Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Pillory CD Updates, New Solo Covers, And Much More!!

On this cold Tuesday morning, we're back with some more news and notes, so what's on tap? More updates to our Battle of the Bands Profiles, some assorted shorter topics, and new cover videos, but first, here's the latest on a long awaited upcoming album release!

Sault Ontario thrash quartet Pillory have announced that their first demo CD "Cringe at the Cross" will be released on Thursday, December 19th! As announced on their Facebook page yesterday, the date is to honour the one year anniversary of founding guitarist Andres Duchesne's sudden passing last year, and to go along with that, the half hour disc will only feature the five songs that Pillory wrote with him ("Onward to Death", "Fatal Woods", "Shattered by War", "No One Answers", and "Cringe at the Cross"), with their newest song "Dethrone the Dictator" not to be included. The CD will only feature singer/guitarist Robert Sartini & drummer Bret Shuttleworth, with Robert handling bass & Andres' parts, so current members Josh Amendola & Tyler St. Amour won't be featured (nor will past bassists Jonathan Tiberi & Cole Royal.) "Cringe at the Cross" was independently recorded at Shez Studios, and was mixed & produced by Pillory and producer Chris Shelbourne (a.k.a. Rob & Bret's Issues bandmate Mullet Studborne.)

Note that the cover art (if any), price, and release method haven't been released yet, but we'll keep you guys posted if/when we hear anything! It'd be nice to see the "Cringe at the Cross" release tied in with a concert (Pillory have only played one full concert since debuting, and that was a year ago), but it's nice to see Pillory approaching a release of their first recorded work, and I'm very curious to hear it next month! Stay tuned for updates, and I know Andres would be proud!

Next up, here's the latest solo cover videos from Ashes to Dust guitarist Alex Hemy! Posted to his YouTube channel just recently, these return to Alex's recent trend of more general covers, and they're covers of Nickelback's "Far Away" and (as embedded below) John Mayer's "Good Love Is On The Way". The former is acoustic and doesn't strike me as a great fit for his higher vocal range, but the John Mayer song (which I'm not familiar with) works really well and flows nicely all around! Ashes To Dust's absence from public updates is now in it's fifth month, but at least Alex is staying busy, so check out his newest covers below and at the above links!



Also today, here's three assorted shorter news stories and notes from the last while, and conveniently, all tie into local goregrind label Blood Shed Productions! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

  • Strange Coyotes guitarist (and Blood Shed solo artist) Chase Wigmore makes a brief appearance in the new independent documentary film "What Is Canadian Music?", where filmmaker Kevin Dorin asks him (among others) questions on what he thinks Canadian music is, and how to improve the national scene so Canadian music is heard more. Chase gives good answers, and plays an original song afterwards, so check out his part of the movie at this link! (He's on at 38:40)
  • In a post on their Facebook page on Friday, Malignant Neoplasm mainman Ringsnaps Gibson called the cybergrind project "just a tumbleweed blowing in the wind", and admitted that it's "a dying project". That's not to say that Malignant Neoplasm will end, but since the release of the split demo they're on, they've received little attention, and I imagine the amount of programming on their songs would hurt chances for live gigs. If I hear anything final regarding their active status, I'll have it here!
  • This is admittedly not a "news story", but I finally was able to confirm through a Facebook conversation earlier this month that Ringsnaps Gibson's first name is Tyler, and though he doesn't use his real first name in current music projects, he is the same Tyler Gibson who led the short lived 2011 comedy metal band T.E.N. (as heard here.) I think he's grown as a musician since (even if T.E.N. aren't as polarizing), but it's good to connect two dots in this case!

Finally for today, here's some more recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles to get them more accurate & current! I added new Jack Spades guitarist Jesse Cook's role in said band to the sections on later bands featuring performers on the Skid Row, YMCA, and Battle For The Blood profiles, as he played in each with Sikamikanico, Operation: Killdozer, and Winkstinger respectively (in the case of the former, I replaced the recently inactive Cowboys & Indians with Jack Spades in that section.) Also with the Battle For The Blood profile, I updated post-battle references to competitors Winkstinger (given their recent inactivity) and The Valentine's Day Massacre (as they broke up and have been succeeded by Saints & Serpents.) Moving to our profile of the Sault College Battle, I replaced the now inactive Mike Haggith & The Din and The Vig with ex-Blackwater bassist James Watterwoth's new band The Strange Coyotes and ex-Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan's new band Aggressive Acoustic in the section on performers' newer bands. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned soon for weekend concert previews! Thanks everyone!

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