This Weekend's Local Metal/Hard Rock Concert Previews!!

It's time to preview this weekend's concerts on the local metal & hard rock side of things! I know eight, but if I'm missing any, please let me know at robertfigures@hotmail.com! So let's begin the previews for this weekend, but before that, remember that my Woods of Ypres video showcase from earlier today can be seen in the post below. Now, onto what you should know for this weekend! (Edited at 1:16 PM Thursday)

First, it's the 18th Roosevelt Hotel metal night, as 3 more metal bands take the stage for a night of hard hitting music for your Thursday, and there's a trio of firsts tomorrow with the included bands! The advertised headliners are Sykotyk Rampage, who'll bring their "crash music" stylings to The Rosie for the first time at a metal night, and the first time anywhere since their St. Patrick Day show at an old Rosie punk night! This show will also be a special event in honour of a Becker family wedding, so if you didn't get an invite, come rock out with Sykotyk Rampage's very unique brand of music tomorrow night! Also scheduled are the returning Bear Hunters, who are indeed playing despite reports to the contrary late last week. This will be their first show since adding former Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney as their new rhythm guitarist, and how will they sound after a month of preparation for his debut? Time will tell! Listed to open are Bring The Misery, the debuting new death metal band featuring former State of Misery members Steve Rhodes & Ray Cowan, ex-Bring The Fallen members Dan Souliere & Travis St. Amour, and bassist Kory Derasp. What kind of sound and material will they have for us in their debut show? We'll all find out tomorrow night, but it should be interesting!

As usual, there's no cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at 9:30 PM or later. Check the above links and Sykotyk Rampage's event page for more details! I'll be there for sure, and I'm using this concert as a test ground for my new digital camera that I got for my birthday! Just as a preview, it can shoot HD video... I dunno how the quality will end up being overall, but I'm optimistic! I'll see you guys there, and for a preview, here's Sykotyk Rampage playing their song "Sex Toy, Oh My Baby" at The Rosie in March!



Now to a trio of weekend sets from some local hard rock acts, and first, it's the return of Full Circle this weekend! After seeing their shows at The Canadian Nightclub last weekend cancelled, the band formerly known as Turner Up will play just their second concert weekend under their new name on Friday & Saturday night at The Nicolet Tavern! These won't be their current lineup's first shows here though, as they played their last concerts under the Turner Up name here early last month. Full Circle's shows this weekend will be at 10:00 PM both nights, you must be 19 to attend either show, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's good to see Full Circle back out there, hopefully they extend the promise of their new lineup this weekend and beyond! Head on out to The Nic this weekend for some entertaining classic hard rock covers! I don't have any shareable videos to preview their shows with, but when something comes online, I'll have it here!

Alright, now we'll head to Sault Michigan for a few more shows before closing at The Rosie again at the end. First, we'll go to The Satisfied Frog, where Marquette hard rockers Nudge are hitting for the first of two consecutive local concert weekends! This frequently seen band will be sure to rock The Frog once again with their entertaining hard rock and metal covers, as they play locally for the first time since April! And yes, this weekend's shows are in fact preceded by Wednesday and Thursday night solo acoustic shows by frontman Danzo McCracken (go see him tonight!) As for Nudge, both of their shows start at 10:00 PM, there's no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend either show. For more details, check out the official Facebook event page! Should be a solid weekend of hard rocking tunes from Nudge, so check them out this weekend if you can! If not, don't worry, they're back next weekend too! For a preview, here's Nudge covering the song "Good" by Better Than Ezra at a show in 2008!



Also across the river this weekend is the return of Splitshot after over a month away from the local concert stage! This is, of course, the local hard rock quintet featuring Nixxon Dixxon alumni Chris Hubbard & Kyle Beaumont along with family members of theirs, and they'll return to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino on Friday & Saturday night! These shows are both advertised on their Facebook page and on Kewadin's entertainment page, so they're definitely on as scheduled! These shows should have 9:00 PM-ish start times (or later), no cover charge, and a 21+ age limit. Check the above links for more details! Splitshot are still really an enigma to fans who haven't seen them live, having no audio, video, or detailed band information online to fill in any blanks. I don't know if that's intentional or not, but I know there's talent to be had, and they'll have lots of hard rocking songs in store this weekend for the fans who come out to Kewadin Casino! Stay tuned for more from Splitshot if I hear it!

