Tuesday, August 27, 2024

YouTube Channel Profile Series: DogRun Stray

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we again shine a spotlight on a (as usual) randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk musicians/concerts! This monthly feature takes us to a prolific and familiar face in the local metal and punk community, albeit not his most recent YouTube presence, so here's what you should know for this month!

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DogRun Stray (http://youtube.com/@dogrunstray1905)




Owner: Local folk punk/extreme metal singer/guitarist Chase James Wigmore, also known from projects like The Strange Coyotes, This Is Your Band On Drugs, Them, Project Legion, The Autumn Roots, The Black Lodge Masters, The Coyote Speedfreaks, Manitou, and Squirrelboy & The Smiling Giraffes

Channel Timeline: Launched on June 26th, 2012; Videos uploaded from August 2013 through July 2022

Channel Summary: Chase's official YouTube channel for most of his musical projects for the better part of a decade, almost four dozen videos are uploaded here, including studio tracks, live (mostly at-home) performances, full albums, and lots of material linked to his Black Lodge Masters project in particular. A few videos lean more to comedy as well, including his first upload, where he added a smooth jazz soundtrack to old CBC footage of Pierre Trudeau.

Why You Should Watch: This is a must watch channel for fans of Chase's prolific and very skilled solo output, and there's loads to see and hear here from his folk punk, metal, and experimental sides from the mid-2010s onward! However, he largely moved over to a new eponymous channel launched in January 2021 for his more recent videos, though the two channels did co-exist with new uploads for a year and a half. Also, note that Chase does upload unique video content to his Facebook page that was never featured on either YouTube channel

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
 
The Sapphoerotic Asphyxiations of Shannon and Linda: The only video here of Chase at a formal local concert comes from Heavy North Entertainment's inaugural event, which took place on January 24th, 2014 at the former Oddfellows Hall. This all-local show featured nine acts, including Chase solo and the final gig by his old hard rock trio The Strange Coyotes of their original run. Joined here by bassist James Watterworth (ex-Blackwater) on saxophone and then-Din frontman Mike Haggith on drums, The Coyotes are seen here playing their long experimental original "The Sapphoerotic Asphyxiations Of Shannon & Linda" with Chase playing violin, and you have to take their word on it given how dark this video is. This is definitely more for fans of discordant noise rock, especially thanks to the largely spoken word vocals, but it shows how creative this band was in their heyday! A free upload of The Strange Coyotes' first album can also be heard here.


Running Out Of Beer - Chase James Wigmore: The most popular video on Chase's "DogRun Stay" channel is his non-album original song "Running Out Of Beer" from March 2018. A lo-fi folksy number with a bit of a country sound, the song is obviously about what the title suggests, but Chase elaborates as to what happens as the beer currently being drank is depleting, specifically what happens if you happen to have picked up a girl that same night, and desperately want to stay drunk as problems escalate. I do prefer Chase's heavier and more produced material, but fans of his more reserved folk side will take this this original, which does stand out among the pack on this channel!


She Crawls Towards It - CxJxWx (from Seven Curses 2018): Of the multiple solo performance videos of Chase on this YouTube channel, one of my favourites in a metal context is this December 2018 video of him playing "She Crawls Towards It" from his YouTube-exclusive album "Seven Curses", with the original studio track playing in the background. Despite grainy webcam visuals, fans of black metal will absolutely take to this intense and brutal at-home performance, with Chase vamping for the camera as needed while playing along with one of his heavier songs from one of his heavier albums, even if it stalled as a free YouTube upload! 


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will keep on a single channel trend when our next randomly selected channel is that of YouTube user LionelRocks, featuring 16 videos of late 2000s-early 2010s glam metal quartet Dirty Virgin! Watch for that on or around September 26th, and for more news on the site next! Thanks everyone!

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