Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Free Refill

It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, where we once again shine a spotlight on a local band of the past, in other to promote their run and media to modern day readers! For the first time in 2024, we're heading to Michigan for this month's randomly selected band, and while they heyday was over a decade ago, they will be familiar to many E.U.P. readers from their run at the turn of the 2010s. With all of that said, here's what you should know on them!

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Free Refill

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Genre: Hard Rock

Lineup:

Mary Gilbert, vocals
Devin Anderson (Avocadsquad, 415E), guitar
Tyler Wall (7/47), guitar
Betsy Lehman, bass
Mike Pascoe (The Highest Of Fives), drums

Audio/Video: A covers-only band, Free Refill's MySpace page once indicated that they covered bands like Queen, Motley Crue, Green Day, Blink-182, Metallica, Skid Row, and Kiss. Between videos being deleted/made private and the degradation of MySpace over the past 12+ years, the only verifiable live videos that I can find in 2024 of Free Refill come from YouTube user amourdete's channel, featuring their original five-piece lineup at an outdoor gig for the annual Sidewalk Sales in Sault Ste. Marie in August 2009, where they covered AC/DC's "Back In Black", The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army", and as embedded below, Pearl Jam's "Even Flow". The quality is not spectacular, but it's good to have these around!

Info/Analysis: Launching in 2007 among then middle/high school students, Free Refill were among the better known acts in the crop of teenage rock bands that emerged in the E.U.P. in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Updates and official posts from the first half of their run are in short supply nowadays (thank you, MySpace), but you may recall seeing them at The Sugar Island Music Festival, Kewadin Casino's 25th anniversary festival in 2010, and at numerous community and school events, including at least two battles of the bands. Their lineup remained relatively stable throughout their run, aside from guitarist Tyler Wall's departure in late 2009, reducing Free Refill to a quartet. The band's last public postings were about their second place finish at a talent show at Sault Area High School in February 2012, and Free Refill quietly dissolved that summer, with multiple band members leaving the area for college.

Between the three extant videos and my recollections of Free Refill's local run, I can say that they were an entertaining band with a good range of covers and well developing musical skills, especially for their ages! Picking songs that really suited Mary's vocal range seemed to be a recurring point, but given members (especially Devin) have been up to musically downstate in the past decade, Free Refill was a good starting point that showcased some rising talent to an appreciative local audience!

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We'll head north to Sault Ontario for our next installment of this series, when our next randomly selected band will be 2015-2016 & 2022 death metal band Kaepora Gaebora, a.k.a. Exploring Detritus! Look for that on or around March 10th, and for more on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

New Year's Eve Concert Previews, Plus More Updates!!

Hey guys, this might be our last full news post of 2012, and while I had intended for it to be half focused on New Year's Eve metal/hard rock concert previews, one of the announced shows has been cancelled, that being Turner Up's planned return gig at Gusto's Bar & Grill tomorrow night. A reason was not announced, beyond the band saying "Cancelled sorry." on the Facebook event page, but no matter why, it's disappointing all around! It'd have been a pricier gig, but Turner Up have been missed in recent months, and hopefully they and Gusto's will be back next year! That said, we have one other heavier New Year's show to preview, plus news on a potentially intriguing new Bon Soo event, a new video, and more news, so read on below for what you need to know!

In what's likely the last hard rock concert of 2012 in the Sault Ste. Marie area, Kinross hard rockers Banned will return to Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT to end the year on a high note and ring in 2013! This marks the second straight year that they've played a New Year's Eve gig in the area, and Todd's Tavern has been a decently active venue for them in 2012, so hopefully they rock the house with their covers & originals! Note that guitarist Alex Schrovenwever is home for the holidays, but I have not definitively heard one way or the other on if he'll be back with Banned tomorrow (I'll let you know if I find out!) Aside from the New Year's setting and likely partying associated with it, everything seems fairly normal for this show, with Banned on at around 8:00 PM tomorrow, a 21+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the band's Facebook page!

If you're looking for a hard rocking way to end 2012, head down to Moran (50 minutes from the Soo, 15 minutes from St. Ignace) to enjoy the Traynors and company as they deliver some diverse and entertaining live music! For a preview, here's Banned covering The Rockets' "Oh Well" this summer!



Next up, here's some information on a potentially intriguing new event that could have some metal/hard rock representation! As announced on SooToday two weeks ago, the annual Bon Soo Winter Carnival in Sault Ontario has joined forces with The Public Relations & Event Management Program to create a new performance area for this year's 50th anniversary, and it's entitled The Marquee. It's planned to be a platform for locals in the arts, culture, and performance communities to perform live in Bellevue Park during this year's carnival. Partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Bon Soo's currently looking for local artists, performers, and entertainers to perform at The Marquee this year between February 2nd and 10th, and with no announced restrictions on who could perform, this could open the door for metal and hard rock bands to at least apply! If you're interested in applying to perform at Bon Soo's Marquee this year (or in volunteering), e-mail snow@bonsoo.on.ca and visit the above links for more information!

This has a lot of potential, especially to further integrate local artistic and musical talent into the festival! Since the yearly battles of the bands dried up, there has been a need for more local music, and maybe this will be a way back in for many of the area's talent in that field, metal or not! I'd recommend looking in to applying to play at The Marquee in February, as you never know what could happen!

Thirdly today, here's the latest video from the hard rock cover trio from Superior Heights Collegiate performances that we featured a lot of on the site earlier this year! Featuring guitarists/bassists Liam Seymour (Sailor's Tongue) & Adam Gualtieri alongside a still unknown drummer, this is this band's first posted video since April, and it's a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" as filmed on Halloween (hence the Hulk Hogan & hippie costumes.) Though the video is in black & white for some reason, it's well edited, and despite not being a heavy song, the guys show good talent, with Liam's vocal range up to the task compared to the original! Check out their newest video below, and see more of Adam & Liam's covers at this location!



