Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, A New Video, And More Updates!!

Let's wrap up this weekend's concert previews by covering Sault Michigan-area hard rock shows for this final weekend of February, but to round things out, we have a new video from a E.U.P. artist and some assorted recent notes! Now, here's what you should know!

We'll start at the newly re-opened Sault Michigan bar Three One Three on Ashmun (formerly The Back Door), where Kinross classic/hard rockers Banned will hit the stage TONIGHT! This favourite local trio played at 313 Ashmun under it's old identity back when The Back Door experimented with live bands in 2013, but the new ownership look to be more open to hosting live bands, and Banned are the first hard rock-leaning band that we've seen there since the relaunch in a full concert capacity, so definitely consider checking Banned out tonight at the new/old venue! Note that Banned were previously been scheduled to play Manistique's Kewadin Casino tomorrow, so DJ Dan Dunn will be spinning tunes at Three One Three tomorrow instead. A 9:30 PM start time is in effect for this 21+ concert, which doesn't have an announced age limit. For more details, visit the above links, and here's Banned live last year!



Also in the Eastern U.P. this weekend, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet 415E will head south to The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino for concerts TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! After almost two months off, the former Hubbard-Menard Band will return to the stage for the first time in 2016 this weekend, and they should have two more solid nights of Van Halen-inspired hard rock in store for fans in St. Ignace this weekend, so don't miss out on the action if you're in the area! Theyll be back in St. Ignace in two months' time as well, in case you can't make it to this weekend's shows. Like usual for 415E's Kewadin Casino gigs, there's no announced cover charges for these 21+ concerts, which both start at 9:00 M. For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's 415E live in the Soo early in their run!



Also today, here's a new solo vocal/guitar cover from former Elipzis bassist/Riot! By Night frontman Ryan Harrison, who posted this rendition of Evans Blue's "Cold (But I'm Still Here)" onto his YouTube channel yesterday! His first solo song in two months (though oddly filmed on a vertical cell phone camera angle), it's a nice version of this modern hard rock song from a band who should be familiar from multiple recent Kewadin Casino gigs, so check it out below, and hopefully more turns up from Ryan soon!



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:

• We have moved local/London progressive metal solo project Hiroshima Mutant Mindframe to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. The Matt Parr-led solo project hasn't posted a public update since uploading their most recent "Heavytrack" onto their Soundcloud page on February 24th of last year, with other online pages being inactive for band updates longer still. Matt's a talented guitarist, so be sure to follow his continuing band work in London to see what he's now up to!
• In a clarification for the Fishbowl Festival-opening Like A Pisces concert at The Gore Street Cafe earlier this month, musician and festival/venue head Sam Decter revealed on his blog that an additional band named Bass Monster 7L (perhaps linked to the 7L podcast?) performed at the event, while the previously advertised Lauren McClure did indeed play a solo set that night. Still no idea on the identities of Brash Gash or Insoosticide, but hopefully this Nirvana tribute was a blast to kick the festival off!
• In a belated update to our profile of December 2009's Kiss Battle of the Bands, we added a trivia note to reference runners-up Lion Ride's battle runs in Toronto in 2010, where they finished in third place at March 2010's Great Canadian T-Shirt Battle, and were semifinalists in that November's Indie Week competition (won by Toronto dance rockers These Electric Lives, whose last drummer was Lion Ride's Mike Indovina.) And lastly, a reference to competitors Bring The Fallen's win in May 2010's Downtown Showdown is also included. I'm surprised that all wasn't noted before, but now we're reasonably caught up going into next month!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for much more news and features in due course! Thanks everyone!

The Rest Of This Weekend's Hard Rock Concert Previews, Including A New Video!!

Before we get into today's post, here's a note that might be of interest for Iron Maiden fans, as local artist Darren Emond will be demonstrating his art and drawing some work on-site outside of the Sears entrance of The Station Mall tomorrow, and art on display will include pages from his upcoming Iron Maiden comic book. This should be fun to check out if you're able, especially for Maiden and comic fans, so consider supporting Darren's work tomorrow if you're able, as he's a very skilled artist!

