Before we begin this weekend's second concert preview post (check this morning's post for all of the Tarnished show coverage), we just learned yesterday that tomorrow's Drowning Pool concert at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino was quietly postponed two weeks ago, as per this link. A reason for the postponement wasn't announced, but refunds were being processed A.S.A.P., and existing ticket buyers will get priority seating for the new date and a complimentary ticket for Saturday night's Pop Evil/Buckcherry concert, which will be previewed later in this post. For what it's worth, a sentence in Kewadin's press release briefly credits planned Drowning Pool openers Joyous Wolf as now opening for Pop Evil & Buckcherry, which does make sense, as Joyous Wolf were otherwise opening for Buckcherry on their current tour, but I have not seen any public reference to them being added elsewhere.
This news is very surprising, especially with the original announcement not being all that widespread online, but hopefully the postponement was for necessary reasons and will indeed lead to a rescheduling at some point down the road, as it would be great to see Drowning Pool live in Sault Ste. Marie! See above for more details on refunds and perks for ticket buyers. Now, let's dive into more of this weekend's hard rock concert previews, Saturday-only gigs and Highway 63 aside, and we'll kick things off in Sault Ontario!
Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will make an increasingly rare trip away from The Whiskey Barrel for a headlining concert TONIGHT at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion as part of their Summer Concert Series! A rare hard rock-leaning concert in this annual downtown music event, this will be Christina, Rob, and Jesse's debut in the Summer Concert Series, but they are not new to playing under the big tent, having performed there last summer during the Fringe North Festival and/or Art In The Park festivities. This should be a prime opportunity for fans to hear The Stallyns' varied and often heavy covers on the big stage, so don't miss out tonight at 7:00 PM! This is a FREE & ALL AGES event. Note that the Sault Music News Letter Facebook page also credits The Wyld Stallyns as playing at The Whiskey Barrel on Friday, but they did so last week too, and in neither case was a show advertised online by the band or venue. If they are, we'll let you know, but click here for more details on tonight's Roberta Bondar Pavilion gig, and here's The Stallyns live!
Next up, let's touch on prolific local hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison's busy slate of concerts this weekend, as he'll return to Gliss Restaurant for his regular weekly matinee shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY, before continuing his mid-2018 run of weekly Sunday matinees at La Terrazza Franzisi in Richards Landing THIS SUNDAY! There's nothing horribly new or different to report for these gigs compared to last week's and beyond, but if you like his hard and classic rock covers, Tym will have plenty in store from his prolific setlist at the Spring Street restaurant over the next two evenings, while fans in St. Joseph Island will get to enjoy his acoustic show all day on Sunday by the wharf. Keep all three shows in mind on this busy concert weekend! As usual, Tym's Gliss shows are 6:00 PM matinees, while he'll be at La Terrazza Franzisi all day starting at 10:00 AM on Sunday, sans an hour break.
All of these shows are ALL AGES with no cover, but remember that these are restaurants, not nightclubs, so mind the locales. Tym's talented brand of unplugged hard rock should be a fine fit at both venues this weekend, so visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, and here's Tym live a few years back!
Finally for today, Sault Michigan-area concertgoers can still enjoy some major headlining hard rock this weekend, as Muskegon hard rock quintet Pop Evil and Anaheim hard rock notables Buckcherry will rock Kewadin Casino THIS SATURDAY NIGHT on an outdoor stage! Both bands are no strangers to local audiences, with Pop Evil playing the Soo for the sixth time this weekend, and fifth under the Kewadin umbrella, while Buckcherry were last seen here in 2011 with a largely different lineup, with only Josh Todd and Stevie D. back eight years later. From Pop Evil's hard hitting songs like "Torn To Pieces", "Waking Lions", and "Take It All" to Buckcherry hits like "Lit Up", "Sorry", and "Crazy Bitch", fans are in store for lots of familiar rock radio hits on Saturday, and I just hope the weather cooperates! Remember, Kewadin's above Drowning Pool press release did list Los Angeles blues/hard rock quartet Joyous Wolf as being moved to this show as openers, and they are opening for Buckcherry on their current tour otherwise, including in Sudbury on Sunday.
If Joyous Wolf are playing on Saturday now, the addition isn't firmly stated elsewhere, but we'll let you know if anything's clarified.Tickets for this ALL AGES, 7:00 PM show are $25 for general admission or $35-$45 for closer reserved sections, and while most of the $45 seats are now sold out, lots of others remain at this link, 1-800-KEWADIN, or at the in-person box office (also, remember the complimentary ticket deal for Drowning Pool ticket buyers.) This should be a huge concert for fans of modern hard rock with Pop Evil's heavier sound and Buckcherry's party vibe meshing well, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Pop Evil in the Soo!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Inner City Surfers, Black Crown Initiate, and Highway 63 concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Before everyone celebrates Victoria Day, here's a new news post for this late Sunday night, and it includes some assorted recent updates, a musician search from a local guitarist, and a special Monday night show preview, but first, here's a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this summer!