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

• In my e-mail conversation with 415E/Highest of Fives drummer Devin Anderson last week, he mentioned that Free Refill might come back in the summer for some shows. The band initially went inactive in the spring following half the band's move from the area for college, but according to a tweet on The Highest of Fives' Twitter page, Free Refill may have played at a school assembly on May 18th (though I can't 100% confirm that.) Fingers crossed that we haven't seen the last of them though!
• Also in Highest of Fives-related updates, they have revealed on their Twitter page that their home recording studio is called The Beat Lab Studio, while there have been tweets there as well alluding to their "summer tour". It'd be awesome to see them, Free Refill, AND 415E gigging this summer, as the Sault Michigan scene could use the extra bands, but I'll keep you posted if we hear anything definite!
• According to a Musicians Wanted Facebook group posting on December 17th, veteran local drummer Glen Thomas has added Wishbone/Flat Stanley bandmate/guitarist Tony Kajnar to his Mourning Glory project, and they're looking at playing live cover-centric shows in 2013, with covered bands including Porcupine Tree & Friction Plane. This could potentially shift the project from it's heavier leaning originals, but anything different and talented would be an asset locally, so message Glen at this location, and keep an eye out!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for our look back at an up and down year in the local scene, so what happened in 2012? Our year in review post will be up tomorrow, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Album Release, More Inactive Bands, And More News!!

A post a day must keep the doctor away, as our recent posting schedule is working fairly well! In today's news post, we have some assorted news stories from the last little while, and no less than three notes on likely inactive local hard rock bands, but first, we'll start with some big news from a local band, and if you've missed new album releases in the past year, you'll wanna hear about this, so read on below for all that you need to know!

For the first time since "Woods V", a new Sault Ontario hard rock/metal album has been released, and it's "Dragon Joy Ride", the debut album from local grunge quartet Haggith! Keeping with their latest release date announcements, it was officially launched for digital download via their brand new Bandcamp page at midnight today (no word yet on a possible Reverbnation release, a'la drummer Mike Haggith's solo work.) Physical copies on CD and cassette (yes, cassette) have also been made up, but all are available for the low and very reasonable prise of $5, so picking up a physical copy wouldn't be a bad idea, especially for the same price as the digital copies! CDs & cassettes can be bought from band members directly or on Facebook, and presumably at their next live concerts, but if you just want the mp3s, click here! You may also notice the new album cover, which the band was debating changing in the past week, and I will admit to liking the new design better! Haggith have also uploaded a new Facebook photo album featuring the compilation of the album's CD copies and liner notes, along with assorted other recent photos, so check the above links to give it a look!

After the recent lineup concerns and turmoil, I'm very glad to see Haggith get "Dragon Joy Ride" out and available for fans to pick up! They've been quick off the draw since their debut, and hopefully this is just the next step in a successful run in the area! With that in mind, I'd like to announce that "Dragon Joy Ride" will be our 40th monthly CD review at the SMS this month, and we will review it by Halloween (hopefully earlier), so keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks, and pick up "Dragon Joy Ride" at the above links!

Next up, I've got some more bands to reluctantly bump into our inactive band listings, the first being Sault Ontario hard rock band Half Past. While not at a year's inactivity yet (they were last visibly active in February after their brief advertisement for a Late & Loud concert), they have offered no formal band updates since, with two of their final three members now active in newer primary bands like Skeyes of Seven & Frightlight. Nothing else I've heard since indicates that they're active at present, but if I'm wrong, I'll happily retract any assumptions! Half Past had been a talented sight locally since their 2008 formation as Fingerbone, but they didn't really take off until they became Half Past the following year, where they played a number of notable concerts from late 2009 through mid-2010, including debuting three original songs & briefly launching plans for a debut album. Later activity was more sporadic & dotted with a couple lineup changes, with the band last playing live almost a year ago. It is disappointing to see Half Past fade into inactivity, as they were an entertaining hard rock band whenever they were seen on the local stage!

I enjoyed all of Half Past's incarnations, with all three of their singers providing their own sound and style that furthered them as a local band, and the originals that Half Past played with ex-frontman Luke LeBlanc were really catchy in their own right! It is a shame that their last show ended on a down note, but I don't wanna rehash what happened, as they had so many positive concerts to look back on. Best of luck to Jordan, Alain, Chris, Arthur, and all of their other ex-members in the future, and maybe Half Past will pop up again down the road!

Another band that we're now counting as inactive on the SMS is young Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Free Refill. Last seen at a talent show at Sault Area High School in February (where they placed second), official updates have not followed since, but online postings are indicating that they're likely done. According to some online research, members Betsy Lehman & Mike Pascoe have both moved out of town for college following their graduation (former guitarist Tyler Wall did the same after graduating himself), and guitarist Devin Anderson had referred to the talent show in February as their "last talent show" on his personal Facebook page, so all of this might be the closest we get to an official confirmation of their breakup. Free Refill had been a frequent sight at local events and festivals since their 2007 inception (including the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Festival & a number of Sugar Island Festival appearances), and while not commonly seen during the school year, they were very visible in the summer seasons with their diverse hard rock covers.

Free Refill had talent for their age, and they improved rapidly to add to the impressive roster of female-fronted hard rock bands across the river by the early 2010s! Maybe we'll see them or the members down the road, but best of luck to Mary, Devin, Betsy, Mike, and Tyler in the future, and hopefully they'll all stay active in music in some form!

And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while (including one more inactive band note), and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band, series, or event name:

• I'll likely be moving Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie's solo project April Eyes to our inactive band links next week due to a year's inactivity, having last updated their MySpace page on October 13th, 2011. Previously named Animas & By The Gods, Mitch had worked on April Eyes material off and on since at least 2009, but he's worked on other bands more frequently lately, including the yet-revealed Sorrow Fields. Mitch's solo work has a lot of plusses, so hopefully he revisits April Eyes or something similar in the future!
• In some minor updates to our Defunct Local Band Profiles, I edited our profile of The White Knights to replace Caveman Morrison with Fitswitch when mentioning drummer Rick White's other band work (as he was with Fitswitch longer.) Stay tuned for more updates to our feature profiles in the coming weeks!
• The Halloween Party at The Algonquin Pub on October 27th (featuring Frightlight & others) will be one of three stops on a Halloween Pub Crawl from Sudbury promoters KC Events & Promotions that night, also featuring stops at Madison's Pub & The Canadian, plus The Rockstar Bar (upstairs from The Algonquin.) This costs $25, and will ensure no cover charges at any venues, along with free food & drink specials, so if you're up for some pub crawling along with your metal & punk, click here for details!

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

This Weekend's Sault Michigan Concert Previews, Including The Sugar Island Festival!!

Finally, we complete our trifecta of weekend concert preview posts, as we focus on the hard rock and metal shows in Sault Michigan this weekend! This weekend, we have a couple bands (one local, one with locals) playing weekend sets, but first, we'll start with this year's Sugar Island Music Festival, so here's what you need to know!