Now, let's dive into this weekend's remaining hard rock concert previews (barring anything super late notice), and we'll start in the Eastern Upper Peninsula with a look at Kinross, Michigan classic/hard rock cover trio Banned's next gigs, which go down TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino! Fresh off of their Hessel gig this past weekend, this will be Banned's first St. Ignace weekend of the new year, and the Traynors & Wayne should be in fine form as they continue their busy schedule, so consider a trip south to St. Ignace this weekend for some varied and often heavy covers! If you miss them this weekend, remember that they'll be in the Soo next weekend, and back in St. Ignace in April. 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no announced cover charges are in effect, so check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's a brand new Banned concert video!

Filmed by the band's friends at Third Cinema Productions, this was uploaded to Banned's YouTube channel on Valentine's Day, and it's of the guys covering Nirvana's "Come As You Are" at last week's I-500 festivities in the tent during the race's annual pub crawl! Featuring opening and closing credits (and a mid-video bug with the YouTube channel URL), this is a strong widescreen performance of this grunge classic, with Alex Traynor handling the vocals well, so give it a look below, and don't miss Banned tonight or tomorrow in St. Ignace!

Meanwhile at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63 are advertised to return for solo headlining concerts of their own TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Fresh off of St. Ignace Kewadin gigs this past weekend, these shows continue their 2016 pattern of (generally) monthly gigs at the two E.U.P. Kewadin branches, and should deliver another fun weekend of wide ranging classic favourites for fans in the Soo! Now, it should be noted that the band hasn't publically plugged upcoming concerts on their Facebook page yet this month, but they have updated the page recently, so I wouldn't expect a change in plans regarding this weekend's shows unless stated otherwise. As usual for Highway 63's frequent Kewadin gigs, look for no announced cover, 21+ age limits, and 9:00 PM start times for tonight & tomorrow's concerts, so check above for more details, and here's Highway 63 live!



Finally for this weekend's previews, let's head back to Sault Ontario for the opening night of the first annual Fishbowl Festival, where local alternative/grunge trio The Pixo Control will be a part of the Like A Pisces tribute concert to Nirvana (and 1990s grunge, alternative, & new wave music) TOMORROW NIGHT at The Gore Street Cafe! The first of three hard rock/punk events taking place during this inaugural month long festival (coinciding with the Pisces stretch of the Zodiac calendar), this will be (I think) The Pixo Control's debut at the downtown cafe/laundromat, and coincides with what would have been Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's 46th birthday. What's more mysterious is the apparent headlining band Like A Pisces (referencing lyrics from "Heart Shaped Box"), who may or may not be playing collaboratively with The Pixo Control or separately, but performers were previously listed as including festival promoter/cafe co-owner Sam Decter, Honest Job's Drew Armstrong, and Lauren McClure.

Now, Sam and Drew are credited as "Insoosticide" & "Brash Gash" for unannounced reasons (possibly intended secrecy, or just creative license?), while Drew's bandmate Mister Tahti was once credited as performing with them as well. In any event, there's a lot of talent in store for this Nirvana tribute! Note as well that this event follows the opening ceremonies for the Fishbowl Festival at 5:00 PM, which will include presentations, speeches from organizers (and even the mayor!), and a mystery musical performance at 5:30 PM, though that's not considered part of the Like A Pisces show.The Fishbowl Festival itself has an eclectic lineup of local arts, culture, and awareness events largely taking place at The Gore Street Cafe through March 20th, and the ambitious roster includes everything from concerts, art exhibitions, and workshops to a film premiere, community meals, and a free market, so definitely visit the festival's Facebook event page for full details on all events scheduled for this month long activities, which offer a little something for everyone!

Admission for tomorrow's Like A Pisces concert is $10 (up from $5) unless you buy a $25 pass for all Fishbowl Festival events at the cafe beforehand, and with that, admission will be slashed to $5 tomorrow, and other events will either be discounted or free with said pass. All festival events are ALL AGES, and the concert will start at 7:00 PM, while tomorrow's opening cermonies beforehand also has free admission. For more details, visit the show's Facebook event page! The cafe and the Sault Ste. Marie Indian Friendship Centre have a great idea on their hands here, and hopefully this month's festival is huge, so stay tuned for much more on it, and here's The Pixo Control live last summer!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in due course! Thanks everyone!

Project 421 & Bon Soo Updates, Plus More Updates & Notes!!

We're back with a new news post to kick off this last full week of January, so what's on tap? Some updates to one of our battle of the bands profiles, some assorted recent notes, and the latest from a new local arts podcast, but let's start with some new concert videos!

