Annex Theory Lineup Change, New Videos, And More!!

On this extremely snowy Tuesday, why not stay in with a new news post? Today, we have new videos from recent Kewadin Casino events (one you'd expect, and one you wouldn't), along with a few assorted shorter stories from recent days, but first, here's a big update relating to an upcoming metal show!

There's been a big change to the lineup of this Thursday's metal concert at The Roosevelt Hotel, as headlining Winnipeg progressive death metal band Annex Theory have been forced out of the show due to weather-related road closures, which have shut down the highways where they currently are (my source is their Facebook page.) This is extremely disappointing, especially for local metalheads who enjoyed Annex Theory's show here in 2011, but hopefully we'll see them back in the area at some point soon! Never fear though, as a replacement band has already been found, that being the original crash band, Sykotyk Rampage! As confirmed in comment replies on the Facebook event page, this will be Sykotyk Rampage's first live concert appearance of 2013 & their first show at The Rosie in over 6 months, and with their addition, they'll now take the middle slot on Thursday, likely making The Bear Hunters the new headliners at the concert.

It's great to see Sykotyk Rampage back in the new year, and while they are a stylistic change from The Bear Hunters & Shit Liver, they should entertain with their varied improvised hard/alternative rock originals! Plus, if guitarist Dirk Becker's doing sound already, that'd make the choice even more fitting! Stay tuned to the SMS tomorrow or Thursday for more on this show when we preview the weekend's metal & hard rock shows!

Next up, we finally have a video from a recent Dreammaker's Theater hard rock concert, as this video of the Steve Priest version of Sweet at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino is now online! Uploaded by YouTube user yoopergraywolf43 on Friday, this is of the April Wine openers playing their song "Love Is Like Oxygen", and it's a decent video! The filmer had a good angle of the band, though the quality is very mixed, with cell phone camera dimensions and staticy audio, but at least the filmed song isn't overly heavy (if yoopergraywolf43 had filmed "Ballroom Blitz", I imagine it wouldn't have came out as well.) This version of Sweet sounds good though, and it's great to finally see any videos from the April Wine concert, so check out this new video below, and hopefully someone has more waiting to be posted!



Also in the realm of new Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino videos is something a little different. On Saturday, this video was uploaded to YouTube by Grand Rapids live entertainment act Piano Party, who specialize in solo and dueling piano concerts at corporate and private events. Such appearances make the audience the stars of the show, with almost entirely audience-requested setlists and crowd participation combined with humour and widely varying songs, and it all definitely sounds like a fun time, but where's the direct metal connection? Piano Party performers Charlie Bauman and Nick Ayoub were recently booked for an event of some kind at the Soo Kewadin, and they were filmed during their performance of the Queen classic "Bohemian Rhapsody", which is very well done for an impromptu duo version! Great singing, and piano work, though some parts of the song definitely work a lot better than others (i.e. the opera part suffers, despite solid audience call & response.) Different, but fun in it's own way, so check out Piano Party's local Queen rendition below!



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

• I've deleted Sault Ontario metal project Meatplow from our inactive Sault Ontario band links. One of the more recent local projects from ex-Amethyst drummer Phil Temporao, they were active from 2009-2011, but with the deletions of their videos and almost all online pages, there's very little surviving online at present to document them. Hopefully Phil revisits the project down the road, or at least re-posts their videos, as their industrial tinged sound was a neat addition to the scene!
• A new instrumental demo song has been posted onto Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night's Reverbnation page! Entitled "Dreams of Winter Symphony", it's a slower and more emotional sounding track compared to some of their more recent output, but it's very well performed and still has an epic feel, so check the link above to hear it!
• An interview from last fall with ex-Woods of Ypres guitarist Joel Violette for Thunder Bay college radio station LU Radio's Iron Maple radio show was just posted online this month, so click here to give it a listen! It's largely about his New Brunswick black metal band Thrawsunblat & their upcoming 2nd album, but Joel does briefly address the reception to "Woods V" and the David Gold tribute shows last spring, and it's a solid interview overall, if patchy for audio quality!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more as the week rolls along, plus this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Caveman Morrison & Annex Theory), A Band Looking To Play Here, And Much More!!

