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!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Banned), YouTube Notes, And Lots More!!

Here's a quick news post for you guys to check out this morning, which I honestly wasn't planning to have until perhaps tomorrow, but when a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT calls, you've gotta get it posted with some advance word! That's this post's top story, but read on below as well for new audio recordings from a local guitarist, lots of assorted news stories, and a note on recent YouTube changes. First off, here's details on this new show!

Kinross hard rock quartet Banned are returning to the concert stage TONIGHT, just in time for a night of St. Patrick's Day live music! They'll be back at The Bird (a.k.a. Golanka's Bar) in Sault Michigan tonight for their first advertised concert in almost two months, as revealed on the band's Facebook page late Thursday night, and I apologize for the short notice, I only just heard about it yesterday. It's good to see Banned back, I was wondering where they've been over the last while! If you're looking for some St. Patrick's Day revelry with a heavier soundtrack in Sault Michigan, Banned at The Bird is about as good as it gets, so don't miss the show tonight! Details are admittedly scant, but the show should be at around 10:00 PM tonight with no cover charge and a 21+ age limit, but make room for green beer, and check the above links for more details! This sounds like a good time full of solid music and with the holiday setting, what better way to welcome Banned back to the stage? Go see them at The Bird TONIGHT, and for a preview, here's Banned covering Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" at their last show in January!



Next up, Sneaky Pete guitarist Mario Carlucci has posted some new solo performance clips onto his YouTube channel over the past three days! The newest is a slower instrumental with a nice groove named "Sequence 01 5" that'd fit a softer bluesy rock song pretty well, but I dig his upload from Wednesday named "Shut The Funk Up" more though! The title implies funk, and that's what we get in this funk rock number with more creativity and solo standout parts that add up to a very catchy and listenable tune! Neither of these uploads are videos, with only audio and an accompanying picture, but they're still worth listening to, so check them out at the above links, and here's "Shut The Funk Up"!



Thirdly today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, band, or concert name:

• Ex-Bring The Fallen drummer Travis St. Amour is looking for a singer for a new metal band he's part of (possibly a relaunched Unleash The Blackened Sky?) The start date would be late April, likely after Travis comes back from North Bay, and out of town shows are a goal for the band. If you're interested or want more details, reply on Travis' post at the Musicians Wanted Facebook group from this past Wednesday!
• A post on their Facebook page on Thursday implied that local extreme metal quintet Winkstinger have began recording sessions! Whether these are towards an album release of some kind or not is unknown at present, but a post on guitarist Jesse Cook's personal Facebook page mentioned that drum recording was done on Thursday with bass next. This is all news to me, but I'll keep you guys posted as more comes out!
• Tickets for April 7th's Ypres Metal Fest are NOW ON SALE! I'm 100% certain now, and you can pick them up at Northland Music, The Canadian Motor Hotel's front desk, or through promoter Rich Moreland or David Gold's sister Marie (contact links for both here.) Despite earlier mentions, I've heard nothing recent about tickets being at The Rad Zone, but I'll keep you guys posted if I confirm their availability there. GET YOUR TICKETS A.S.A.P.!!

And finally, I wanted to note a recent change to many local music-related pages that you guys may visit. Earlier this month, YouTube converted all channels on the popular video website to a new format that some users had already voluntarily began using. This is mandatory, similar to the MySpace layout changeover from November 2010, and if you had a lovingly created custom layout (or maintained one in lieu of the new format), it's mostly gone now. The background image (if you had one) will still be there, as will biography & channel details, but the pages now have a cleaner & simpler look that has less room for manipulation, though various layouts and page views still exist. No videos were directly removed from pages either with the changeover, so if any of yours were pulled, the new layout isn't why. As an example, see what the SMS' YouTube channel now looks like at this location. I picked a layout that let you guys see all recent uploads & various playlists up front like before, but info on what I've posted, liked, and subscribed to (along with channel comments) now have separate tabs. Other channels will look similar to this, and if you haven't logged into yours this month, it'll look pretty bare, so go make your channels look how you want again, and hopefully this new look will grow on us all!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and this month's new poll TOMORROW, along with more news soon! Thanks everyone!