Yes, this year marks the 11th annual Sugar Island Music Festival, a yearly music festival featuring local talent of varying genres convening at nearby Sugar Island for a family friendly weekend of entertainment! There's activities like kids games, crafts, dancing, campfires, vendors, and much more, so click here for all festival details! Music-wise, there's entertainment from today through Sunday, so let's start with TODAY's lineup, where two young local hard rock bands will grace the stage! The highest slotted is the returning hard rock quartet Free Refill, who play their first show of the summer after a months-long hiatus to rock Sugar Island with their brand of covers! It's nice to see Free Refill back, hopefully they tear it up in their return! They're on at 7:00 PM tonight, with new local hard rock trio Banned immediately before them at 6:00 PM. They've been keeping busy with bookings since their debut, and hopefully they have a great set this evening as well! The rest of today's lineup includes classic rockers The Hixx at 9:00 PM with Joe Schutz & Top of the Hill before them at 8:00 PM. Another band named The Highest of Fives has been added recently as openers at 5:00 PM, who I believe share some other members of Free Refill, but I'm not positive enough to call anything definitively.

For full lineup details, click here! Admission is $6 or $10 for a full weekend pass (there is no two day pass), but children under 10 years old are free. Camping has it's own costs, so click here for details on that front. Sounds like a good lineup of bands, hopefully lots of people head down to Sugar Island tonight! For a preview, here's some brand new video footage of Banned from last month's Music In The Park show in Rudyard! Uploaded by YouTube user Pacoheadley 3 weeks ago, these are of Banned covering Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone" & Bob Seger's "Turn The Page", and the band sound good on them, though I have a hunch they'd do better at the Metallica version of "Turn The Page", especially with no saxophone. The audio's good, but the video is shot very far away with no zoom, so it's not that great for a view of the band. Worth checking out though, so check the above links for more from Banned, and here's their cover of "Twilight Zone"!



As for tomorrow's schedule, there is just one verifiable hard rock band, as Free Refill will return for a set at 6:00 PM! Nice to see, cause they'll add some needed heaviness to tomorrow's lineup! The rest of the schedule includes headliners The Schutz Family Band at 8:00 PM, with The Hixx returning at 7:00 PM. Before Free Refill, there's solo artist Joel Choate at 5:00 PM, an indie band from Hillsdale, Michigan named AllArms at 4:00 PM, Gentleman George Snider and Friends at 3:00 PM, Rollie Mayer and Friends at 2:00 PM, Stockholm Slim at 1:00 PM, and two hours of open mic performers before the bands at 11:00 AM. Again, check the above links for full schedule details, and once again, tickets are $6 for Saturday, $10 for the full weekend, and free for kids under 10. Sounds like a good time, even if it's lacking in metal tomorrow! We do have Free Refill though, who will be sure to put on a great set! For a preview, here's Free Refill covering Metallica's "Enter Sandman" at last year's Sugar Island Music Festival!



As for Sunday, there are no metal bands (at least that I can prove), but the bands include The Schutz Family Band, Lise White & Friends, No Strings Attached, Gentleman George Snider and Friends, Rollie Mayer & Friends, The Knucklelickers, a five-piece act named Rudy, Jen, Bob, Evelyn, and Dave, and Stockholm Slim in descending order from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The same ticket rules apply for Sunday as well. Hopefully this year's Sugar Island Music Festival is a success, and if I hear anything concerning fallout from it (especially concerning the hard rock bands), you'll hear it all here! Best of luck to another successful festival!

Now to the shows in Sault Michigan itself that I know about, and first, new Muskegon-based hard rock quintet RedStone Riot will make their live concert debut TONIGHT & tomorrow night at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill! This is the new band from former Elipzis members Rachel Kiger, Ryan Harrison, and Wally David, which formed this summer after Rachel & Ryan's full time relocation from the Soo to Muskegon. With Elipzis guitarist Chris Webster not involved, their lineup is rounded out by two guitarists: Wally's old One Past Mars bandmate Tony Hulings, and a yet-unidentified guitarist who was in the Muskegon band Tracing Yesterday. I've heard very good things about RedStone Riot since their formation, though whether their sets will have Elipzis songs, new originals, covers, or some combination of the above isn't known yet. So RedStone Riot will be at The Corner Pub tonight & tomorrow night at around 10:00 PM, with no announced cover charge and a 21+ age limit. For more details, visit this location! Sounds like a great weekend for their debut, and hopefully RedStone Riot can make some real waves in Western Michigan and beyond! No material of theirs is out to preview them with, but of course, search for Elipzis on YouTube to hear some old performances from the past year!

And finally for this weekend, local hard rock quintet Splitshot are scheduled to rock The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino this weekend! The local band featuring half of the old Nixxon Dixxon lineup and family members are set to deliver a weekend of hard rocking covers to their fans this weekend, at least I think they still are! Their Facebook page hasn't been touched in over three weeks, but this is something I sadly have came to expect from a few Sault Michigan bands with sporadically updated pages. But with Kewadin's own entertainment page keeping us up to date, they must be on, though if I hear anything to the contrary, I'll let you guys know! Their concerts TONIGHT & Saturday night have no cover charge, a 21+ age limit, and a likely 9:00 PM-ish start time. Check the above links for more details! Splitshot are still an enigma in many respects, especially with no posted media, but hopefully they'll rock the house this weekend, as I imagine they will! Stay tuned for more from Splitshot if it comes in!

That's all for concert previews this week! Three posts worth, that's definitely unlike us, but hey, the more concerts, the better! Should be a quieter weekend next week though. Stay tuned later today for more news and notes from the local scene, including a newly discovered posthumous page for a local band! Thanks everyone, and enjoy the Sugar Island Festival!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Mares Of Thrace), Sykotyk Rampage's SIX New Albums, And More!!

Alright, we have a ton of news to get to for this Friday morning, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, no less than SIX upcoming albums from a local band, a few cool notes from Sativa Rose, updates on next weekend's Sugar Island Music Festival, and another local entry into the Staind guitar solo contest! Let's get this post started!

