Woods Of Ypres' Juno Nomination, Apocalypse: The Musical Updates, And A Possible Local Concert!!

Here's one more news post before we preview this weekend's metal and hard rock concerts tomorrow morning, and in today's entry, we have a possible show for the spring that needs a booker, a lineup change for an upcoming local metal show, and leading off, huge news relating to a major award nomination for a local band, so here's what you need to know!

Woods of Ypres have been posthumously nominated for a Juno Award! As revealed during yesterday's announcements of the nominees (viewable here), the defunct local blackened doom metal band were nominated in the Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year category for their final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", which is absolutely huge news for both the local metal scene and the band as a whole! (for Yooper reference, the Junos are essentially the Canadian Grammys.) "W5" is up against the newest albums from The Cancer Bats, Castle, The Devin Townsend Project, and Ex Deo for the honour, ensuring some stiff competition for the award (KEN Mode beat the likes of Anvil & Fuck The Facts to win the first Juno in the Metal/Hard Music category last year). The 2013 Juno Awards will be held on April 21st in Regina, Saskatchewan, but the metal category will likely be a part of an untelevised private gala dinner the night before the main ceremony, as was the case last year (but those awards are acknowledged on air during the main ceremony on CTV.)

This is fantastic news, and I think in some ways, totally unexpected, as you don't picture the Junos and local metal bands going hand in hand, but the introduction of a full metal category is great in that regard! This may seem like a late nomination given the "Woods V" release last spring, but eligible songs/bands/albums for this year stretch from the end of 2011 through most of last year, so it came out too late for the 2012 awards. I don't know as of yet if anyone connected to the band will be able to attend the awards (guitarist Joel Violette & Gold family members would make perfect sense), but it is still sad that frontman David Gold isn't with us anymore to fully realize how well "W5" has been received. This just adds to the mark he left as a musician locally and nationally, and if this helps spread Woods of Ypres to a larger fanbase (even posthumously), their legacy will benefit, win or lose! I just wish the metal awards were broadcast in some form. If any updates come out concerning the category or ceremony that would impact local Woods fans, we'll have them here, but keep the Junos in mind come April! David would be proud!

Next up, here's another lineup change relating to Apocalypse: The Musical at The Canadian Nightclub on March 1st, as Late & Loud have dropped out of the all-tribute concert. A reason for their withdrawl wasn't announced, but seeing as two members are still playing at the show, I imagine there's either individual scheduling or personal reasons involved. Hopefully we'll see Late & Loud back soon though, as their recent shows have been way too sporadic! In their place, a one-off tribute band named Loud Lazer has been formed, ostensibly because it's a combination of members of Late & Loud (guitarist Jonathan Tiberi & bassist Benn Garside) and local rock quintet Lazer Queen (singer/guitarist Kate Drew & drummer Bret Shuttleworth.) This "new" band will still be playing a set of Motley Crue covers, as Late & Loud had originally intended. I'll note that Bret's involvement returns him to this show following his & Jon's thrash band Pillory's exit earlier this month, while the complete Loud Lazer lineup is almost the same as Lazer Queen, but with Benn Garside on bass (not keyboard) instead of Josh Hatherley, there is a unique direct L&L connection.

This "new" band should be interesting to hear, especially with the added lead vocal possibilities now that Kate's involved! Make sure not to miss Loud Lazer along with The Fiend Brigade (essentially T-Rex Manning) and Xanadu (Jon Tiberi's metal band from Welland) one week from Friday at The Canadian! Click here for all current details, including the updated poster above!

Finally for today, wanna help bring a touring metal band here for a concert? Last week, I received an e-mail from Aaron Homma, a guitarist in the Ontario/Quebec grindcore supergroup Killitorous, and he's hoping to get a booking for both them and Hamilton groove/hardcore metal band Skynet in Sault Ontario in May. I sent him some promoter contacts, but can you help? Killitorous' lineup has a lot of local concert connections, as Aaron played here with Immersed in July 2011, while they also boast members of Blind Witness, Today I Caught The Plague, and Blessed By A Broken Heart in their lineup, all of which you're bound to remember from late 2000s hardcore/metal shows! Skynet themselves have local links too, as members Blake Prince & Adrian Levasseur are alumni of local concert headliners Straight Reads The Line, and they were briefly advertised to headline the Locals Attack show at The Canadian in November before dropping out, so if this show goes down, it will be very familiar!

Musically, both bands are very cool, with Killitorous employing a brutal moshable grind/death sound, and Skynet having a djent-inspired technical style that has some Meshuggah influences, and I recommend checking both out! In the event that the contacts I sent don't work out, can you help promote or book Killitorous & Skynet in May? Message Aaron at this location if you're interested, and hopefully we'll see the guys here in the spring!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!