LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Battle For The Blood & Anvil), Theatre Of Night Album News, And More!!

It's amazing how fast big news hits the wire, because we've got another news post tonight to get you guys caught up with! Below, we have news on an upcoming local metal album, how local high school students can help promote some upcoming concerts, and leading off, some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this month and next, both of which are very notable in different ways, so here's what you need to know!

A new battle of the bands has been announced for Sault Ontario, and it will take place in exactly ONE WEEK! Due to high demand for an opening slot for the 3 Inches of Blood-headlined concert at The Roosevelt Hotel on July 9th, promoter J.D. Pearce has announced a battle of the bands on Tuesday, June 12th at The Rosie to determine the concert's second local opening band, which is an awesome opportunity! Four bands have been announced to compete at this battle, and in alphabetical order, they include Desbarats death metal quartet For All That Is Lost, local grimecore trio Shit Liver, deathcore standouts The Valentine's Day Massacre, and extreme metal quintet Winkstinger, which adds up to a talented group of area metal bands for this battle! For F.A.T.I.L. and The V.D.M., this will be their first battle since their three-way third place tie at the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands in April, so that alone makes this battle a close call! The other two bands will make their first local battle appearances on Tuesday, though Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle guested with Bring The Fallen at their Downtown Showdown victory in 2010, and Winkstinger's Jesse Cook & Jonas Gasperas placed fourth at the YMCA Battle of the Bands in 2009 with Operation: Killdozer, so there's successful battle competitors all around!

This battle, entitled "Battle For The Blood!", will apparently be judged by fan vote, which isn't typical from other recent battles, but hopefully the bands all have great responses & turnouts to make it competitive! Rules and time restrictions haven't been made public yet, but the 4 band battles in 2009 & 2010 in Sault Ontario that had set limits of either 3-4 songs or a half hour length, so I imagine it will be similar on Tuesday. There will be a $3 cover, doors open at 9:00 PM, and I expect this will probably be a 19+ event. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Though this is short notice for a battle of the bands, this should be a really cool event, and hopefully very competitive among these four talented area metal bands! I had fears that a battle for just a 3 Inches of Blood opening slot might be too skewed towards a specific audience or be not big enough to attract a wide notice, but 3IOB are a fast rising and very popular Canadian metal band, and interest in seeing them live and opening for them was noticeably good, so hopefully this battle is a rousing success! Stay tuned for updates on this battle as they come in!

The other new concert today is also courtesy of J.D., and he's outdone himself here, as Anvil are coming back to the Soo! The Toronto heavy metal legends and stars of the acclaimed 2008 documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" have been announced to headline a major upcoming concert at The Canadian Nightclub on July 25th, which should be a huge event! Though this isn't their first concert here (having headlined at the former Ramada Inn in April 1984, among other possible shows), it's been far too long since Anvil have rocked Sault Ontario, and their highly influential and heavy brand of speed metal will surely bring in a huge crowd next month! There will be three local opening bands, including horror punk quintet Frightlight (in their first Canadian gig since Dead In The Van), popular local metal quartet Garden of Bedlam, and one more band to be announced. Solid opener choices for sure so far, and they'll set the tone very nicely for Anvil's long awaited local return, but hopefully the last local openers are picked well! This concert will be ALL AGES (similar to other recent metal shows at The Canadian), an 8:00 PM start time is listed, and tickets will be $20 when they go on sale at local retailers (though ticket holders from the 3 Inches of Blood show will get first crack at advance tickets.)

This should be an incredible concert, and it's about time that Anvil came back here for a show! Now I can put my Metal Pounders Union card to use and enjoy material new & old from these Juno nominated metal legends! Of course, stay tuned for updates on this show as they come in, as you know this will be a can't miss event!

Finally for notes relating to concerts promoted by J.D. Pearce, he's on the lookout for area high school students that can help do some concert promotion & advertising at their school! As revealed in a posting on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on Sunday (under his Frightlight stage name Johnny Pints), he is looking for "dedicated young music fans" that can advertise all ages concerts that he is promoting and/or playing on, via such possible means as putting up event posters at area high schools or holding contests at the school for tickets. Anyone who helps will be rewarded with merchandise and free entry into said concerts, and he also hinted that this may help younger original acts get bookings in the area. The Weak Ends-headlined show on June 20th at The Oddfellows Hall that Frightlight are playing on is the first show that would fit into these plans, but J.D. has more coming this summer! If you attend a high school in the area and are willing to help promote & advertise upcoming metal & punk shows in Sault Ontario, contact J.D. at this location or reply to his post at the above links! I wish this was more prevalent when I was in high school, as I rarely (if ever) remember concert posters or advertising at Bawating, but hopefully there's some young music/concert fans that can help out! I encourage anyone who fits to jump on this oppurtunity, it could be a big help for many upcoming all ages shows!

