Monday, January 25, 2021

YouTube Channel Profile Series: wayek

To keep our usual "one post every 3 days rule" alive, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we're kicking off 2021 in this series with another spotlight on a YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and/or concerts! As usual, bands in this series are randomly selected. This month's selection is a channel featuring lots of solid content from a once prominent frontman in the local hard rock/alternative scene, so here's what you should know!

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wayek's Channel (http://youtube.com/user/wayek)

Owner: Former No Arrow/SBD singer/guitarist Dann Pichette

Channel Timeline: Launched on September 22nd, 2007; Videos uploaded from November of that year until January 2018

Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Dann made solid use of it as a de facto official channel for both of his primary local bands, including live and jam footage from both during their heydays. Other uploads from his local band period include two 2009 performances by a short-lived side project duo named The Beards and 6 episodes of "The Chett -n- Eshk Show" that he co-hosted in 2007 & 2008. Dann's last four uploads here were of brief video game footage he recorded, and have no local music ties.
 
Why You Should Watch: This is the best and most substantive source to see videos of Dann's work in No Arrow and SBD, and fans will get a nice dose of his grunge and alternative rock stylings here! The Beards had some promise too, and you may get some laughs out of
The Chett -n- Eshk Show, though be advised of some adult language. The video game clips are short and not too substantial on their own. Note that some of Dann's No Arrow videos, along with some new-to-YouTube clips and footage originally from other channels, would be posted again on drummer Joe Falco's own YouTube channel in 2020.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
 
No Arrow - Honey Bucket (Melvins cover): This was Dann's first upload on the wayek channel in November 2007, and it is by far his most popular video, garnering over 5,400 views, possibly as covers of The Melvins weren't too common on YouTube at this early stage. A jam session cover by his 2005-2011 grunge/hard rock trio No Arrow's best known lineup (Dann, bassist Harley Syrette, and drummer Joe Falco), this 40 second clip has a mostly solid reception from commenters, but it's length and very rough audio quality mean it doesn't hold up as well as other No Arrow videos on the channel. Dann's video of No Arrow playing their original "One On The Line" is a longer and slightly better quality take of them reheasing.


No Arrow - Sikkha: The live concert footage of No Arrow on offer here has not aged particularly well in the audio department, with rough & staticy sound quality being par for the course (remember, these were filmed and uploaded in 2007.) Visually speaking, the best videos are of a set No Arrow played at a Sault Area Wrestling event at The Elks Lodge on June 16th, 2007, benefiting greatly from daytime indoor lighting. Dann posted two songs from this gig ("Souls For Sale" and the slightly longer "Sikkha"), which both capture energetic and aggressive performances from No Arrow's peak! For a better quality listen to "Sikkha", check out the alternate mix he posted in 2013.

SBD - Rock Paper Scissors 1: Dann posted 13 videos of his 2009-2011 experimental rock trio SBD onto his channel from January-March 2010, all as credited to an extended original suite called "Rock Paper Scissors", but nine of the videos run for less than a minute, and only one exceeds 77 seconds. Featuring Dann alongside ex-No Arrow bassist (and future Bizotic frontman) Brad Griffith & former Chintzy Slicks drummer Shane Triplett, these videos showcase their grunge-reminiscent but more varied sound well enough, and the sounds on display do shift noticeably from video to video despite the short lengths of many of them, but audio clarity was still an issue.


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, our random selection will take us to the Sault Michigan area for a look at YouTube user halfamanvideo's channel, featuring lots of content from 2009-2013 Brimley metal band Half A Man! Look for that on or around February 26th, and for more news on the site by Thursday! Thanks everyone!

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