A New Local Band, A New Local Rock Music Column, And New Videos!!

Before we begin, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert in last weekend's previews, as The Wyld Stallyns apparently played at The Canadian Motor Hotel on Saturday night. Given their acoustic nature, my guess is The Upper Deck Bar & Grill, but they weren't specific in their vague post on their Facebook page that same day, and there was no online promotion from band or venue that I found otherwise. I apologize again, and we'd have covered the show had it received more notice and information, but hopefully it was a hit! Now, here's some new videos, long overdue coverage of a local journalist's music articles, and a new addition to our band links!

We have a new band to add to our active band links on the site, and they are Poison Girl, another tribute band from this year's Halloween Party concerts at The Rockstar Bar! Essentially a spin-off of local punk trio Stegadeth, that band's members (singer/guitarist Tiffany Stocco, bassist Bill "Orthae" Bennett, and drummer Johnny Belanger) joined forces with Machines Dream/ex-Gates of Winter keyboardist Brian Holmes to round out this lineup, playing a tribute set to Finnish gothic rock notables H.I.M. (the Poison Girl name comes from a H.I.M. song from their 2000 CD "Razorblade Romance".)  Unlike the Facebook page for Tiffany & Johnny's other Halloween tribute band-turned-actual project (the Distillers tribute Coral Fang), there's not much written up or teased, but continued activity is implied. After all, why would a one-off band launch a Facebook page, especially when you could technically argue that they're just Stegadeth + 1?

I was never high on H.I.M. during their run (I honestly prefer Daniel Lioneye), but at their peak, they were a big deal among goth kids and Bam Margera fans around my age, and one wonders how big Poison Girl would have been had they formed even a decade earlier. Still, this is definitely a unique tribute band, locally speaking, and I'd be curious to hear how they handle H.I.M.'s better known songs! Hopefully some public media turns up, and stay tuned for more from Poison Girl when it rolls in!

Next up, I wanted to take some time to talk about a prolific columnist for SaultOnline that we've mentioned here before, but not to the extent he deserves. If you follow that local news site regularly, you'll be familiar with writer Ernest Skinner, who has penned a series of columns there since last year like the editorial series Monet, Manet, and Mayonnaise & the Soo Greyhounds-centric Dog Treats. While Ernest had occasionally addressed music in the former (like when he covered last year's Dokken concert), he launched a full column in June devoted to rock music essays & interviews entitled Rock Talk, and he has posted 22 entries under this new title over the past 5 months. Among other artists, Ernest has interviewed the likes of ex-Queensryche singer Geoff Tate, Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, ex-Motley Crue singer John Corabi, Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, metal queen Lee Aaron, and Helix frontman Brian Vollmer, so check these and more out above!

While primarily themed around interviews, Rock Talk has included general articles include his thoughts about Castle Farms in Charlevoix, bands Accept & The Dead Daisies, the movie This Is Spinal Tap, hard rock musicians' educational backgrounds, the Hear 'n Aid charity single, upcoming concerts in Ontario & Michigan, and lately, a lot of promotion and hype for the Steel Panther concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino this Saturday (our preview is coming later this week!) After reading a bunch of Ernest's articles & interviews, I can say that he writes in a very relatable fashion and does a good job of explaining the impact and appeal of various rock music topics, and his formatting and editing of his interviews has improved quickly! For a freelance columnist, he's definitely secured some familiar names, and in a few select cases, he got some audio and video soundbites from them, so don't scroll too fast, just in case you miss anything!

In fact, here's one of John Corabi from August, as uploaded to SaultOnline's YouTube channel back in August (and in conjunction with the interview linked above.) Running for just 19 seconds, it's just a brief plug for Ernest's interview and Sault Online/ONNtv, but it's nice to see a familiar face hyping up Sault Ste. Marie like this, and here's hoping he can bring The Dead Daisies or another project up north! Give it a look below, see much more from Ernest above, and I've linked his SaultOnline page in our "Other Local Metal Links" as Rock Talk with Ernest Skinner!



Finally, here's some videos from local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver's Facebook page that we haven't yet covered on the SMS! Apologies for the delay in the first two, but they are admittedly brief and sans music of theirs. Both shot while on their "Hitting the Fan" release tour in April, one video is just 10 seconds of road footage in British Columbia from their vehicle, while the other is a 5 second video of "Bigfoot" being sighted (though he looks suspiciously familiar when the camera zooms in!) Embedded below is their newest video from this past Saturday, when they were en route to Toronto for their last advertised concert of the year. Another short video (17 seconds), this is filmed by guitarist Josh Penno from the passenger seat, and it features drummer Matt Baic finishing a sandwich before the band encounters roadkill. Circle of life, I suppose, but it's nice to see a new official video posting of any kind on their page! Give these a look above & below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next! Thanks everyone!