The biggest concerts in terms of scope took place at The Dreammakers Theater at Kewadin Casino, which welcomed 5 big name hard rock concerts throughout 2011 that turned local heads! Firstly, Allstar Promotions brought platinum selling California hard rock acts Buckcherry and Papa Roach (plus local acoustic duo Fallen Heroes) to Kewadin Casino on March 14th, and despite a lot of lineup changes, the show was a huge success! One month later, Cinderella (the glam metal mainstays, not the play) hit Sault Michigan for a night of old school metal classics that fans surely ate up! After a quiet summer, British hard rock legends Whitesnake made their way to Kewadin Casino on August 26th, and David Coverdale & company didn't disappoint with a huge set of their memorable hits. Then on October 21st, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts rocked the Soo with new and old standout songs, rocking as good as they did back in their heyday in a well recieved concert! The year ended with Poison frontman Bret Michaels' fourth solo stop in the Sault area this past Tuesday, as he delivered a good time of hair metal classics and newer songs for his fans! This was a big year for shows at The Dreammakers Theater, but hopefully 2012 will bring us even more there, and perhaps at The Essar Center too?
Over in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, a large number of high profile concerts featuring big name bands (local or otherwise) took place over the past 12 months, so here's some of what went down here in 2011! Local concert bookers brought notable out of town bands like Abriosis, Black Moor, The Dayglo Abortions, Dead & Divine, For All That Is Lost, Fuck The Facts, Hallows Die, Helix, Maximum RNR, Napalm Death, The Saigon Hookers, Skull Fist, Thekillingfield, Unleash The Archers, Who Made Who, and numerous others to Sault Ontario this year, ensuring a heavy and proficient year of local concerts! Among the many metal shows this year, local concert bookers Dismembertainment kept things very heavy with dozens of Roosevelt Hotel metal nights and big shows at other venues, Lion Ride returned home for two shows midway through the year, no less than eleven bands joined forces at April's Sewer Swampstravaganja, Garden of Bedlam launched their new album with a Boxing Day CD release show, Woods of Ypres played their last local concert in March, and festivals like Hempfest, Rotaryfest, and the Searchmont Music Festival kept the music going strong in the past year! Add in lots of concerts from Tym & Caveman Morrison, Turner Up & Full Circle, Shit Liver, and many more local acts, and there was no shortage of metal to go around in Sault Ontario in 2011!
While there was a lot of heaviness in Sault Ontario this year, our brothers & sisters in Sault Michigan can't be left out either, as they had a lot of big shows besides the major Kewadin Casino ones to talk about! Out of town bands like The Darwin Project, Driven, Infathom, Nudge, Peril, and RedStone Riot rocked the Sault Michigan area in 2011, all of which surely turned heads with local fans news and old! This year also saw some notable concert events in Sault Michigan, such as the metal participation in this year's I-500 Pub Crawl, the first annual edition of LemmaFest at Dondee Lanes, and this year's Sugar Island Music Festival, along with numerous general metal concerts. Bands like Monkey's Uncle, Powerslug, and Splitshot kept busy with numerous shows throughout 2011, Swayze Train made a big splash with their June debut and future concerts, and Elipzis rocked the area for the last time this spring. Half A Man, Great Bodily Harm, Hammerspace, and NoXcape kept things heavy with some notable concerts earlier in the year, and young talent like Abstract, Free Refill, Beyond The Surface, The Highest of Fives, and Banned hit the stage many times, proving that the scene has a lot of promise for years to come, and 2012 should be no different!
Unfortunately, much of the last two weeks of 2011 was impacted by a huge news story that saddened the local metal scene, as Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold passed away on December 21st in a car accident outside of Barrie. Easily one of the most shocking stories we've ever had to report on here, a huge outpouring of grief and rememberances came from local & metal communities alike, remembering David for his talents, his character, and his dedication to his work in Woods of Ypres, teaching, and his other bands. He was laid to rest on Wednesday at Northwood Funeral Home, and the crash essentially ended Woods of Ypres as a functioning band, but their label Earache Records leaked "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" early in tribute to David last week, giving fans a chance to check out some of their last published work in advance of it's formal release next month. It was a sad way to end 2011, but hopefully David's legacy and music lives on for years and years to come!
Among other topics, there was a lot of other news stories in the scene that were notable, so let's flash back to some of them. Local concert booker Rich Moreland made a splash this year by starting his booking company Dismembertainment, booking tons of great metal shows, buying Foggy Notions, renaming it Feedback, and then dealing with issues relating to noise complaints from concerts held there in a subject that many talked about this fall. Also this year: bands like As It Stands & Gates of Winter released exciting details for new CDs coming out in 2012, The Canadian Nightclub flooded this July & underwent 7 weeks of renovations, Shaw TV's Christian Lemay began spotlighting some local metal talent for televised interviews, SooNews.ca became Local2, Energy Rock Radio relocated to British Columbia, local metal-related books "Soo Stories", "Going Underground", "Led Zeppelin FAQ", and "Yooper Bars" saw local releases, Woods of Ypres released their last music video and went on their last tours, Sneaky Pete finally made their local concert debut, Stephane Vincent took over booking the Roosevelt Hotel metal nights this fall, and horror punk quintet Frightlight opened for The Misfits in Toronto, among many other notable news stories in the local metal scene this year!