And finally, we close the weekend at The Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday night, when a big package of metal bands take control of the stage for a devastating night of metal! This show got announced rather short notice, so PLEASE take note of what to expect on Saturday! Headlining this show are Vancouver progressive metal band Unleash The Archers, who'll stop at The Rosie during their "Tour Through the Astrowaste" to deliver a high impact set of metal that takes influences from power metal, death metal, and hardcore, with awesome singing from frontwoman Brittney Hayes! You don't see bands like this much locally, you should really like Unleash The Archers! Opening this concert are a pair of Winnipeg hardcore bands, including the more progressive leaning Wear Your Wounds and post-hardcore quartet Abstract & The Artist on their own "Eastern Canada Bro-Down" tour! They'll fit right in with their moshable hardcore sounds, and prepare for some fury when they're on! Though Wear Your Wounds' own tour poster hypes As It Stands as the local openers, we know they're in Mississauga right now (more on that tomorrow), so the local opening band will be hardcore quartet Changing Waves! Great to see them getting this opportunity, they won't disappoint on Saturday!

Admission is $5 on Saturday, which is more than worth it for the package of bands you're getting! You must be 19 to attend, and everything starts after 9:00 PM! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a great show, and fingers crossed, I'll drive down there too on Saturday to rock out! For a preview, here's Unleash The Archers playing their song "Destroyer" at a Vancouver concert in 2009!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our latest "Where Are The New Albums?" post tomorrow, featuring three new albums! And yes, I'll see you guys at The Rosie tomorrow night! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! (Unleash The Archers, Lion Ride, WinkStinger, Sykotyk Rampage, And Tym Morrison)

Oh man, this might be our most stacked post in a long while for new concerts, as we have no less than FIVE new shows today, so let's not waste any time! Here's what you need to know for these LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, in order by date!

Firstly, we have the next Roosevelt Hotel metal night, taking place this coming Thursday! Two bands are currently confirmed, as posted on Dismembertainment's Facebook page, including (in their metal night debut) Sykotyk Rampage! The "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet will take the stage for the first time since March as the advertised headliners on Thursday night, which is also being hyped by the band itself for a special occasion! The concert is taking place close to a wedding in the Becker family, and the concert's also going to double as a celebration of that event. Click here for their event page on the show! Also scheduled for Thursday are debuting local death metal quintet Bring The Blood, just over a week after their public launch! How will this band featuring Bring The Fallen & State Of Misery alums sound in their debut? Time will tell, but it'll be interesting! The third band, slotted in the middle for the show, is not known at present, though The Bear Hunters were briefly advertised before being dropped. As always, this has a start time of 9:30 PM or later, you must be 19 to attend, and there is no cover charge. Check the above links for more details!

This should be a great show with a lot of new sights, including two first time bands for these metal Thursdays, and I'll be there to rock out! Stay tuned to The Sault Metal Scene for details on the last confirmed band and anything else that could come up! Also, the June 9th lineup hasn't been revealed yet, but we'll have more on these Thursday nighters later in this post!

Just two nights later at The Rosie, a HUGE show is lined up for next Saturday, and I've been itching to promote this on here for a while, but didn't have official go ahead or complete details until just recently. Three talented out of town metal bands who we've promoted the local gig searches of on here are banding together next Saturday to rock The Rosie, including headliners Unleash The Archers! This extreme progressive quintet have a melodic and very heavy mix of styles to give us, including elements of everything from power to death metal, and they're touring "through the astrowaste" in support of their new album this summer! I'm digging these guys (and girl), and you should give them a listen! Also scheduled are two Winnipeg-area hardcore bands, those being Wear Your Wounds & Abstract & The Artist, who'll look to devastate with their hard hitting metalcore sounds! The local openers are hardcore quartet Changing Waves, fresh off two straight Rosie appearances of their own! Good to see them getting an opportunity like this again, they deserve it! Admission is $5, but don't complain, as it's well worth it for this package of bands! Everything starts at around 9:00 PM, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, check the above links and the Facebook event page!