And finally for today, Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night have revealed some big new details on their upcoming second album "The Dawn's Early Light"! As posted on their Facebook page this morning, they've revealed all 12 songs to be featured on this American patriotic-themed album, including previously unannounced renditions of "My Country, 'Tis Of Thee" and "America, The Beautiful" and one original song named "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier", referring to a grave where the remains of unidentified soldiers are interred. They call that song "an astonishing original composition", and I can't wait to hear it! The other big news is that Theatre of Night plan to release this album (presumably on various online platforms) on July 1st, so get amped up for this upcoming album release! I'm honestly surprised that they're aiming to release it on Canada Day and not July 4th, especially with the album's theme and message lending itself more to an Independence Day release, but no matter what, the time is drawing near! Saying this comes out next month as scheduled, I can definitely see reviewing "The Dawn's Early Light" next month on the site, but we still have June to worry about, so keep an eye out for updates on our next CD reviews and more upcoming local metal albums as I hear of them!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for new videos, weekend concert previews, and that second Woods of Ypres archive interview soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Free Refill) And More Assorted Updates!

Hey guys, before I head to Manitoulin Island, I have more assorted news stories to share with you today! Some are backlogged from last weekend's inactivity, while others still are newer! Let us begin with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!! (And if you're here hoping for Kewadin Festival recaps and updates, you're out of luck, but I PROMISE to share what I know and have on Sunday!) Sault Michigan hard rockers Free Refill have announced another upcoming concert, this time at an upcoming battle of the bands! The United Way of the Eastern U.P. are holding a battle of the bands on August 5th at The Strahl Theater at Sault Area High School on August 5th as a fundraiser to raise money for Kids Against Hunger! Free Refill announced their involvement on their MySpace page and Free Refill's Devin Anderson confirmed the news with me by e-mail, so there's one act for the battle! I can't confirm any other bands, but the lineup isn't finalized or complete, so if you're in Sault Michigan, there's still time to enter! Registration is $25, forms are available at the Facebook event page, or e-mail Chrystal Tharp at this location for details! If you're interested in attending, it's at 7:00 PM at the high school on August 5th, with an admission price of $5. Check the above links for more details! Best of luck to Free Refill, I wonder who else will join the bill? Also, Devin gave me the news that apparently, they're playing at the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival at 1:00 PM tomorrow on the second stage! This would mean that they are replacing Electric Motor Fish on the bill for that day. I wonder what happened? No matter, great to see Free Refill again! I'll keep you all posted with more updates! Next up, I promised you all continued Mike Cliffe coverage after I discussed him in the GarageBand Profile Mini-Series, and I'm making good on that! The veteran local experimental hard rock guitarist has uploaded three new songs onto his Reverbnation page! My favourite is called "Waiting For World Cup", and it's a hard charging instrumental that is seemingly inspired by this year's FIFA World Cup! I can't picture this song fitting with a soccer game, but it's well played and catchy! A bit too much dead air between the chugging riffs, but it's a solid song that would work especially well with backing instruments! Another new song is a collaboration with Utah indie/progressive outfit Higher Than Pope (Mike has a wider reach for his material than you may realize!) It's definitely not the heaviest thing in his catalog, it has sort of a techno influence with bouncy progression to it, and decent vocals! Not bad, though don't expect metal out of it. The other new song is a cover of The Mothers of Invention's "Any Way The Wind Blows", which is a nice experimental carefree cover of the original! Not personally a huge Frank Zappa fan, but Mike breathes some nice energy into this cover! Check out the new songs, and much, much more by clicking here! There's something for everyone in his catalog! Thirdly today are some intriguing new YouTube uploads from Duane Roy, the Wawa-based author and metalhead who frequently attends major Sault-area concerts! You've likely seen his concert videos, but did you know that he also makes bootleg audio recordings too? Good quality ones, no less! Duane's uploaded ten audio recordings from local shows onto his YouTube channel, and lucky for us, five of them are metal! This includes Tesla performing their song "Gettin' Better" from their show at Kewadin Casino last month, Ace Frehley playing "Snowblind" at Kewadin Casino last fall, Alice Cooper singing "Is It My Body?" from his August 2007 show at Kewadin, The Scorpions performing their classic song "Holiday" at Kewadin in September 2007, and Kiss playing "I Love It Loud" from their Kewadin outdoor show in 2006! I'm really impressed by the audio quality here, I wonder what device he used? Particularly of interest to me are the Alice Cooper and Scorpions songs because we don't see a lot from their local concerts online! Check out the songs (really good quality all around) and more at the above links! I'll embed one here to show you guys, The Scorpions in Sault Ste. Marie playing their song "Holiday"! And finally, I found a pretty cool discovery on Facebook the other day that I wanted to share with you guys! Former Fitswitch guitarist Kevin Powe, it turns out, is a very talented graphic designer! Of course, if you were in and around Fitswitch and the local music scene in the mid-2000s, this will be no surprise to you, but Kevin recently uploaded his graphic design portfolio onto Facebook to share! I don't typically share Facebook photo albums on personal pages, but there's too much cool stuff on here for me to not share! Kevin's designed logos for bands like Fitswitch, Frightlight, Faithless Sin, Time of Ruin, what is now No Arrow, and classic local bands like Tyrants of Euphoria (remember them?) and others! There's also album artwork and scans for Fitswitch albums, including a few that I've definitely never heard of! Lost in my searches, or never released? If real, I'd love to get my hands on them, hint hint! Also, you'll find assorted other logos, and best of all, loads of concert posters! Everything from classic Fitswitch shows, to Gates of Winter, Lion Ride, No Arrow, Caveman Morrison, Behemoth, The Downfall, and more! Awesome to see some of these posters again, it's like a flashback to when bands like Coalesce, Soldiers of Misfortune, Hellbound, and much more were in their heydays! The Time of Ruin poster above is really awesome, but check out all of his work, cause Kevin's got HUGE graphic design talent, and I wish he'd get back into making posters and logos, cause his work really stands out! The posters we get nowadays, when we do get them, don't have a lot of graphical flair like Kevin's work did, and I never would have guessed this was all courtesy of a band member! Check out his portfolio at this location, you won't be disappointed! And if anyone out there knows if the Fitswitch album artwork posted there led to any albums besides "The Rust Angel E.P.", let me know!! That's all for today, hope you guys enjoy your Friday! An auto-post is coming TOMORROW AFTERNOON with the first installment of our Defunct Local Band Profile series, where we discuss AtrophiA! Stay tuned, and I'll be back home on Sunday!