Despite a sporadic release schedule for new local metal CDs, we definitely saw more albums released as a whole from local metal & hard rock talent in 2011 than we did in 2010! The year ended with a bang thanks to the release of Garden of Bedlam's full length CD "Everything Will Die", solidifying their place among the local elite, but that wasn't all this year! Woods of Ypres released their "Home" vinyl single earlier this year featuring songs from the "Woods 4.5" sessions, along with re-releasing 2009's "Woods IV: The Green Album" through Earache Records (and that doesn't even count the early "Woods V" leak!) Also, Sault Michigan's own Clownsack released their "Funny Farm" EP this spring, and Destroilet began selling their own debut EP a few months later (though they oddly haven't played live since.) In the realm of digital downloads, local crash rockers Sykotyk Rampage released no less than FIVE new albums, Sault Michigan's own Theatre of Night re-released "Christmas Night" in time for the holidays, and local solo artist Mike Haggith put out both his new studio album "Suspended Animation" and his second best-of collection, helping support a solid collection of new CDs and EPs from local metal talent in 2011!
The past year wasn't as busy as 2010 for new local metal & hard rock bands, but a few notable bands made their debuts to high audiences over the past 12 months! In Sault Ontario, one of the biggest new bands was View To A Kill, who united members of Sativa Rose, State of Misery, and Chillum into an exciting deathcore quartet in the latter months of 2011! This wasn't the only new band that frontman Steve Rhodes joined this year, fronting the death metal supergroup Bring The Misery at a pair of shows in June, with bandmates Ray Cowan & Tyler St. Amour later joining another new local band, Social Suicide. Also new this year: Hardcore quartet Skull After Betrayl made a quick impact in early 2011 with some notable gigs, SBD bassist Brad Griffith's new two-man project Sounds From The Green Room rocked from here to Ottawa, a new version of Turner Up launched this fall, and members of Late & Loud united in the one-off trio General Striker earlier this month. In Sault Michigan, members of Electric Motor Fish formed the talented new quintet known as Swayze Train, former members of Absolute & Shift united under the name NoXcape, members of the Traynor family joined forces in the band known as Banned, and 3/5ths of Splitshot formed a new band named Trail's End, among a number of other notable new bands & solo projects entering the scene this year!
Also in 2011, a high number of local metal & hard rock bands underwent major lineup changes, and like in 2010, none saw more Turner Up, who morphed from a classic hard rock quintet to a more general classic quartet named Full Circle in the spring, with only Robert Brown & Scott McClurg surviving the changes, and that doesn't even count the new version of Turner Up! Among other bands with major membership changes: Caveman Morrison rotated bassists & drummers twice before settling on the White brothers, Frightlight added new members St. Mayhem & Chris FreaknStein, Woods of Ypres split with the Madden brothers before recording "Woods V", and Half Past welcomed Jordan Rains & said goodbye to Arthur Lacasse. In Sault Michigan, Half A Man added Dillion Semasky & Mikey Bishop while parting ways with Doug Reed & Denny Breslin, leading to a much different look and sound going into 2012. Also across the river: End of Existence welcomed Bryan Kindel & Craig Harrison to the fold, Jake LaLonde returned home to replace Tony Hubbard in Splitshot, and local singer Donny Newell joined both Monkey's Uncle & NoXcape earlier this year. Among other notable changes: Josh Stephney replaced Mike Vincent in The Bear Hunters, and Brian Holmes & Alan Wells left Gates of Winter & Winkstinger respectively, among many other notable local lineup changes in 2011!
Like last year, a number of local bands broke up or went inactive in 2011 that are worth noting. Most recently, Woods of Ypres essentially dissolved following the passing of David Gold on December 21st, though fans should keep an eye out for posthumous CD releases in the future. Also this year, hard rockers Sense of Truth disbanded after months of inactivity this fall, ending their successful late 2000s run. Among other breakups in Sault Ontario: Death metal quintet Bring The Fallen (and part-successors Bring The Misery) dissolved earlier this year, Full Circle (the original Turner Up) split up a few weeks ago, hard rock trio Browbeat ended this spring, Stiffler's Mom (formerly Sin Stereo) parted ways, and bands like Dirty Virgin, No Arrow, and SBD quietly went inactive in recent months. In Sault Michigan, hard rock quartet Elipzis split up this summer to make way for Muskegon-based successors RedStone Riot, Splitshot will play their last concert tonight in St. Ignace, and groove metal quartet Great Bodily Harm parted ways, among a number of other band dissolutions in the Sault area this year. Also this year: Sault Star reporter Frank Dobrovnik passed away, The Vibe Lounge shut down, and SooToday news editor David Helwig left the site, among other notable ends in the Sault area in 2011.
Luckily, where things end, others return, as the local metal scene saw a bunch of comebacks and returns! Among bands returning from hiatuses or breakups: noted early-2000s metal quintet Hollow returned for one weekend only in August, glam/punk quartet Dirty Virgin returned after 17 months to open for Crued in May, Woods of Ypres played their first local concert in 19 months in March, experimental rockers Sue Inside re-emerged on stage in Oil Springs in August, Caveman Morrison's new lineup returned after a 5 month break, State of Misery returned after a 3 month breakup, and Stillbroke returned to activity this fall under the name Borderline Divine. Meanwhile in the Sault Michigan area, metal quartet Hammerspace returned after breaking up this spring, Life's Eclipse and their label Werehold Records re-emerged locally with a vengeance, young hard rockers Free Refill returned to the stage after almost a year's hiatus, and Scofflaw made their presence felt with a few return gigs this summer. Add the local return of Hempfest in August, Foggy Notions' rebirth as Feedback, and the re-opening of Case's Music & The Canadian Nightclub to the list, and this year has had no shortage of comebacks either!There, I hope you guys enjoyed our look back at the year that was! Tomorrow, we'll preview some stuff to look out for in 2012 in the local metal scene, and there's more news and our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post to come as well, but first, stay tuned for our final post of 2011 later today, and it will be our review of Garden of Bedlam's new CD "Everything Will Die"! Thanks everyone!
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