Dismembertainment have done it again, as another high quality package of metal bands is coming to The Roosevelt Hotel, only the show is THIS MONDAY! Oddly short notice, but metal knows no limits! The headlining band on Monday is Calgary experimental hardcore band Mares of Thrace, notable for featuring just two band members, both female! They're brutal though, very sludgy and different, you'll definitely find Mares of Thrace worth attending for! Milwaukee punk/metal hybrid quartet Enabler will join in as openers, with a fast and furious extreme attack that will be sure to unleash the fury in the pits on Monday! Adding to the diversity of this show, Calgary classic metal quartet Stinger will also rock The Rosie as an opening band, and if you enjoy bands like Sanktuary and Black Moor, Stinger will be right up your alley! Very heavy and melodic, they'll definitely be worth showing up early for! A local opening band is possible for Monday as well, but as of right now, none have been confirmed. Admission for this show is $5, you must be 19 to attend, and doors open at 9:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Now this is a quality lineup of metal bands, nice job Rich! As for the late notice, you guys have to get the word out A.S.A.P. to ensure a huge and lively crowd on Monday! I hope to be there, and stay tuned to the SMS for more details as they come in!

Next up, you know how local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" band Sykotyk Rampage have been working on releasing their next two albums since late last year? Well, add four more to the pile, as the prolific & unique quartet now have SIX albums planned for a local release! Joining the two "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of..." albums, the newly announced releases are titled "Bucket of Ham", "Karrs", "Space", and "Zombies", and are (in order) the band's 26th-29th albums! Click the above links for Sykotyk Rampage's discography entries on each, or click here for the full discography as well. They've sure been busy this year, haven't they? Wow! So what can we determine about these to-be-released albums? For one, the song titles mostly return to an irreverent and humorous nature that we saw in some of the band's earlier albums. Their last album "Bella Disgusta" was more serious with love themes, but I welcome some edgier material! Of the four, only "Space" seems to be a concept album (which the band has done multiple times in the past), though "Zombies" has the running theme about not being zombie related, despite the title & track listing. The albums have 12-14 songs each, and they all appear to be in the 50 minute+ range. Check the above links for more details!

Now, when can we expect these albums? I have a hunch it will be sooner than later (this includes the "Genius Mushrooms" albums), but when they do come out, expect to be able to purchase them through the band's Reverbnation and Soundclick pages, and maybe other sites, though it's all unconfirmed as of right now. If any of these come out by the 31st, we'll absolutely review one of them this month, but which one? Way too soon to tell. If they don't come out quickly, we'll mention them in all in September's "Where Are The New Albums?" post, but again, it's too soon to tell. Stay tuned, crash fans, I should have more updates on the new albums shortly!

Thirdly today, here's some interesting notes from local classic metal quintet Sativa Rose! While their first shows with new frontwoman Marisa Valois have yet to be announced, we can get a preview of their full possible setlist thanks to Grooveshark (an awesome music streaming site), where drummer Alex Palmer has made up a playlist of all the songs they can play in concert! 28 songs are posted, many of which we've heard live, though "No Remorse" by Metallica isn't featured. Is it no longer in their sets? Lots of great metal and hard rock songs here though, but there is a couple "different" additions, like Elvis Presley & Cyndi Lauper covers?! If anyone can pull those off, it'd be Sativa Rose! I'm really interested in hearing their Nirvana & Misfits covers though, sounds like they'd do well on those! However, the most interesting feature may be the presence of three live demos of Sativa Rose's original songs! Yes, you can now hear nice quality live versions of "Fall From Grace", "Bellows of the Beast", and their newest song "Deliver Us" there, though all three are instrumental (likely recorded before Marisa joined.) Definitely check those out at this location, along with the original versions of all the covers in their setlist, cause they have a lot of great material in store for when they return to the stage!

Fourthly today, here's the latest news from this year's Sugar Island Music Festival, going down next weekend at nearby Sugar Island, Michigan! The full schedule has been released, and if you were hoping for more hard rock bands, you're out of luck. However, we'll still get three hard rock sets, just like last year! As we previously predicted, the hardest rocking day of the festival will be Friday, August 12th, as Kinross hard rock trio Banned & Sault Michigan quintet Free Refill (returning from last year) will open the festival entertainment at 6:00 PM & 7:00 PM respectively next Friday! The headliners will be classic rockers The Hixx at 9:00 PM and a band named Joe Schutz & Top Of The Hill at 8:00 PM. Less metal than opening night last year, but two talented young bands will set the tone nicely! Plus, for you Free Refill fans, they'll be on at 6:00 PM on Saturday, August 13th as well, so they're playing twice at this year's festival! For reference, Free Refill are playing before The Hixx again & headliners The Schutz Family Band. The rest of the acts (including those on Sunday) appear to be more country-inclined, but there is two hours of open mic on Saturday at 11:00 AM, so who knows what could happen then! Click here for all current schedule details on the Sugar Island Festival, and I'll keep you all posted!

And finally, another local guitarist has entered the Staind Guitar Solo Showdown! We've already featured Half Past guitarist Alain Fletcher's entry, but now Sneaky Pete guitarist Mario Carlucci has entered the fray with his own guitar solo for Staind's new single "Not Again"! Under the handle "Mojo Man", Mario's called his solo "bluesy with guts solo 2", and it's definitely a bluesier take on a solo than Alain offered! It's just as good though, he's playing this one with some real feeling, and hopefully he can get some high votes as well! Two very nice entries now, I wonder if any more local guitarists will join in? Click here to check out Mario's entry (25 seconds into the clip), and remember that the more listens Mario gets, the more likely he could be picked as the winner, or at least an honourable mention! The actual winner, if you recall, is chosen by judges, not a fan vote, but the more views, the better! If Alain or Mario win, their solo will appear on the iTunes deluxe version, plus they'll win a Mike Mushok signature guitar, a $1,000 Guitar Center gift card, a one month Tab-Pro subscription to Ultimate-Guitar.com, and an autographed copy of Staind's new album (which is also the runner ups' prize.) Let's support local talent and give their solos some well needed hits!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for some more news this weekend (I hope), but if not, I'll see you guys Saturday night at Bossy's Pub & Grub for the Hollow reunion! Thanks everyone!

News From Brendan Christie, Free Refill, Hollow, And John Mignacca!!

Here's some assorted news and notes for your Saturday, including some cool video finds online relating to a local drummer and a Sault Michigan band, some new material from a local solo artist, and leading things off, a concert relocation, so here's what you need to know!