THREE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, Three Days Grace Show Updates, And More!

How's everyone enjoying this snow? I was happy, I got the day off class, so I got to researching news for an SMS update, and I have plenty of stuff to share tonight! And we'll start with not one, not two, but THREE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!!

Remember last Tuesday, when local death/thrash metal band Bring The Fallen won the Battle of the Bands at The Speakeasy? Well, as you're likely aware, the winner of that battle would (among other prizes) get the opportunity to open for The Inner City Surfers (featuring Lion Ride's Mikey Hawdon on drums) at their concert December 22nd. Well, I can finally confirm this show is a go, and Bring The Fallen are definitely playing support! They're calling this a Christmas bash, and with the timing of the show, that's appropriate! Also scheduled for the concert: local punk rockers The Scary Uncles, who always impress in their live performances! This concert starts at 10:00 PM that night, cover charges or age limits have yet to be announced. Sounds like a fun concert, and Bring The Fallen will help bring the metal edge that's welcome at any show! Get full details at the official Facebook event page!

Speaking of The Inner City Surfers, members of the band will regroup in a new act playing on December 18th at The Rockstar Bar! That night, a concert called "Rock of Ages" is being held, where three bands will play songs from different eras of music. Local group The Money Shots will play a set of music from the 1950s, while local classic rock band The Suspects will play a set of 1960s/70s music. But what caught my eye was a band by the name of Skid Crue, who will play a set of 1980s hair metal songs! I had to ask about them, and Martin Fiser from The Rockstar Bar told me that three members of The Surfers are in Skid Crue! I don't know if this is a one off thing or a brand new band or what, but it sounds good! Very diverse musical lineup too, you won't see such a wide cross-section like this very often! Tickets for "Rock of Ages" are $5 in advance from either CD Plus or The Algonquin Hotel, or $ 7 at the door! If I hear more about this concert or Skid Crue, I'll let you guys know!

