This Weekend's Remaining Hard Rock & Punk Concert Previews, Including A Postponement!!

Let's just take care of the second half of this weekend's concert previews tonight before we forget about them! On this busy weekend, we already tackled shows from The Elements, sister band The Wyld Stallyns, Soundcheck, and Tym Morrison earlier today, so look for those previews in the post below, but here's the rest of the heavier and punk shows to watch for this weekend, along with a postponed concert, but all recieved plenty of advance notice! Here's what you should know!

A partial sequel to March's Punk Covers Night at LopLops Lounge goes down at the same venue TOMORROW NIGHT, where that show's lineup (sans Redundant) returns for another night of high impact punk rock renditions! Headlining tomorrow are online page-less punk supergroup The Cover-Up (featuring Surfers, Rising Tide, Lion Ride, and K.I.C.K. alumni), whose setlist is floating around on personal Facebook accounts, and if things line up, a lot of familiar and up-tempo punk favourites are in store tomorrow night from them! Opening are the similarly online page-less punk trio The Bananas Guerrillas, who themselves feature Stereo North, Long Shot, and Gnaeus alumni in their own talented lineup. If you missed them in March or at their Blink-182 tribute debut last fall, prepare for more punk rock action from them to start at LopLops tomorrow, and a setlist is floating around for them too! This concert is presented by Tidal Records, though it curiously hasn't been promoted by the venue proper online at press time.

A $5 cover charge is in effect for tomorrow's concert, which has doors opening at 9:00 PM, and a 19+ age limit. Despite the lack of online pages for tomorrow's bands (not to mention public videos of them in concert), both The Cover-Up and The Bananas Guerrillas are loaded with talent and familiar faces who have a firm grasp of punk rock from the 1990s and 2000s, so don't miss either band at LopLops tomorrow night!

Next up, we'll head south to the Eastern Upper Peninsula, where Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril will return to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! These shows will surprisingly be the Scarkazm sister band's first concerts in St. Ignace of 2018, last having played at this Kewadin branch in October, with dates at the Soo Kewadin and in Harbor Springs filling their schedule in the interim. This fan favourite trio should have another hard hitting weekend of familiar covers ready to go for fans in St. Ignace tomorrow and Saturday, so keep one/both shows in mind for your weekend plans! As usual for Peril's Kewadin concert weekends, expect 9:00 PM start times tomorrow and Saturday night, you must be 21 or older to attend, and there are no announced cover charges. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Peril live a few years back!

Also this weekend, let's head back to Sault Ontario, where local punk trio Redundant are among the performers for Algoma Ride For Autism's official after party THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at The Bridge View Banquet Hall (a.k.a. The Verdi Hall!) This is the fifth straight year of involvement for Redundant or frontman Justin Langlois with the annual autism awareness motorcycle rally, as the guys played their annual family fun day from 2014-2016, while Justin played a special solo set at their pre-ride fundraiser last year. In 2018, the live musical component moves to the Queen Street West banquet hall as an afterparty once the rally proper concludes, with supper, live music, and some sort of prize/raffle element also on hand for the cause. Redundant will be joined by local classic rock veterans (Tex &) The Ride, but two new bands were also confirmed in recent days on the ride's Facebook page, namely local country/bluegrass trio A Band Named Soo and Korah Collegiate's school band Mustang Sally, in advance of their Rotaryfest return next month.

Quite the varied lineup to be sure, and it's great to see the two new bands sign on to help support the ride and the ongoing work to understand and manage autism! Admission for this licensed event (which appears to be all ages) is $20, but full Algoma Ride For Autism participants will get in for free with their registration. All of the musical entertainment starts at 6:00 PM tomorrow, so visit the Facebook event page and the above links for full details (including on how to participate in the actual rally), and here's Redundant live in concert a few years back!

Finally, we were going to wrap up this post with a preview of the previously announced Project 906 show at the Back Bay Grill & Games at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley, Michigan this Saturday, but it turns out that both this concert and their Saturday, August 11th show at the same venue have quietly been postponed to June 30th and September 1st respectively. Reasons for the postponements weren't announced, but note that Project 906 themselves had not acknowledged the shows online publically, we first learned of them via Bay Mills' events calendar in April. In their place, both of the original dates have been taken over by The 3 Wisemen, a new local classic rock band featuring former Bad Side drummer Jonah Brockman. I don't know much about The 3 Wisemen yet, but it'll be interesting to hear some media of them or see what songs they cover at some point!  Keep the shifted dates in mind, and don't miss Project 906's next concerts in Sault Ste. Marie and in Eckerman next weekend!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Go Skateboarding Day, The Cover-Up, And Gianni Gagoots), And A New Video!!

Here's a new news post for your Wednesday afternoon reading! There is a new video to check out at the end, but this mostly concerns three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this summer in Sault Ontario, so without any further adieu, here's what you should know on them!