Veteran local metal band Hollow will still have two shows over their one weekend reunion next week, and they won't have to go too far for a new spot for the Saturday concert! The band announced on the Facebook event page yesterday that their concert originally scheduled for August 6th (one week from today) has been moved from The Canadian Nightclub to Bossy's Pub & Grub, which is just seconds down the road. A move for the Saturday show was necessitated due to the flooding at The Canadian two weeks ago, but it's nice to see that they found a conveniently close new spot! We haven't talked much about Bossy's here, but since changing their name from Smack Daddy's Bar & Grill earlier this year, they've gotten more into concert booking, bringing bands like Redundant and Asylum Country there to rock Bossy's on weekends. Add Hollow to the list for this coming Saturday! No other changes have been reported, though the cover charge could be different, as I don't know what cover Bossy's usually has, if any. Get more details at the official Facebook event page! Nice spot for the moved show, but if that date doesn't work for you, remember that Hollow will still be at The Rockstar Bar on Friday night! I hope to be at the show at Bossy's (more convenient for me time and location-wise), and hopefully you guys can also come out for the big reunion shows! Check the above links for more!

Next up, Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie has posted three new solo instrumental songs onto his solo project's MySpace page! Unlike the softer "Foot Of This Hill", these are heavier leaning, so here's what you should know! One is called "The March", and it's a slow metal song that does feel like a march is in progress, with some nice driving rhythms and melodies mixed in! It could probably be built on more for a fuller song, but it's very promising! Also new to his page is part 1 of a solo song named "Quantum Mechanix", which is just 69 seconds long, but gives us a cool look at a slower cymbal-heavy metal number! I definitely wanna see where it leads, cause it starts well enough, but there's not a lot to go on with it yet. The other new song is a rough draft called "Shining Down", which feels the most like a complete song of the three, with nice tempo and heaviness changes, and a great guitar solo section! Brendan has some real talent, and it'd be interesting to see him package some of these songs into Late & Loud originals after they returned from their hiatus! Check the above links to give his newest original songs (and more) a listen!

We'll close today with videos, and first, here's some older videos I just came across yesterday of Sault Michigan hard rockers Free Refill! With a summer gig finally popping up for them at the Sugar Island Music Festival, I did some researching to see if they had anything else new online, and I found some videos on their website I'd never seen before! These are actually from the band's set at the annual Sidewalk Sales in Sault Michigan from August 2009, and though they've been on YouTube since shortly afterwards (courtesy of user amourdete's YouTube channel), I've only just seen them now! The videos all feature their former five-piece lineup (including ex-guitarist Tyler Wall), and they're of Free Refill covering Pearl Jam's "Even Flow", AC/DC's "Back In Black", and The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army". The band do a good job overall, though Mary Gilbert's vocals sound forced on "Back In Black". The video quality is odd... it looks clear, but there's odd "purple dot" pixelization that I can't really describe, but the audio works! Nice videos, and it's good to finally see them, as Free Refill footage isn't readily available online. Check the above links for more of these videos, and here's the band's cover of "Even Flow" from 2009's Sidewalk Sales!



And finally, here's a random recent video find featuring As It Stands drummer John Mignacca! This video comes courtesy of the YouTube channel of Dave Hunter, frontman of the local pop punk band For July & owner of idioRECORDS, the former label home of John's old band Out Of The Mouth Of Babes. The video, which was uploaded on Monday, is of John playing a pretty cool drum solo on For July's own drumkit, and it shows John's talents well! They should have him do solos at As It Stands shows more often! However, the video has lots of swearing despite it's 64 second length, so if you're easily offended, take note. Worth a look though to see John laying out a solid drum solo, so check the video out below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon, including my preview of Monday's Alcoholic White Trash show and much more! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Local Concert Previews, And A New Free Refill Video!!

Hey there, fellow metalheads! Today's a double post day, and quickly before we start, I wanna note that this is the 500th post that has been featured on the SMS' website since I launched it in December 2008. Amazing how it took just 21 months to hit that milestone! Thanks everyone for coming along for the ride! I don't have anything special planned at all to mark the occasion though, today is business as usual, as we preview this weekend's local metal and hard rock concerts! So let's begin!

We'll start TONIGHT for a prominent tribute band's local return, as Toronto-based Guns N' Roses tribute Gunz N' FN' Rosez come back to Sault Ontario! Veterans of Hempfest, GNFNR were last seen locally in January at The Speakeasy, and will now look to conquer the stage at The Rockstar Bar in their latest local stop! These guys definitely pull off a good version of the Guns N' Roses sound, and they have the look mostly down as well! They're definitely a good tribute band, and local fans will be sure to enjoy them as much as they did in January! Joining them tonight as the local openers are local classic hard rock cover band Turner Up, in a rare supporting performance! Expect lots of great classic covers from them in support of GNFNR, and if you wanna see just Turner Up this weekend, I'll have you covered a bit later! Now, tickets for tonight's show are $10 at the door, and trust me, this'll be worth the money. The show starts at 10:00 PM, and you must be 19 to enter. For more information, visit the above links or the official Facebook event page! This should be a fun concert, cause after all, who doesn't love hearing classic songs like this? Both bands are very talented, make sure to go check them out tonight! For a video preview, here's a video of Gunz N' FN' Rosez playing "Night Train" from a Niagara Falls show last month!



The tribute bands keep on coming tomorrow night, but this time, things get a lot more progressive, as Burlington, Ontario's 2112: A Tribute To Rush finally come to Sault Ontario! Originally scheduled to come here in June, the date was eventually cancelled, but 2112 are still making their way to town for a concert tomorrow night at the same venue, The Canadian Nightclub! Though there's no event page for the concert, a Facebook e-mail from The Canadian's Mary Lou Johnston and 2112's concert listings page both confirm this show, so it's definitely on! So this show will also take place at 10:00 PM, with a $5 cover charge, and like your usual bar show, you must be 19 to enter. For more details, check the above links! 2112 definitely capture the sound of Rush much better than the look of them, but the music is the main focus anyway, and they pull it off well! Rush are hard to cover, but they do an admirable job, and Rush fans will likely have a good time tomorrow night! Don't forget about this show, cause it'll be a good one, and it's the closest thing to Rush themselves that we're likely to get this year! For a video preview, here's 2112 playing "Red Barchetta" at a show in April!