Local classic metal quintet Project 421 are the subject of some new videos that were uploaded to their Facebook page yesterday, all courtesy of their Rednecks Saloon concert on Friday! Attendee Chris Weber shot three videos at the show (and got lots of photos, albeit made black & white after the fact), and they include renditions of Black Sabbath's "N.I.B.", Kiss' "Cold Gin", and as embedded below, their first original "No One Rides For Free". Shot on a cell phone camera, the audio is scratchy, and the camera angle can be jittery, but these videos are our best look yet at the current Project 421 lineup, and you can definitely sense that they have a good grasp on these songs! The lighting isn't great though, only drummer Chris Thompson is well lit on stage. Give these a look above and below, and don't miss Project 421 at The Rockstar Bar next month!



Next up, the newest episode of the new local music/arts podcast 7L is now online via their Soundcloud page, so what should you know from it? The episode features host Teddy Syrette interviewing Bon Soo general manager Kerrie De Poli about next month's installment of our annual winter carnival, where Kerrie talks about the inception of Bon Soo, the extended 12-day lineup for this year, events to look for, how long Kerrie's been working with the festival, her background before joining Bon Soo, the merger with Passport To Unity, where to get Bon Soo buttons, and more. The episode closes with Kerrie reading a poem about Bon Soo, and Teddy singing likewise, which is a fun way to close the episode! It's good and fun promotion for this year's festival, but what do we learn about Bon Soo's concerts for this year? Only bare basics, with no visible lineup information confirmed for either The Marquee or Passport to Unity, but The Marquee will apparently be a one-night outdoor event again on Friday, February 5th at Mill Market.

The Passport To Unity multicultural festival will be at The Essar Center as usual, but now on Sunday, February 14th rather than May to fit the Bon Soo schedule. We have yet to find lineup information for either event, but when updates come out on both/either, we'll let you know! Give the new 7L episode a listen above, it's informative and worth checking out, but note that the teased acoustic punk segment is not featured, no word on if it's coming for episode #4. Stay tuned though!

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

• If you've seen recent personal Facebook pictures of Havadder playing a recent gig without bassist Travis Sharpe, we can confirm that the show was a private event at The Rankin Arena, and with Travis unable to make the gig, local musician Brett Gottwald filled in for him. There are some videos from the event on Facebook, but unless the band shares them publically, we won't post them here. Brett filled in well though from what I saw, and give them a watch if they pop up on your news feed!
• Local musician Lee Catling is looking for a drummer for a Slayer tribute band that he's working on. He didn't offer any more details, but Slayer fans should be intrigued by this, so message Lee at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from yesterday if you're interested! 
• Honest Job bassist Drew Armstrong has been added as a performer with Like a Pisces during the Nirvana tribute concert at The Gore Street Cafe on February 20th during The Fishbowl Festival's opening night, as per the Facebook event page last week. However, it should be noted that the current wording of the performers lumps The Pixo Control in as one of the main acts, rather than as defined openers, so is this going to be a collaborative show with guests coming & going between songs? We'll let you know if there's clarification!

Finally for today, here's some big updates to one of our past Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles (which return in March!) In our profile of December 2009's Algoma University Battle of the Bands, we noted The Fury's brief 2014 reunion and RedD Monkey's hiatus & posthumous activity in the section on competitors' later work, while we replaced Keep It Lit and Giwakwa with The Apocalypse Afterparty, Infinity Grinder, and Kaepora Gaebora in the section on performers' later bands to keep that more current. Finally, the trivia section now features notes on planned judges Anthony Fabiano & Dustin Jones' later work in battles of the bands (as Griphook's drummer in Spanish and as a VM Radio Battle judge/sponsor respectively), info on how The Apocalypse Afterparty & Infinity Grinder did at the battles in March 2015, and a note on Fury frontman Paul Stanghetta's debuting band Keep It Lit, who never played after dropping out of 2013's Viva La Battle. Hopefully that's up to date now, and stay tuned for updates of battles from the early 2010s soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Like A Pisces), A New Local Festival, And A New Podcast!!

Today's post has some common threads in the topics, which largely devolve into word on a debuting local festival and a newer local arts podcast, but there are some extra bits to note within, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and a partial band name change! Apologies for any delay in getting these on the site, but let's rectify that now and get this post underway!