Two online page-less punk cover groups will join forces on Friday, June 15th, when reunited supergroup The Cover-Up and the sporadically seen Bananas Guerrillas take the stage at LopLops Lounge! This is basically a Redundant-less sequel to LopLops' Punk Covers Night in March, and if you love punk rock classics, this will be an ample chance to see them on stage this summer! Of course, The Cover-Up unite Rising Tide bandmates Dustin Jones and Marshall Jaaskelainen with ex-Lion Ride guitarist Marco Pedalino and K.I.C.K. drummer Aaron Dunn, while The Bananas Guerrillas (a renamed continuation of the Blink-182 tribute from last year's Halloween Party) again feature ex-Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci and ex-Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick in their ranks. Lots of talent between these two bands, so don't miss out on their high impact covers in a couple of weeks! Promoted by Tidal Records (and as announced via their Facebook page), this is a 19+ show with a $5 cover and a 9:00 PM start time.

Coverage of this show would benefit if both bands had more of a presence on social media, but both The Cover Up and The Bananas Guerrillas have promising lineups and setlists (you can find The Cover-Up's on personal Facebook accounts), and hopefully this is a fun night for punk fans! See above for more details, and we're not done with The Cover-Up yet today!

Next up, and for a fourth straight year, local musicians will hit Queen Elizabeth Park for Tidal Records' Go Skateboarding Day festivities on Thursday, June 21st! This is the sixth year for the local independent label's sponsorship of Go Skate Day at the John Rhodes Center-adjacent skate park, and bands are back for another go-around of live music action at the top of the big ramp, so who all is playing this year? Believe it or not, there are no returning bands from the last three years, with the announced lineup including the aforementioned The Cover Up, indie/punk quintet Northwest, "no genre" alt-hard rock trio Handsome Sandwich, and indie/hard rock quartet Id Iota. Stacked lineup with bands who should be a great fit as a soundtrack to the skateboarding action in three weeks time, and it's very surprising that it took this long for Tidal Records owner and Cover-Up frontman Dustin Jones to play at Go Skate Day himself!

Note that Garden of Bedlam (whose final concert to date was Go Skate Day 2015) are depicted on the above poster, but unless I'm completely out of the loop, they're not back together for this year's festivities. Beyond the music, there will be a skateboarding competition, free skate lessons, and assorted vendors and sponsors will be on site as usual. Once again, Go Skateboarding Day is a FREE & ALL AGES outdoor event, so make sure to prepare for any adverse humidity or temperatures if coming out, while everything will start at 3:00 PM. This should be a great union of punk/alt-rock and extreme sports once again, so visit the above links for complete details!

Also today, there's one more new concert to acknowledge on here, as reunited local funk/hard rock/improv collective Gianni Gagoots will return to the stage on Friday, July 13th when they return to LopLops Lounge as openers for Niagara Falls experimental prog rock quartet The Road Waves! This will be the Gagoots' first local concert appearance in over nine months, having abruptly disbanded last fall, before quietly reuniting in February. The sauce masters have kept up the joking Italian lingo and references in posts since, but will they be able to shake off the rust effectively at LopLops in July? We'll find out then! As for the headliners, fans will recognize The Road Waves as headliners at The New American Pub last June (a show that Gianni Gagoots opened and promoted), and with a hybrid sound collecting blues, jazz, and funk rock into a creative improvised arrangement, it'll be neat to see them back on a local stage after over a year away!

No word on if this is show is being promoted by Gianni Gagoots' dormant in-house agency Like Ten Productions or not, but the Facebook event page was launched by the venue. A rare LopLops show with NO COVER, this July 13th event has a 10:00 PM start time and a 19+ age limit. With Gianni Gagoots hyping up 2018 as their year as they come "back to the main land", hopefully this show sees them picking up where they left off last fall, as you should be in for a fun time with all of the improvised rock on hand! Visit the above links for more details on this concert!

We'll close today with a short new video from local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback's YouTube channel, but if you visit their Facebook page, it's nothing new. Bassist Matt Quinn made a cover video for that page featuring a smoky skull apparition and text announcing that they are recording their first album, which you can pre-order at their Patreon page (which is essentially equal to becoming a $10 backer or above there.) More YouTube content is teased, but this clip is cool looking for what it is, and it's nice to see Facebook cover videos getting some more usage! Give it a look below, and stay tuned for our June Jam concert preview tomorrow!

 
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our first weekend concert previews for June 2018 tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (I Mother Earth & Redundant), Live705 Updates, And More!!