Now, to the other Turner Up concert I alluded to earlier! You know that they usually play two shows on a given weekend, and keeping with that pace, they'll be back at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday night for a headlining set of their very own! Like the GNFNR show tonight, it will have a 10:00 PM start time and a 19+ age limit, but on Saturday, there will likely be no cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page and Turner Up's Facebook group! This should be a fun show, cause Turner Up always impress at their live shows with their classic hard rock sound, so check them out on Saturday if you don't see them tonight! For a video of Turner Up's current lineup playing "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw, click here!

And finally, we head to Sault Michigan for a concert set, as young local cover band Free Refill return to the stage as one of the entertainers at this year's Oktoberfest! Hosted by The Downtown Development Authority, Oktoberfest takes place along Portage Avenue in Sault Michigan on Saturday from 10:00 AM until midnight, with Free Refill among the performers playing on the big stage in the middle of Portage Avenue from 5:00 PM onward! Their MySpace page suggests they're on at 9:00 PM, but I can't verify an exact time for their set, nor other performing acts. Aside from the music, Oktoberfest will have a farmer's market, vendors selling food, arts, crafts, and more, as well as activities for kids as well! Sounds like a fun time, get more Oktoberfest details at this location! As for Free Refill, this is the last listed concert from their summer bookings, so this could be your last chance to see them for a while yet, so consider heading to Oktoberfect to check them out! They're a promising young band and have some good potential! Check the above links for more!

As for a video preview, we have a brand new Free Refill video for you guys to check out! We'd been without video footage of them for some time now because the old concert clips on their MySpace page were deleted, but we finally have a new Free Refill video to share! This is courtesy of YouTube user mortallycoiledsnake, who is one of the band members, though I'm not 100% positive on which one. If you visit that link and see no video, don't worry, they just made the video unlisted for whatever reason. It's freely available to check out if you have the link, and I discovered it on their official website today, so here's what you should know! It's from last month's Sugar Island Festival, and it's their rendition of the Metallica classic "Enter Sandman"! Not bad, though the guitar's definitely lower in the mix than it should be, and I think Mary Gilbert's voice suits a more melodic song than "Enter Sandman". The video's also shot at a far angle, but it's still good though! These guys have talent, and it's interesting to see how far they'll get in the coming months!



That's all for now, but stay tuned tonight for the SMS blog's 501st post, which will be this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, as we talk about Fifth Way and Marky Lion! Stay tuned for that tonight! Thanks everyone, and go see some concerts this weekend!

Sykotyk Rampage, Barking Eye, And WLSO Updates, Plus More News!!

Time to clear out some more assorted stories from the newsdesk before we get to tomorrow's SBD CD review! Today, we have another new album announcement, the latest news on a local music site, how some of you could become a local radio DJ, and more! Let's begin this news post!

Just days after the release of their new album "Bella Disgusta", Sykotyk Rampage have officially announced their 24th album for release in a few months! Entitled "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of Intellect", you may remember this being mentioned during Sykotyk Rampage's "Attack Of The Garage Bands" feature on The Barking Eye from this past June. Well, the band have finally expanded on that, and have announced the first concrete details on this new album onto their Facebook page! The new album will have no less than 25 SONGS, clocking in at a 90 minute runtime. Curiously, all 25 songs have one word titles, and the album as whole is described as "A double album delving into the realm of hallucinogenic musical brainscans.". Might "G.M.W.T.O.I." return to more psychedelic effects-filled past works like on early Sykotyk Rampage albums? Time will tell! This album is completely recorded and has an announced release date of December 1st (pushed back from the original September date they gave on The Barking Eye.) I dunno if that date will hold though, as Sykotyk Rampage's past two albums were delayed from the listed release date on Facebook, but again, time will tell! I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime, click here for the current details on "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of Intellect", and buy "Bella Disgusta" today!

...speaking of The Barking Eye, Glen Thomas has been adding some new stories to the rising local music news blog, so here's the new stories he's posted! The newest article is a new installment in his "Attack of the Garage Bands" series, where he details the recording processes used by Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison to record his 2006 "Solo Project" CD! Tym discussed the equipment and programs he used to construct it, and he makes some interesting notes about the work it took and what he learned. For example, he mentions that he considered getting an outside singer for the songs because of his lack of vocal strength then, and that he readily admitted the flaws from his recordings then, including giving allusions to a second solo album! I'd love to hear more originals from Tym, here's hoping something else comes out! Whether you're a fan of his work, or want to see another way to self-record material, check this out by clicking here! The other new article doesn't directly relate to metal, but if you own musical instruments, this should interest you. It led from the recent news story about Blues Harvest saxophonist Josh Norling getting two of his saxophones stolen, followed by a lot of very good suggestions from Glen about how to prevent music gear theft, and other stuff you should know.

Definitely read that article if you own musical instruments or other music gear, this could help more musicians avoid what happened to Josh. Click here to read that article as well! Good stuff, I'll have more from Glen and The Barking Eye as it comes out!

Thirdly today is a note that is mostly geared towards those of you who attend Lake Superior State University. The fall semester just started today, and already, notices have popped up on campus to find new DJs for LSSU's campus radio station! Yes, WLSO: The Sounds of Lake State (that's 90.1 FM) is on the hunt for new on-air DJs, radio show hosts, and mobile DJs for live broadcasts and events, and if you go to LSSU, you are eligible! Paper ads are floating around the school, but in case you haven't seen them yet, here's what you should know if you wanna be a WLSO DJ! There will be a meeting at 6:00 PM TOMORROW EVENING at the WLSO office downstairs at The Cisler Center for interested students. There will be free pizza and pop on hand, and the guys will give you all the details you need on how you can host your own show or programming block on WLSO! Because remember, there won't be metal blocks this semester unless some metalheads become DJs, so consider heading to that meeting! For more info, e-mail WLSO's Brian Springett at station_manager@lssu.edu, and watch out for details on verified metal programming when a schedule pops up online! Remember, that's 90.1 FM!

And now, we have three assorted news stories to share today that deserve mention, even if there isn't a lot to say on them. So here's what you need to know from three local bands, in alphabetical order:

• Caveman Morrison have updated their official website to reflect the addition of Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger to their new lineup, and to add many new songs to their live setlist. Oddly, Johnny's profile doesn't reference his other bands, but it's a good read, while their setlist now has a ton more metal songs and tracks of other genres that you could see live, so check that out too at this location!
• Sault Michigan's Free Refill have launched an official YouTube channel! No videos yet, but The Sault Metal Scene has subscribed, and as soon as a video is uploaded there, I'll let you know! For more, click here!
• Lion Ride have announced their return to the live stage, which will take place on October 14th for a show at Toronto's Bovine Sex Club as part of this year's Indie Week Showcase! Click here for more details, or visit Lion Ride's official Facebook page! No word on a local return or on their upcoming debut album, but when something does come out, I will let you know!

