're no longer based in Sault Ontario. Owner Ryan Kaarlela moved to Castlegar, British Columbia earlier this year and bases the station from there currently. The station still rocks though, definitely listen to it (as I still do), but it's not really "local" at the moment. Best of luck to Ryan out west though, I've heard positive things from him since the move!
• Local hard rockers Half Past are now selling official t-shirts! I believe they're black with their current logo on the front. They're $20 in sizes S-XXL and women's sizes M-L, and can now be purchased at The Rad Zone, directly from guitarist Alain Fletcher at this location, or at their concerts, presumably starting at Hempfest in two weeks. Nice to hear, I should pick one up one of these days!
• I'm badly late with this, but defunct Sault Michigan hard rockers Nixxon Dixxon have an official Facebook page that I only just recently found! It was launched and briefly maintained last spring before falling out of use, so there isn't much there beyond bio information and photos, but become a fan anyway and show your support!

And finally, I've made some more edits to make some of our Defunct Local Band Profiles more current and accurate, so here's what's newly changed in this monthly feature series! Both the AtrophiA and White Knights profiles have had minor edits to reflect the name changes of bands that members were later in (Bring The Blood to Bring The Misery & Motion Carried to Redundant.) I edited Life's Eclipse's profile to reflect that their drummer's name is Casey Amo, now that frontman Jason Mills confirmed that they can now publically say who their drummer is. I made a minor addition to Bad Side's profile to note that former drummer Mike Vollman is now in a local Christian rock band named Seeking Reverence (also featuring Intrepid bassist Mitch Goetz.) Here's a video of them covering a Kutless song, which isn't a bad rendition! Interesting news, I wouldn't have assumed this would be their current band, but hey, kudos for following their faith! Finally, I've made a minor addition to Out Of The Mouth Of Babes' profile to note that they recorded "Take A Walk With Me" at idioRECORDS here in town with producer (and For July frontman) Dave Hunter. Check the above links for more on the now updated profiles! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and updates very soon, including our August installment of the "Where Are The New Albums?" series on Tuesday! Thanks everyone!