Pillory, Banned, and Mike Haggith & The Din News, Plus Recent Profile Updates!!

Keeping the news coming on this Tuesday afternoon, we have new audio postings from bands on each side of the border, more recent updates to our battle of the bands profiles, and leading off, some news concerning a local metal band and concerts they are/were scheduled for, so here's what you need to know!

We'll start today with some potentially disappointing news from local thrash quartet Pillory, including the news that they parted ways with bassist Tyler St. Amour last month. Tyler confirmed the news on the event page for next month's Fuck The Facts show that he's promoting, and he said that his exit was "a mutual agreement", though he didn't elaborate publically. Tyler had joined Pillory last fall to replace Cole Royal, and he played at their full return gigs earlier this year, but Pillory's Facebook page has only minimally covered their recent bassist changes. This is disappointing, as Tyler is a skilled bassist, but hopefully he turns up in a new band soon! Tyler also noted in his above event page post that Pillory have dropped out the Fuck The Facts show on May 4th due to a "lack of recent activity", and he also added that he is prepared to replace Pillory on this Saturday's Dank Fest lineup at The Oddfellows Hall if they drop out (with Brutaly Fatal on tap to replace them, just like at next month's Swampstravaganza), but we await official word before calling anything positively.

I'll note that despite the above news (and them dropping out of last month's Anvil show), Pillory had indicated that they were writing "crazy" new material as of March 29th, but we haven't heard anything since from their camp. Hopefully this all isn't a bad sign for Pillory's future status, as they have a lot of blistering metal talent that was only just coming back to prominence after a slow 2013, but we'll keep you guys posted either way, and stay tuned for word on Pillory's replacement at the Fuck The Facts show!

Next up, Kinross, Michigan hard/classic rock trio Banned shared a pair of live audio recordings on their Facebook page yesterday that you can now check out! Their first public media postings of the new year, these are presumably live recordings from their dates at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino this past weekend, which marked their return to the stage after a two month break due to drummer Don Traynor's recovery from a surgical procedure, as per a comment on the newer video, so it's great to see him and Banned back at it! Despite being uploaded via separate sources (one by Don's wife and frontman Alex Traynor's mom Hollie, the other on Banned's page), both videos have the same format, compiling slideshow footage from last weekend's shows with ending credits, and they are well put together! One is Banned's surprising cover of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" with Alex on vocals, while the other is their cover of Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way" with Don on vocals, so how does everything sound?

The Eminem cover is effective, if not really something that plays to their musical strengths, but the Joe Walsh cover works better for their skill set and usual sound! I would be curious to hear how Alex handles "Rocky Mountain Way" vocally, but it's nice to hear some new media of theirs that doesn't take from contemporary indie rock like their recent YouTube videos. Check out Banned's Joe Walsh cover below, hear more at the above links, and stay tuned as they hopefully add some more new concert bookings!



Also in new audio postings are half of a new "album" from the recently reunited local acid jam/hard rock trio Mike Haggith & The Din! Entitled "Dinner With The President", only 5 of the songs considered to be part of the album are online at present via this playlist on Mike's YouTube channel, as uploaded yesterday. These songs were recorded at Paperclip Productions, and each video credits the song's composition and arrangement to their original lineup (Mike on guitar, Daniel Horton on drums, and Curtis McKenzie on bass), though it's unclear whether these songs were recorded during Curtis' original 2013 run with the band, or if he's returned to replace Tyler Gibson. We'll let you know if we get clarification! The 5 songs are "Craters", "Something Digestive", "Flow (Part 2)", "Odometer", and "Obamader", and like older Din matertial, the song length widely varies (from 28 seconds to over 12 minutes.) Possibly most distinctive of these songs compared to older studio sessions is that all 5 songs are instrumental, though it's not clear yet whether the other half of "Dinner With The President" will have vocals.

Mike & The Din display some solid jam rock here, and there's a lot of experimentation and effects to be had, but "Something Digestive" in particular seems too short and inconsequential to warrant it's own track. Fans of Mike's solo music should be right at home here though, so check out the first song "Craters" below, hear more at the above links, and keep an eye out for the second half of this album!



Finally for today, here's some more updates to our past Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles! In our profile of 2009's Kiss Battle of the Bands, I noted that many performers at this battle (namely Wishbone, Lucas Bugyra, and Gsis Murphy's Anthony Fabiano) all competed at the last two Rock N' Roar Battles of the Bands in Spanish, though none made the top 5 to earn a Rock N' Roar lineup slot. I also replaced the now-inactive Side FX and Small Town Rivals (plus out-of-towners Lucky Widmore) with more recent local bands Northwest, That's Chester, and Viva Emptiness in the section on performers' later bands. In our profiles of the Algoma University & Downtown Showdown battles, I added The Fury frontman Paul Stanghetta's current band Keep It Lit to the same section on these profiles (replacing Sounds From The Green Room in the latter), while also noting their near-participation in last fall's Viva La Battle before a member broke their arm. Finally for now, I also added Changing Waves drummer Alex Hagerman's new band The Elements to the later bands section on our profile of 2012's Battle For The Blood, while adding a trivia note on the closure of it's host venue The Roosevelt Hotel. Stay tuned for more updates soon!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews in our likely next post! Thanks everyone!