There was a lot of talk, uncertainty, and preliminary word on this show in recent weeks, but now everything's locked in and official, and it sounds like it will be awesome! As with the show on Thursday, I should be at this one too, especially with bands this talented! Check the above links for all the details, spread the word on this show, and check out SooToday's article on it at this location!

Now to the last Rooosevelt Hotel concert I have for you guys today, and it's on June 16th for what should be the 20th Rosie metal night (assuming one is announced for the 9th.) Three bands are confirmed, including headliners WinkStinger, in (believe it or not) their first Thursday night Rosie show since January! Despite the wait, they'll do awesome at this show with their uniquely extreme sound! Backing them up are, in what I believe is their first Roosevelt Hotel show of any kind, Frightlight! The horror punk/metal quintet will add a different flavour to the proceedings with their heavy Misfits-influenced music, and they should get a warm welcome! Opening will be Sativa Rose, whose classic metal sounds and ever improving originals will set the tone nicely on the 16th! Nice to see a varied lineup like this, hopefully I can make it out! General rules apply, no cover charge, 9:30 PM-ish start time, 19+. Check all of the above links for more details, as well as Dismembertainment's Facebook page (check the "BandPage" tab) and as I hear more, I'll absolutely have it here on these (and future) Dismembertainment concerts!

The last two shows today are not from Dismembertainment, but they're still worth your time, so here's what you should know! Firstly, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is bringing his solo acoustic project back for a concert in Goulais River on June 17th! This will be Tym's first publically announced solo gig since the end of his bi-weekly Eagles Club engagement in March, and it will take place at a new venue for our coverage: The Zone Roadhouse on Highway 17 in Goulais River! I don't live in that area, so I can't comment on how it is as a concert venue, but it is a restaurant & bar of some sort, which would fit in the mold of some of Tym's past solo venues. This show has a 8:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and though an age limit isn't advertised, I wouldn't risk going if I was underage. You never know though! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's nice to see Tym's solo project back out there, and The Zone should be graced with some great music on June 17th! Stay tuned for news from Tym (and Caveman) Morrison as I hear it, and head down there for the show if you can!

Finally for new shows, Lion Ride are coming home in July! The local/Toronto-based hard rock quintet are coming back to Sault Ontario on July 2nd for a concert at The Rockstar Bar! This will be their first local concert in three months, following their April 9th headlining show which was also at The Rockstar Bar. The news on this show was officially broken on the band's Facebook page yesterday evening, along with details on a few other scheduled shows. No other details have came out yet, but I assume it'd have similar rules to the April concert, which had a $5 cover charge, 19+ age limit, and a 10:00 PM start time. Openers (if any) haven't been announced yet, but if it's any help, The Billy Bastards have opened for them at their last two local concerts. For all current details, check the above links! Sounds like a great time, and this could turn out to be this year's "Sault Metal Scene Anniversary" concert that I like to hit around July 4th! Either way, I should be there, and hopefully you guys will be there too! Stay tuned to The Sault Metal Scene for more updates on this show as well as they come in!

That's all for now, but I should have a new news post either tonight or tomorrow, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone, and make note of all of the concerts we mentioned today!!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Bear Hunters & That's Chester), Plus Lots Of Additional News!!

Here's a packed news post to close today out, our capping four straight weeks of new updates, with more to come! Today, we have the latest band updates for some upcoming Dismembertainment concerts, Woods of Ypres' latest tour vlog, and a new local band looking to play here, but first, here's some SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!

The next Roosevelt Hotel punk night is TOMORROW NIGHT, once again on short notice, though if you looked quick, you might confuse it for a metal night! Why is that? Well, maybe it's because local death metal bands The Bear Hunters and Skull After Betrayal will BOTH be playing tomorrow! Neither strike me as punk in the slightest, but hey, good music is good music! While The Bear Hunters are no strangers to the stage, this will be Skull of Betrayal's second ever concert, and hopefully they're better prepared to rock out tomorrow! Also joining them tomorrow will be cello/punk trio RedD Monkey, who'll look to rock out with their entertaining mix of classical sounds and aggressive riffs tomorrow night! Apologies for the short notice, but all but one of the punk nights have been announced on a relatively short notice schedule, it's out of my hands. There's no cover charge tomorrow, you must be 19 to enter, and it all starts at 9:30 PM or later! For more details, click here! Sounds like a good show, but I would like to see more "punk" bands on these shows, like Frightlight or bands like that. It's all good though! Stay tuned tomorrow for a more in-depth preview of this show!