Here's a big news post for your Tuesday delectation, and with other big news and announcements piling on, there was no need to delay things! Today's post features some assorted shorter items,

Three local punk bands will unite for Punk Covers Night at LopLops Lounge on Saturday, March 3rd! A presentation of Tidal Records, this show's lineup will include veteran punk favourites Redundant in a rare LopLops appearance from them, and they definitely know their share of punk classics! While this is a covers-centric show, might we hear originals from their long-awaited debut EP, currently in progress at Tidal's own Mission Control Studios? Sporadically seen punk cover quartet The Cover-Up will play their first publically advertised concert in three years next month, with frontman/Tidal Records head Dustin Jones & ex-Lion Ride guitarist Marco Pedalino now joined by Dustin's Rising Tide bandmate Marshall Jaaskelainen & K.I.C.K. drummer Aaron Dunn, replacing Clint Wilson and Mike Yorke respectively, as per personal Facebook postings. Reasons for the lineup changes haven't been publically announced, but remember that The Cover-Up don't have any known band pages on Facebook or elsewhere. Solid and familiar choices for Tidal loyalists, and they should deliver a fun set!

The third advertised band is The Bananas Guerrillas, and while the name is new to the site, this band is either a renaming of or successor to Enema of the Soo, the Blink-182 tribute from the Halloween Party events at The Algonquin last year. If the lineup's identical, look for ex-Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci, ex-Long Shot bassist Adam Dawe, and ex-Gnaeus drummer Brendan Garlick in this band. No online pages yet, but they have an intriguing lineup! A $5 cover is in effect for this 19+ concert, whose doors open at 8:00 PM on March 3rd. Visit the above links for more details, and look for a high impact night of punk rock at LopLops next month!

Next up, here's a huge show announcement for The Machine Shop on Wednesday, April 18th, as Juno award winning, multi-platinum-selling Ontario hard rock bands I Mother Earth and Finger Eleven will co-headline this already highly anticipated show! Best known for hit singles like "One More Astronaut", 'So Gently We Go", and "Another Sunday", this will be a long anticipated gig for fans of I Mother Earth's alternative and prog-tinged hard rock sound (they last played here at Club Princess, so there's an idea of the wait!) This will be I.M.E.'s first show here with Salads bassist Chuck Dailey in place of Bruce Gordon, while it'll mark frontman Edwin Ghazal's return after his 2 prior stops here with Crash Karma. As for Finger Eleven, this will mark their first stop here since headlining at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion back in 2004, and their first Soo gig since having their biggest chart success with the dance rocker "Paralyzer", so look for that and other hits like "One Thing" & "Living in a Dream" in a couple of months' time!

Also, this will be Finger Eleven's first local show since Steve Molella replaced Rich Beddoe on drums. Tickets are $40 for this ALL AGES concert, which has an advertised start time of 8:20 PM, and tickets will go on sale TOMORROW at 10:00 AM at this link and at the in-person box offices at The Machine Shop and Station Mall. Fittingly announced the day of tonight's Big Wreck concert at the same venue, it's great to see The Machine Shop booking more non-country acts, and with this double whammy of Canadian hard rock, I know the buzz will only build in the next two months! Visit the official Facebook event page for current and future details as they come in!

Also today, here's the latest from local concert promoters Live705's Facebook page, starting with a post on January 20th where they held a "roll call" for bands that would be interested in playing future shows of theirs, or to be "placed on our talent list" if they're contacted with information about band-for-hire slots. No word yet on when Live705 will end their concert promotion hiatus (they teased the summer), but send your band's name, contact info, description, lineup, and available links to Live705 above if you're interested! With that said, a Live705 representative was in attendance for Elements bandmates Rob Speers & Jesse Cook's acoustic concert at The Rockstar Bar on Friday, and this is an unplugged cover of Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels" alongside Rob's Jack Spades bandmates Daniel Horton and Johnny Belanger on guest guitar and percussion. The vertical footage doesn't help, especially at this sharp angle, but it's a solid rendition of this roots rock classic! Give it a look below, and I wonder why there were so many balloons?



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

• The aforementioned Daniel Horton is thinking about starting a new side project that would play originals and select covers. Influences would include bands ranging from Breaking Benjamin and Chevelle to A Perfect Circle and Tool, among others. No word on what instrument Daniel would primarily play (he's usually a guitarist, but was the bassist in Project 421), so message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Thursday if you're interested in more details!
• Former A Dire Setback/A Fall From Innocence singer Larry Babic is looking to get back into the scene, and is interested in jamming with other musicians. He is currently learning to play guitar as well, he cited bands like Taking Back Sunday and Tiny Moving Parts as some of his favourite current bands, he likes "making sad lyrics", and he indicated that he loves doing promo work. If you're interested in jamming with Larry, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Friday!
• Sykotyk Rampage's Facebook page has quietly returned after being briefly deactivated late last month, so we can quote the posts there that acknowledged their hiatus. On January 16th, the band said "Sorry we have been out of the loop, but we will be back with more", and "we should be getting together soon so we can bring the sweet creativeness to all of you.", while thanking fans for the love & likes. This isn't a firm declaration of imminent activity, so we'll leave them in our inactive band links for now, but I know fans of the crash are hoping that Sykotyk Rampage come back in full force in 2018!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site as the week progresses! Thanks everyone!