Friday, March 8, 2013

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Lucky 13), Haggith & Rockstar Bar Battle Of The Bands Updates, And More!!

In our 11th straight day of new posts at the SMS (which is very good for the spring months), we have a bunch of news to get to on this Friday morning, including the latest on the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands next month, when you can see Haggith live next, and more recent shorter news stories, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next weekend that should go very well clad in green!

Sault Ontario hard/alternative rock quartet Lucky 13 will be among the acts playing at The Rockstar Bar on Sunday, March 17th for St. Patrick's Day! The Rockstar Bar & Alexander Keith's are hosting a St. Patrick's Weekend Party from the 15th through the 17th for the occasion, and Lucky 13 will be among the performers on the holiday itself, joining former Terminal bassist Greg Callaghan in a solo set (no word on if it will be "evil" like some of his recent live appearances, but I figure it will be an acoustic set with him on vocals & guitar.) For the record, the Friday & Saturday slots over next weekend will go to The Daybreak Johnnies, a local folk trio who are one of the many projects featuring prolific local metal musician Jonathan Tiberi. Admission all weekend will be FREE (it's St. Patty's Day, so why not?), but 10:00 PM start times and 19+ age limits remain in effect. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a fun time, and you know how St. Patrick's Day goes for a fun drinking time, so take advantage of the live entertainment & holiday next weekend! Plus, you'll get Lucky 13's 1990s-influenced and often gritty hard rock covers, which are always welcome, so don't miss out, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's the latest news from local grunge quartet Haggith, who have a busy spring ahead themselves! First to note, they'll be playing a live set or two at the gymnasium at Sault College on March 23rd (two weeks from Saturday) as part of the entertainment for this year's Relay For Life cancer fundraising event that's being held at Sault College that day. I won't officially call it as a "concert" on here, as I believe you have to be a signed-up participant to fully attend the day's events & entertainment, but it's a great event that's raised tons of money over the years for cancer research, so click here for full details on how you can sign up and join the relay! It's great to see Haggith playing live after a two month break from the stage for what I think is their Sault College debut, and though it is odd thinking about bands playing in the gym, they've gotta play somewhere with The Outback gone. As well, organizers are looking for a second band to join Haggith at this year's Relay For Life festivities, so if you or your band are interested, message organizer Adriana Roque at this location for more details!

Aside from the Relay for Life, Haggith will also hit the stage at least once in April, as they're the newest confirmed band for the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands that's going down each Wednesday next month! Though they had previously hinted at signing up, the guys finally confirmed their involvement last night via their Facebook page, making them the third band (that I know of) to publically confirm that they'll be competing, joining The Suicide Kings & Giwakwa. As far as I know, this will be the first local battle for all of Haggith's members (though Mike Haggith may have played in some in Windsor), and I believe this will mark their debut at The Rockstar Bar as well. Members are selling 10 ticket packages for the month's festivities (there'll be battling on all 4 Wednesdays of April), so if you don't have yours or want to stock up, contact the band at this location for details! Will Haggith make the most of their local battle debut come next month, and continue to spread their name locally?

Also in battle news, registration closes for new bands on March 20th, so if you're stalling or haven't made up your mind yet, sign up A.S.A.P.! The deadline falls two weeks before the battle kicks off, and hopefully soon, we'll have a more complete list of signed up bands! I only know of the 3 bands mentioned above that have officially registered, but I'll note that local drummer Johnny Belanger (The Bear Hunters, Caveman Morrison) mentioned on the battle's Facebook event page last week that he had tickets for the battle to sell, and to message him on Facebook if you'd like him to deliver them to you. There has been no public confirmation from either of Johnny's current bands on if they've registered for the battle (that I know of, at least), but the fact that he's selling tickets does hint towards a band he's in competing next month. Of course, stay tuned for confirmation on any added bands, and check the above links for all current details! Remember, the top bands from the first 3 weeks will play in the finals on April 24th, with $1,000, studio time, and opening slots at one of promoter J.D. Pearce's upcoming shows going to the winners, so get your tickets and registrations A.S.A.P.! This will be an awesome month!

Finally for today, here's three more assorted shorter news stories from the last little while! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

  • According to their Facebook page on Valentine's Day, Sault Michigan hard rock quartet 415E will apparently be recording their debut CD over the next months in advance of their return to the stage in May! Does this mean the old Hubbard-Menard Band demos are being re-recorded with the full band? They also hyped t-shirts to be sold by then as well, and included a photo that may be the new album cover. Sounds interesting, but stay tuned for updates!
  • Brimley, Michigan recording studio Lake Street Studio isn't overly known for working with heavier bands, but owner Taylor Brugman recently posted a song recorded there named "Nuthouse Sucks" by an act named Deadlight 3 onto his/the studio's SoundCloud page. A punk tinged aggressive rocker with solid bass, I like where the band's going, but I haven't found any other information on Deadlight 3 beyond this song. If you know anything, let me know, and if I hear anything, I'll share it here!
  • Local deathcore quartet The Valentine's Day Massacre will play their first concert of 2013 on March 19th... just not in Sault Ontario. It will instead take place in the band's recent homebase of London at The APK as part of a cancer fundraiser, and The V.D.M. are among at least 8 acts on the bill, including frontman Steve Rhodes' new London-based band D3athcharg3r. It's great to see the guys finally playing out of town gigs, and hopefully this is just the first of many, so click here for more details!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for hopefully some more news this weekend, including this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles on Sunday! Thanks everyone!

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