Dallas metal quartet Drowning Pool will make their local concert debut on Friday, August 2nd when they rock The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! A platinum selling band best known from rock radio hits like "Step Up", "37 Stitches", "Feel Like I Do", and (of course) "Bodies", this fan favourite band has over a decade's worth of familiar tunes to bring to the table, and whether you liked their material with Dave, Gong, Ryan, or Jasen, you should get your fill of Drowning Pool later this summer! Los Angeles blues/hard rock quartet Joyous Wolf will bring their retro-tinged sound to the Soo as the opening band, and with their new EP "Place In Time" now on sale, they should impress with their well-influenced and catchy brand of music in August as well! Tickets for this all ages, 7:00 PM concert are $20, and interestingly, this show is standing room only with no assigned seating. No, this event is not publically tied to Allstar Promotions.
It is worth noting that if you buy tickets for the next night's Pop Evil/Buckcherry outdoor concert at the Sault Kewadin, you can knock $5 off of your Drowning Pool ticket as part of a bundle deal for both concerts, but whether that interests you or not, you can buy tickets at this link, at the in-person box office, or at 1-800-KEWADIN. This should be a fun concert in it's own right, especially in the lead up to Pop Evil for this stacked concert weekend, so check the above links for much more details!
Next up, here's our preview of a special Victoria Day concert TOMORROW NIGHT, as Montreal "slutch metal" quartet Dopethrone will make their Sault Ontario concert debut at The New American Pub! Fans of slow, grinding, and sludgy metal should easily take to Dopethrone's blend of doom and stoner metal, and in this stop on their Trans Canadian Tour, expect a pounding of brutal and deliberately paced original material from this prolific band at The New A! Support will include the return of both halves of the "Trading Spaces" split cassette tape from October 2017, including local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver in their first live appearance back home in over a year. Their intense, fast-paced hybrid of death metal and crust punk should prove to be a fitting compliment in this doom metal doubleheader, so don't miss Josh, Mike, and Matt tomorrow either! Joining them are local doom/sludge metal trio AlgomA, ending a 19 month hiatus dating back to the aforementioned split tape's release party at the same venue.
After missing all of 2018 from the local stage, it's awesome to see AlgomA back at it, and hopefully they set the tone well with their own well-traveled doom and sludge metal attack! Presented by AlgomA's own Six, Two, Oh., tomorrow's 19+ show has a $10 cover charge and a 9:00 PM start time. Despite the holiday timing, this is a school/work night for many, but if you can make it to The New A, the sludge metal onslaught should be worth the trip, so visit the official Facebook event page and this commercial for full details, and here's Dopethrone live!
Also today, here's a musician search that might pique some readers' interest, courtesy of the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on May 9th! On that day, a local metal guitarist named Shane Desjardins posted to say that he was looking to jam with other metal musicians and perhaps write some material. He shared this video of an instrumental deathcore original he recorded back in 2017 for his YouTube channel, and while I'm not familiar with him musically at all, he actually has nine solo instrumental recordings there (8 originals, plus one cover of The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black", believe it or not), as well as three solo cover videos. Shane has a lot of positive responses and subscribers already, and he definitely has talent in deathcore and extreme metal music, but could a local band with him on board result from the above musician search? Contact him at this link for more details, and give his existing videos a look above & below to see what he offers!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:
The pre-ride party for this year's Algoma Ride For Autism will take place at The Canadian Nightclub on Friday, June 14th, as per it's Facebook event page. The pre-motorcycle rally festivities will include raffle draws and live music, and while bands have not been publically confirmed, remember that punk trio Redundant and/or frontman Justin Langlois have played A.R.4.A.-related events in each of the last 5 years. If they or other hard rock/punk acts sign on for this year's rally, we'll let you know!
After only posting twice (on the same day) on their Facebook page since November 2017, and letting it close earlier this year, local rap/party metal band The Apocalypse Afterparty posted on their revived page last week. In a shared post, "songwriter" Amanda Stanghetta (nee Brown) indicated that they're looking for a jam space (with or without a drumkit) to rehearse at in Toronto between this coming weekend and June 11th. Making the most of a trip, or are they relocating south? In any event, The Apocalypse Afterparty are back in our active band links, so stay tuned!
Local/Thompson, Manitoba hard rock musician Mike Haggith announced on his Facebook page on Wednesday that he is planning to remaster his 2014 solo album "A Place Of Our Own" for a digital re-release on current platforms, while also giving a longer description of the album's themes. As this is a remaster with no brand new content, I won't re-review the final product on here (visit this link for our original review), but hopefully this finds it's way on sale where "Neighbourhood Watch Revisited" did not!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site as the week rolls along! Thanks everyone!
Local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns will make an increasingly rare trip away from The Whiskey Barrel for a headlining concert TONIGHT at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion as part of their Summer Concert Series! A rare hard rock-leaning concert in this annual downtown music event, this will be Christina, Rob, and Jesse's debut in the Summer Concert Series, but they are not new to playing under the big tent, having performed there last summer during the Fringe North Festival and/or Art In The Park festivities. This should be a prime opportunity for fans to hear The Stallyns' varied and often heavy covers on the big stage, so don't miss out tonight at 7:00 PM! This is a FREE & ALL AGES event. Note that the Sault Music News Letter Facebook page also credits The Wyld Stallyns as playing at The Whiskey Barrel on Friday, but they did so last week too, and in neither case was a show advertised online by the band or venue. If they are, we'll let you know, but click here for more details on tonight's Roberta Bondar Pavilion gig, and here's The Stallyns live!
