Throw another major concert onto local promoter J.D. Pearce's summer concert schedule, but this one may be the most appealing to die-hard metalheads, as Ohio blackened thrash metal quintet Skeletonwitch will headline a huge concert at The Canadian Nightclub on Monday, June 3rd! This hard touring band (and Ozzfest veterans) are bound to be familiar to many fans of modern day thrash bands, and their Arch Enemy-esque sound should be a welcomed injection of brutality onto the summer concert schedule locally! Opening for them on their upcoming Canadian/Northern U.S. tour is Vancouver psychedelic metal quartet Ancients (not to be confused with the Nashville metal band of the same name), and their blend of detailed progressive instrumentation & thrashy mayhem (and even Mikael Akerfeldt-esque clean vocals) should find a solid audience in their local debut! The other out of town band is Toronto groove/thrash quartet Caym, who have a steady intensity and plenty of aggressive & fast songs in store, so don't miss them either come June 3rd! At least one local opening band remains to be announced, and we'll keep you guys posted when they are revealed!This concert is ALL AGES, and will be held at The Canadian on June 3rd at 9:00 PM, with tickets costing $12 and door charges costing $15. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an awesome night of metal, and if you've missed a full-on metal show with out of town bands like this, don't take it for granted, and go mosh with Skeletonwitch in just over a month! Stay tuned for ticket availability & local opening band details as they come in!
Next up, here's the latest fallout from Woods of Ypres' posthumous Juno Award win from this past weekend! On Sunday, an article entitled "Audience salutes Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold at Juno Awards" from The Sault Star's Michael Purvis was posted onto their website (and presumably featured in Monday's newspaper), and it outlines the defunct local doom metal band's win in the Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year category for "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" on Saturday evening. Featuring brief remarks from late frontman David Gold's mother Esther (in a phone interview from Regina) on her acceptance speech & it's reception from attendees, the article also features quotes from guitarist Joel Violette's on-stage remarks, information on the album and David's sudden passing in 2011, and an acknowledgement of fellow local musician Crystal Shawanda's Juno win this weekend as well. It's a nice & respectful article, so give it a look above & in Monday's paper! Now, the article quotes Joel & Esther's acceptance speeches, but the ceremony wasn't televised, so where can you see it?
Also, Woods of Ypres were referenced on air during Sunday's televised Juno Awards on CTV along with the other untelevised award winners, and they were actually the last of Saturday's winners acknowledged. Basically, the voice over announcer read the names of the award, album, and band, and the cover of "Woods V" was shown. It's not much, but it's a lot more than I think many people were expecting when it came out last spring! This is still an incredible honour, and it's quite the cap for Woods of Ypres' run in the Canadian music scene! If there's anything that could approach a Juno win, maybe David or Woods of Ypres will come up as a candidate for the Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame? You never know!
Finally for today, here's the latest news from Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands finalists Late & Loud, who are apparently very close to releasing a "new" EP! According to new postings on their Facebook page (including photos), a CD release named "Heavy Rockin' Hard Metal: Still Hard" is being pressed for a release TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar during the finals, and it appears to at least be a partial re-recording/expansion of their original EP release from their November 2012 return gig, a'la Destroilet's newest disc. A likely track listing confirms 9 songs (including "Live For Excess" & "Trouble", which weren't on the November release), while a posting by singer/guitarist Jonathan Tiberi confirms that they're mastering 4 songs (which I assume include re-recordings of last year's bonus tracks "Love Letter Lockdown" & "Never Again".) This appears to be the album cover (as replicated from a Facebook photo of the hard copy), and while the picture of the liner notes is grainy, I believe it indicates that songs recorded at The Smoke & Oak Room last year with producer Dave Pihlaja will be included as is.