And finally today, I wanted to share something SMS related that is now online. A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed by CBC Radio 3's Lisa Christiansen for a piece that is featured in the newest installment of CBC Radio 3's Full Metal Podcast! I was interviewed about the SMS site itself and about our local scene, and it takes place 67:25 into the podcast, running for about 4 1/2 minutes. I was admittedly VERY nervous for this, as I've never had an audio interview like that before, so if you listen and noticed that I said something incorrect, lacking in details, or poorly thought out, my apologies! I think it went well though, and if you wanna check it out, click the above links! I was also asked to select a local band to be featured on the podcast after my interview, and I selected "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)" by Woods of Ypres! The band I picked had to have a CBC Radio 3 page already, so I chose the most prominent of the local metal bands on there, if you're wondering why I picked them over another band. So if you want to check out my interview (and the rest of the podcast, which is great), click the above links, but remember this: Regardless of the attention the SMS gets, I'll always want it to be for the bands over myself. They put the hard work in, and they deserve the most attention!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow, for our next post WILL be my review of SBD's "Sonic Experiments: Mulligan Edition"! Then, stay tuned afterwards for our "Where Are The New Albums?" update post, my reviews of Sykotyk Rampage's "Bella Disgusta" and Thursday's Endast show, weekend concert previews, and much more local metal news and updates! Thanks everyone!

This Weekend's Local Metal Concert Previews!!

The news and updates keep coming in fast and furious, with today's post dedicated to previewing this weekend's local hard rock concerts! Check out the Kiss and Skull Fist news in the two posts below this one, but for tonight, it's time to let you guys know the scoop on this weekend's shows!

Firstly, we'll start in Sault Ontario for a local metal band's long awaited return to the live stage! Local metal cover trio Caveman Morrison will play their first concert since late April when they hit The Vibe Lounge TONIGHT! This concert is especially notable for it marks Caveman Morrison's live debut with new bassist Dutch Vanderploeg, replacing Rick White in the band. The Browbeat frontman has been openly praised for his work in Caveman Morrison by frontman Tym Morrison, so we'll have to see how the new lineup sounds tomorrow night! The show will take place at 10:00 PM tonight, with no announced cover charge, and you must be 19 to enter. This should be an awesome concert, especially given that it's our first live taste of Caveman Morrison since the spring! Hopefully I can make it, and if not, best of luck to them tonight! Confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page, and for a preview, here's a video from a December show of Caveman Morrison covering Metallica's "Seek & Destroy"!



Over to Sault Michigan for our next three shows, and firstly, here's a major local music festival! Starting TONIGHT, Sault Michigan bands and artists will gather as entertainers at this year's 9th edition of the Sugar Island Music Festival on nearby Sugar Island! Featuring live music, vendors, and family activities, this festival has became a popular attraction each August, and will surely be successful once again! Now organizers have FINALLY released a complete lineup of acts performing over the course of the festival, so I can confirm that three hard rock bands that are performing! Those three bands are Clownsack, Nixxon Dixxon, and Free Refill, reuniting for the first time since the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival, and should all put on good performances! The rest of the festival is either not metal or of an unknown genre. Though each of the metal bands confirmed the shows either on their respective MySpace pages or through e-mail, they either have contradicting set times or didn't list any at all. According to the official Sugar Island Festival schedule, Free Refill open the music portion of the festival TONIGHT at 5:00 PM, with Nixxon Dixxon following them at 6:00 PM, followed by classic rockers The Hixx at 7:00 PM, Clownsack at 8:00 PM, and the local band Gary's Driving at 9:00 PM (anyone know what these guys are like?) Check out the above links for more!

I can't tell you a whole lot about the festival, but it sounds like a fun family event, get more details at this location! Admission is $6 for a single day or $10 for a $3 day pass (nope, no 2 day passes.) If you wanna bring your kids, or you're 10 and under yourself, then note that kids are free! Click here for more information on fees. Also make note of the nightly campfire jams at the festival, cause you never know if something heavy will come out there! Best of luck to all performing bands! For a preview, here's Clownsack's video for their song "Clown Sauce"!



Speaking of shows involving Nixxon Dixxon, the young local hard rockers will head back to Sault Michigan after their set wraps up to rock out a second time tonight, and tomorrow as well! They'll be back at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino for a pair of weekend dates, which actually could be their final ones at Kewadin with drummer Jake LaLonde for a while with his impending plans to study at the Musicians Institute, and yes, I have updates on his campaign to win their Full Ride contest to tell you guys about soon! Both shows will have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charge, and 21+ age limits. Nixxon Dixxon are no strangers to pulling double duty in a given night (the Pop Evil show in February was followed by a Rapids Lounge performance as well), so don't fear a lesser performance if you go tonight! As always, expect some awesome hard rock and metal covers, plus great originals like "High Life"! Check them out on MySpace at this location, and for a preview, here's Nixxon Dixxon playing their original song "High Life" last December!



Back to Sault Ontario for our final hard rock concert of the weekend, and firstly, we have a special, yet short notice concert from local classic hard rockers Turner Up! On the surface, it bears nothing intriguingly different from their normal shows, with it taking place at 10:30 PM at The Rockstar Bar tomorrow night, with no announced cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Standard stuff, which can be vouched for at the official Facebook event page. However, the extra notability of this show is that, according to guitarist Len Ward's personal Facebook page, the band will be RECORDING this show, similar to their March show at The Canadian when Todd Killam was still fronting the band. Only this time, there's apparently plans to make a DVD of it! Interesting, fingers crossed things go well with the video recording! Hopefully some of it will pop up on YouTube as well! Check the above links for more, and remember, that's Turner Up tomorrow night at The Rockstar Bar! For a video preview, here's (again) the band covering Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" from March!



