A New Local Band, A Likely Inactive Band, And New Solo Videos!!

30 straight days of new updates at the SMS, thanks to everyone for following along over the past month! I'd originally planned to have some new shows today, but I'll slightly postpone them to tie them in with some upcoming weekend concert previews from the same band. So for today, we have some new videos from local metal musicians and a note on a band that has likely drifted into inactivity, but first, here's a recently reviewed band at the site that we can now add to our links, so here's what you need to know!

We have a new band to add to the SMS' listings, and as you may expect, it's new local hardcore/doom AlgomA! Fresh off of their debut gig opening for Soul Killing Female at 180 Projects on Sunday, the band launched their Facebook page on Monday, and also have a YouTube channel that'll hopefully feature some new videos in the near future. Thanks to the concert and past hints on 62nd Chamber Productions' blog, we knew some on AlgomA, but what's new to say now that they have public pages? They're from both the Soo & Garden River, stoner & sludge metal are among their subgenres, their songs deal with "a wide range of depressing subject matter", and they're inspired by a wide range of bands (everything from The Melvins to Eyehategod to Joy Division.) As well, singer/guitarist Boyd Rendell & singer/bassist Kevin Campbell are each credited under stage names, Boyd's being Darby Wigwaus (his name on Twitter) and Kevin's being Marty Chase, which lines up with their stage name use on posthumous BeeFMouTH material, so it's not that out of left field.

More photos from their debut gig (better ones than I got) can be seen on their Facebook page linked above, and AlgomA have promised some new videos from the show as well, so stay tuned for all of that and more band news soon, and hopefully their entertaining and very brutal doom metal sounds can be heard live again soon, including at hopefully some more all ages shows from drummer Jamie Vincent! AlgomA are now in our active Sault Ontario band links on your left!

Next up, I want to acknowledge a band we'll likely be bumping to our inactive band links soon, that being Sault Ontario glam/punk quartet Dirty Virgin. Though nothing has been posted to confirm their status, they haven't made any official public updates since their last concert, which will be a year ago on Saturday, hence why we're counting them as inactive. Dirty Virgin were a steady sight at local concerts in 2008 & 2009, playing shows at venues like the old Coch's Corner & The Grand Theater, including some memorable opening slots & a runner up finish at 2009's YMCA Battle of the Bands. However, news tailed off by early 2010 after their appearance at the Kiss Battle of the Bands, and amidst months of prolonged inactivity, they only resurfaced for two one-off Canadian Nightclub gigs, opening for Crued in April 2011 and Late & Loud in March 2012. I wish Dirty Virgin had been more active in the 2010s, as they had an entertaining sound that brought some classic hair metal influences and punk sensibilities to the stage, and they were original compared to other bands at the time!

Though the vocals were hit & miss at times, Dirty Virgin had a good thing going, and I'd love to see them resurface (even for one-offs) again down the road, or at least stay active in other bands (such as Matt Hicks & Matt Clement's industrial project Riverin.) Best of luck to Bobby, Ryan, Lionel, the Matts, and Dickie in the future, and if they come back at all in the future, we'll be sure to let you guys know!

We'll close today with new solo videos, starting with new solo videos from former Inhuman Methods guitarist Alex Swain! Though his band is now inactive, they were together as recently as late January, as Alex uploaded two solo guitar play-through videos then of a planned Inhuman Methods original song onto his YouTube channel! The videos were two parts of the same 6 minute original (name unknown), and it's really promising with a lot of fast technical riffing, though it can be somewhat repetitive, and I'd like to have heard more of a solo. I imagine it'd sound better with the full band, but with their breakup, I can only hope that Alex brings this track with him to a new project down the road. I've embedded the first half of the song below, but be sure to check out the second half at this location, and if I hear anything new on Alex's next musical steps, I'll be sure to let you guys know!

Finally, here's some new audio recordings from Pillory/Lazer Queen drummer Bret Shuttleworth that I recently came across! Uploaded by YouTube user Jon Livingstone last month, they include two new original songs named "No Doubt In My Mind" and "Now I'm Here", and as best as I can tell, these only feature Bret on all instruments (unless there's some uncredited input from Jon or others.) Softer than his metal drumming repertoire, Bret is surprisingly good at clean singing (if that's him), and the guitar work isn't bad either, especially on "Now I'm Here", which is an instrumental number that sounds like a Metallica-esque song intro. That said, fans of his band work will probably gravitate to Jon's other upload of Bret's, which is a solo cover of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" featuring him on all instruments again (I assume), and though he took a self-deprecating shot at it on his personal Facebook page, all it really needs is better recording quality & timing, , as the drumming's solid, and the vocals fit really well with the track! Check out Bret's Metallica cover below, and hear more of his recent solo work at the above links!


That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon, including this weekend's concert previews and our review of SweetKenny's new album this weekend! Thanks everyone!