Meanwhile, local classic hard rockers That's Chester are taking the stage on short notice this weekend when they hit Docks Riverfront Grill! Upon some further research, I found out that this weekend was originally set up to feature two concerts from That's Chester's Greg Simpson and Ric Datson's country band Bone Yard (as confirmed at this location), but it looks like there's been a band shift, thanks to this Facebook event page! With that said, I don't know what happened to Bone Yard, but hopefully nothing bad happened! It also looks like their previously scheduled shows there next weekend are off now, so maybe they were moved? The band never confirmed that, so I'm treating these as new shows unless I hear otherwise. So if you're a fan, get yourselves ready! They'll be on at 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday night, there will be a $4 cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend! For more details, visit the above links! Short notice is better than not at all, and That's Chester should put in a fun weekend of rocking tunes, so head out to Docks if you can! Again, I'll have a preview of these shows tomorrow on the SMS, so stay tuned!

Thirdly today, here's some lineup updates for some upcoming Dismembertainment shows! First, the bad news, as it looks like Woods of Ypres will NOT be playing at Foggy Notions on May 13th. I don't know why yet, but the show's no longer listed on Woods of Ypres pages, Dismembertainment's show listings have removed them, and Rich Moreland did confirm the news with me this evening. Why are they out? I don't know, but hopefully nothing bad happened! Hallows Die and local openers WILL STILL BE PLAYING THAT NIGHT, so don't change your plans! Now, for good news, as here's the latest band additions! Local death metal band Bring The Fallen will end a three month hiatus by playing at the Rosie metal night on April 14th, despite earlier claims about taking a break! They were originally listed for this show, then removed, but they're officially back on now as headliners. Great to see them back! As well, the April 28th Rosie metal night will feature hardcore quintet Changing Waves as the opening band, joining State of Misery and a to-be announced band. Good to know, they're very promising! Finally, WinkStinger and Shit Liver will open for Fuck The Facts at The Rosie on May 9th, giving a nice local punch to open for them in their return! Sounds good, check out the above links for more details on all of the above shows and bands!

Next up, here's another band that's looking to play in Sault Ontario this year! I got an e-mail the other day from Rob Heavysege, the frontman of the Winnipeg hardcore band Wear Your Wounds, and he's hoping to bring his band to town in June! The band's hoping to come through Sault Ontario for a concert on Sunday, June 5th, and they'd be bringing fellow Winnipeg hardcore outfit Abstract & The Artist with them on this tour! If you enjoy hardcore and metalcore, you'll probably enjoy both bands, and it'd be cool to have them playing here in June! I sent Rob some promoter info, but just in case you guys want to help or are interested in booking them here yourself, contact the above links and/or send an e-mail to wearyourwounds@gmail.com A.S.A.P.! Both bands are talented, so definitely remember this potential show, and if it gets finalized, I'll have more for you guys when it comes in!

Finally, here's part 2 of the latest Woods of Ypres tour vlog from their Barrie concert! I'd wait for part 3 too, but we need some good Woods of Ypres news after learning they aren't coming home in May. Uploaded to frontman David Gold's YouTube channel yesterday, this starts with 2 minutes of in-car footage, including some duplicate shots from the first part of the vlog, and more rim rolling, before transitioning to the band's final drive to the venue, bringing in the merchandise, and related happenings until the concert footage finally kicks in at 3:12 into the video! We get portions of three songs, good quality ones too with more varied angles, and they now have added captions which list each song's original album as well! The concert footage will likely conclude in part 3, but it hasn't been posted yet. Good stuff, especially if you've been hoping for more live footage of Woods of Ypres on-stage! Check the above links for more, and here's part 2 of the Barrie vlog!



That's all for tonight, but stay tuned tomorrow for weekend concert previews and possibly some additional news! Thanks everyone!