Local alternative/grunge trio The Pixo Control will hit The Gore Street Cafe on Saturday, February 20th as the opening act for an apparent one-off Nirvana tribute band named Like A Pisces! The opening night of the debuting Fishbowl Festival (more on that in a second), this show coincides with what would have been late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's 49th birthday, and will serve as a celebration of Nirvana, 1990s grunge, new wave, and alternative music. If things are what they seem to indicate on the Facebook event page, Like A Pisces (referencing lyrics from "Heart Shaped Box") will be comprised of local musicians Mister Tahti (Honest Job), Sam Decter (Boxes of Boom), and Lauren McClure, though instrument roles aren't listed. The Pixo Control's set will be their second local appearance of the year, and I believe their first at the fast-rising Gore Street venue, so keep them in mind for next month, as they're ideal openers in terms of sound!

A $5 cover charge is in effect for this 7:00 PM concert, while there will also be packages available for all Fishbowl Festival events (which we'll get into next), and while there isn't an announced age limit, the early start time of 7:00 PM seems to hint that it may not be 19+. If we get confirmation, we'll let you know! This sounds like an intriguing concert, especially if you're a fan of Nirvana or the Seattle grunge scene, so definitely keep this show in mind as the Fishbowl Festival commences!

Now, just what exactly is The Fishbowl Festival? Announced two weeks ago, it's an intended "mid-winter festival of community, food, art, and culture" at The Gore Street Cafe, with the name likely deriving from it's scheduling from February 20th-March 20th, during stretch of the zodiac where the Pisces (or fish) sign falls. Masterminded by the aforementioned Sam Decter (a co-owner of The Gore Street Cafe), a number of varied events are planned for the month, from concerts to workshops to community meals, and Sam and the cafe/laundromat are also looking for people & artists interested in playing, hosting, or helping out with events during the Fishbowl Festival, so if you want in, click here to voice up! As of this writing, the aforementioned Like A Pisces show is the only fully confirmed event that fits our coverage on the SMS, but there are strong indications that Mike Haggith & The Din may be playing an event during the festival, possibly with Stereo North alongside. 

$25 ticket passes are available at The Gore Street Cafe which will get you free or discounted entry into all festival events, though some are already "pay what you can" deals like the venue usually offers. While this is very ambitious, it sounds like there's some fun and unique events for many different tastes in store for late February and March, with everything from a pajamas & cartoons brunch to another "really really free market" in store, so be sure to follow all of the currently announced Fishbowl Festival events at the above links, and get a hold of promoters A.S.A.P. if you want to play or put on any events of your own!

Next up, here's our long overdue look at a new local arts podcast named 7L! No word on what "7L" means yet, but this podcast was created by Pillory bassist Jordan Leach and local artist/LGBT advocate Teddy Syrette (who serves as the in-studio host), and two episodes were posted on it's Soundcloud page earlier this month, which encourage thinking outside the box as a tagline. The first episode (posted on January 7th) features Teddy talking with the aforementioned Sam Decter (who plugged the Fishbowl Festival and what would become Like A Pisces in the podcast), with an appearance by Honest Job drummer Jason Lloyd. Interesting listen, especially for fans of what Sam has been doing with The Gore Street Cafe and his own music projects, so definitely check it out! The second episode from last week fits our coverage more, as it focuses on an interview with all three members of the aforementioned Mike Haggith & The Din, so what should you know on that?

Well, in the interview, one of the first notes is that the band has officially contracted their name to simply The Din, as they're trying to carve their own identity that is separate from Mike's solo music & his prior work with the defunct band Haggith, while also noting that the simplified name rolls off the tongue easier. Makes sense for distinction and ease, and we've noted the change on the site! After that is noted, Teddy talks to The Din about how long they've been playing for, their beginnings as a looser jam outfit, their current setlist & sound, the late David Bowie's influence on the band, their opinions on the local music scene & it's evolution, where they've played in the Soo, current plans for 2016, and their advice for aspiring musicians. The episode concludes with The Din performing an acoustic version of their new original "Flux", which sounds promising and has good vocal harmonies, but the drums are a little loud in the mix.

Entertaining interview that tells us a lot about The Din's run and plans, and it has a nice loose feel, with Brandan Glew in particular giving some good and well thought answers! Check it out above, and what's in store for episode 3? If this proves to be a weekly series, it might go online tomorrow, and a recent Facebook page tease noted that it'll likely feature "some delicious acoustic punk" (Telephone & Address?) and "an exclusive Bon Soo interview" (The Marquee?) Stay tuned for more on the third episode, 7L is now in our "Other Local Metal Links", and stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!