And finally for new concerts, we FINALLY have a local metal concert of sorts in Sault Michigan for the month of December! I've been surprised by the lack of concerts and announcements of new ones lately for across the river, but we have one now! Young local hard rock band Free Refill are back on the live scene, and they'll be playing at a talent show at Sault Area High School! No time is given on their MySpace page, but my money's on it being an after school deal. Sure, it's not a publically open concert, but they're a local metal band playing live, and I'm sure there's readers who go to Sault High, so there's a heads-up! Talented young band, they should have a bright future! Check out more from the band at this location! Also, according to their MySpace page, it looks like guitarist Tyler Wall has left the band. That sucks, but hey, he's still in 7/47, who are promising in their own right!

So there's your three new concerts, and they're now located in the concert listings on the left and right of the page! Now, it's time to update everyone on the fallout from Tuesday's entertaining Three Days Grace concert! Donna Hopper from SooToday has posted her review of the concert at this location! According to the article, the crowd only numbered at around 2,000 people. I wonder why, maybe it was the weather? Ticket prices? Quality of the openers? (Oh come on, I liked Seether more!) She also noted the overall quietness of the crowd and lack of activity for the first two bands, and looking back on it, I noticed that too! What they should have done is grabbed everyone from the stands and moved them to the floor if they wanted, that'd have helped (hey, it worked for Jackyl.) She also noted that Three Days Grace (save for Adam Gontier) later showed up at LopLops Lounge for the official after-party, and mingled with fans and signed autographs and such! EDIT, 8:25 AM: Donna's photo album from the show is finally up, check out her pictures by clicking here!

SooNews correspondent (and friend) Lucas Punkari posted a review and photo album of his own at this location! Nice photos, miles better than mine (remember, I'm not a professional.) Among other local news sources, The Sault Star didn't have a review or recap, though Michael Purvis did post an album with 100 concert photos (again, great quality) which you can check out by clicking here! Nothing from Sault This Week though. And I guess I should mention this, cause I've heard nothing else about it since, but I saw someone get really hurt at the show. They had to clear a big area in the crowd to get a girl out, she was clutching her face and when her hands moved, I saw blood on her hands. I have no clue what happened, it was very packed on the floor, but damn, that sucks! Word of warning, concert fans, be careful, you don't know what could happen! Take care of each other and keep things safe!

And finally, VIDEOS, lots of them! Only two people I know of have uploaded videos so far, but there's lots to go around! One is from YouTube user SLIPKASS05, of the band performing the song "Riot", which you can check out at this location! Not bad quality, and it's the only clip I've seen so far from the floor. The rest all come from barbiegirl8833, who you may recognize for her uploads of videos from the Staind and Papa Roach concerts at Kewadin Casino! She got 13 clips from the show, which (I think) accounts for every song they played except maybe "I Don't Care" and "Just Like You". Quality's alright, she had a good angle of the band from the seats! Check out all of her Three Days Grace videos, plus six from Default's set and one of The Used, at this location! I'll show you guys one here, so take a look at the band playing their hit song "Home"! (Note: Fast forward to 4:55 in the clip. Trust me.)



And of course, if I hear or see anything more coming out of the Three Days Grace concert, I'll let you guys know! Now, here's basically my attempt to catch up on a local metal talent that I barely ever mention on here, but really, he deserves it. Are you familiar with Sault Michigan native Mikey Bishop? Well, he's a noted metal drummer, and he's made a name in numerous bands, some local, some not! The most notable local group he was in was Lower S.E.S., and he's since joined numerous bands behind the kit, almost too many to mention! Probably the most notable is Grand Rapids death metal band Sadomasochism, who did a lot of touring in the 2000s and backed up bands like Superjoint Ritual at some big concerts! Now, Mikey's the drummer for Lansing black metal band Summon, who recently released a new album! I've heard some of Mikey's bands, and I'm impressed! He's an awesome drummer, and it's great to see him succeed as much as he has! Definitely overdue for me to talk about him on here! Check out more from Mikey, including tons of live videos from his bands, and new Summon tracks, at his official MySpace page! He should bring Summon up here for a show!

And finally for tonight, just a quick notification that Rock 101 have officially confirmed that Garden of Bedlam are backing up Kiss on Tuesday! They've updated their front page and concert listings to reflect their opening status! That's all for tonight, next post will likely have a preview of this weekend's Caveman Morrison concerts, along with another LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and anything else that should pique your local metal interest! Thanks everyone!