(UPDATE: 1:27 PM) The planned benefit concert for Pauline's Place scheduled for tomorrow at the skatepark outside of The John Rhodes Community Center has been postponed. Latitia Martin, who is connected with the event, confirmed on the Facebook event page that the postponement is due to "unpredicatbility of the weather". Indeed, The Weather Network is calling for thunderstorms tomorrow locally, so I can see why the organizers don't want to take any chances, given that it's an outdoor show. The benefit is now tentatively scheduled for an unannounced date in September. Sucks to hear, but best we not get rained on! I'll keep you posted when new information about the rescheduled date is announced!

That's all for tonight, but stay tuned tomorrow, as my next post will be our second Kiss Concert Video Showcase! And I may just have another news post too, so stay tuned for that, and more!

Two New Sault Michigan Area Hard Rock Acts, Plus Kiss & Free Refill Updates!!

Good afternoon! We're nearing the biggest concert of the year, and we have some coverage relating to it later in today's post, and some Free Refill updates, but before we get there, we have two new hard rock bands from the Sault Michigan area to show you guys today! Both come from searches I've been making of bands in nearby towns to the twin Saults (i.e. within 45 minutes driving distance), and these are the only two new bands I've came across that have substantial band information or material to include on the SMS links. Basically, if they don't have songs or videos, they need lots of information about the band and their sound, and/or scheduled concerts, and these two bands fit the criteria! So let's begin with the two new bands!

First, we have Self Control, a new hard rock band from Pickford, Michigan....OK, not "new", they formed in January, but they're new to the SMS! The band features singer/guitarists Donny Newell (you'll recognize him as the frontman of Absolute) and James Kibble, alongside fellow members Nate Reid, Jammie Brown, and "Cletis". The band lineup is kind of jumbled, which is why I didn't give complete instrument details for most members. Not a whole lot to say about Self Control, they appear to have played live at least once judging by their photos on their MySpace page, they're working on some original songs inspired by a long marital separation, and the band appear to (at least) be taking a break because Donny's actually serving his country in Iraq. Kudos to him! Their page is custom designed, and it features two original demos for you to check out! Quality isn't fantastic, but if gives you a taste of their sound. "Regret" is a mellow ballad, it's effective but not my thing, while "Allowed To Hate" is a hard rocker with good guitar work, great drumming, and gritty vocals! Not bad, though if you're the type that demands good production regardless of talent, you'll likely think less of the songs. Click here to check out more from Self Control!

The other new band I'm sharing today is TraynWreck, who describe themselves as "a rock n'' roll 80's hair band" with a modern twist. The band currently only has two members, drummer Alex Traynor and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Sam Lalruatpuia, who you may recognize as the former keyboardist for Kincheloe metal band Silent Despair! Based out of Rudyard, TraynWreck formed in November of last year, and are looking to complete their lineup, they play 80's metal and hard rock covers, though they don't have any audio or video yet on their MySpace page. However, they've gave it a very nice layout and design, and there's a huge bio detailing their musical talents, background, and how they formed, as well as a detailed (and blunt) description of Sam's opinions of Silent Despair and why he left. There's definitely enough band information here to get them SMS attention, though I would like to hear how they sound! I'll keep you posted on both Self Control and TraynWreck as I hear more!

And now, Kiss updates! They're coming to The Essar Center on TUESDAY, the time's nearing, and The Sault Star has continued with coverage of the show and the events surrounding it! Both of these come from The Sault Star's Brian Kelly, and the first article was posted yesterday, all about the pre- and post-concert festivities! Entitled "Kiss fans salute band at downtown bars", it discusses the planned after-party at The Rockstar Bar, and (this is news to me) a pre-show party at Foggy Notions! According to the article, The Rad Zone and Turner Up's Len Ward will be hosting both parties, and he was interviewed for the article as well! He thinks this will be the biggest show that The Essar Center has ever seen, and I wouldn't disagree with that! Among other notable portions of this article: The Foggy Notions pre-show party has FREE admission, is 19+, and canned good donations are accepted, and yes, you can dress up and wear face paint! Evan and Josh Belleau from Garden of Bedlam (who open the show) are expected at Foggy's, with the whole band (as previously reported) being at The Rockstar Bar afterwards. And, it tells you that tickets are still available on some sites for as low as $91! Click the above links for more!

The second article, entitled "Sheehan wants to Kiss up with band", partly leads from the first in topic (Kiss) and in one specific area. This one features interview excerpts with Ward 2 Councillor Terry Sheehan, a vocal fan of Kiss and supporter of the efforts to bring the band to Sault Ste. Marie. He announced plans to hopefully set up a meeting with Kiss prior to the concert on Tuesday, and he hopes to try and set up a yearly Kiss convention in Sault Ste. Marie! I agree with Terry that the Sault area is full of Kiss Army members and fans, and a convention would be cool, but what do you guys think? Lots of other Kiss talk on that article, click here to check it out! To close today's Kiss talk, here's a new YouTube video from user pipesofpanic, featuring a slideshow of photos from Kiss' 2007 show at Kewadin Casino set to classic Kiss demos! Good shots, maybe you can use it as a preview of Tuesday's concert!



And finally for today, here's some new updates from Sault Michigan hard rockers Free Refill! I know I forgot to mention their Sidewalk Sales performance yesterday, my apologies, it completely slipped me by, but I'll make it up to you guys today with news on their new band pages! While still using their MySpace page, singer Mary Gilbert has created a website for the band, which you can check out at http://www.freerefill.co.nr! It features a short biography of the band, upcoming tour dates, and the first photo that I've seen of the band since Tyler Wall's departure! It should be noted that the site's not finished yet, with the links for the band's multimedia all being inactive, and the store page is just a paragraph in Latin, but it's a good start, better than their last external website! Check it out at the above links, and for you Twitter users, Free Refill are now on Twitter as well! Only 3 tweets so far, and only one has a direct relation to the band, but hopefully we'll get more soon! The Sault Metal Scene is following them, why don't you guys? More on Free Refill to come, including this weekend, when they play at The Sugar Island Music Festival!

That's all for today, but be sure to tune in to The Sault Metal Scene of the next few days, especially tomorrow, when we preview the Skull Fist show at The Canadian Nightclub on Wednesday and, of course, KISS ON TUESDAY!!! Stay tuned for any and everything you should know for Tuesday in tomorrow's update! And of course, Kiss and Skull Fist reviews are coming mid-week as well, plus news from Woods of Ypres, Turner Up, previews of next weekend's concerts, and more, so keep an eye out! Thanks everyone!