It seems like forever since we've had a real news post on here! Monthly features and video-centric posts aside, we haven't really touched on news on the site since Thursday the 24th, so it's good to end this drier spell with some news and notes on this Wednesday morning! Today, we have updates to one of our monthly feature posts, assorted recent news, and a band looking to play here, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for a West End venue next month that should intrigue many of you guys, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Ontario classic metal trio Caveman Morrison will finally make their first live concert appearances of 2013 (and their first in over 2 months) next weekend at The Roosevelt Hotel! The band had originally been scheduled to play at The Rosie three weeks ago in the first weekend of the new year, but the shows were suddenly cancelled the night of the Friday gig, so it's great to see Tym, Dutch, and Johnny back at the Korah Road venue next weekend! Announced this past Saturday, Caveman Morrison's shows on February 8th & 9th should be 19+ affairs with no cover charge and 10:00 PM start times. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Caveman Morrison back at it next weekend, and hopefully Tym and company deliver a great night of metal and hard rock covers to their fans at The Rosie to kick off the year next weekend! Stay tuned for any updates if they come in, but note that this is just the start of a busy month at The Rosie for Caveman Morrison drummer Johnny Belanger, which we'll know more about below!

The other new show is a very promising extreme metal show on February 21st at The Rosie featuring two returning local metal bands along with headlining Winnipeg progressive death metal sextet Annex Theory! Last seen in the Soo opening for Laika at the 30th Roosevelt Hotel metal night in August 2011, this fast rising band featuring ex-Quo Vadis frontman Trevor Birnie should be raring to go with their technical and original take on the genre, so don't miss their return after a year and a half! The opening bands will sure be welcomed back by many local metalheads, as melodic death metal quintet The Bear Hunters & grimecore trio Shit Liver will finally return to the live local stage! Though they both played live in Sudbury in December, neither has been seen at a public concert in the Sault area since the summer, with The Bear Hunters last seen at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird in August, and Shit Liver (who opened for Annex Theory at the 2011 show) having last played a public local set at the 46th Rosie metal night in June, so it's certainly been a long time coming for both! Plus, it's no major secret that both bands have been working on studio material in the past year, so that has to bode well for their setlists!

This concert is being promoted by Frightlight/T-Rex Manning singer J.D. Pearce, and with this lineup, isn't it fitting that it's taking place on a Thursday? Though not a revival of the dormant Rosie metal night series, it marks J.D.'s fourth Thursday night show at the Rosie in the past 9 months, so it's definitely familiar ground! There will be a 19+ age limit and $3 cover charge for this 9:00 PM show, and click here for more details! This should be an awesome concert, and likely very overdue for many a metalhead, so don't miss this metal onslaught on February 21st, and stay tuned for any potential updates!

Speaking of upcoming live dates, here's a show that could use a promoter, and this could be a big opportunity! Earlier this month, I got an e-mail from Apocalyspe Productions out of Montreal concerning possibly bringing Russian folk metal band Arkona to Sault Ontario this year, as unlike most of the other bands he promotes, this will be a cross-Canada tour. A preferred date wasn't given, but he's looking for metal promoters in the Soo who can help secure a date for Arkona here. Though not really common, Sault Ontario has hosted European metal bands in the past (i.e. Heaven & Hell, Behemoth, Napalm Death), so this isn't completely out of the realm of possibility, but can you help? Arkona are a well regarded metal band in Russia, and their female fronted blend of folk and doom metal with Pagan influences is very interesting, so if you can help promote or book Arkona in Sault Ontario this year, message here for any extra information, and check the above links for more information!

Next up, here's three assorted shorter stories relating to some of the above bands and personalities, so as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or promoter name:

• If you were curious as to the identity of the Misfits tribute band The Fiend Brigade that are playing the all tribute-band concert at The Canadian Nightclub on March 1st, then I can confirm that they are essentially local metal/punk band T-Rex Manning with Francis McCormick on drums in place of Daniel MacDonald, who moved out west last year, though no word yet on if Frank's fully in T-Rex Manning too. Thanks to frontman J.D. Pearce for the confirmation!
• The aforementioned J.D. Pearce has started a Facebook group named "Johnny Pints Presents..." to promote and get the word out on concerts that he books, which is a great idea to keep everything in one place for reliable announcements! Join the group above, and it's now in our Other Sault Ontario Metal Links section on your left!
• In a Facebook page posting on Saturday, Shit Liver alluded to their show at The Rosie on the 21st, while also hinting that their debut album could be done by then (but there's no guarantees), and they already have ideas in mind for a second album. Believe it or not, I think this is their first ever acknowledgement on band pages that they're working on studio material, but it's great to hear something finally, and hopefully 2013 is Shit Liver's biggest year yet!

Finally for this post, here's the rest of our recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind profiles from last year! In our profile of the Kiss Battle of the Bands, I restored a photo, updated the band aftermath section to reflect finalists Wishbone's breakup & Stiffler's Mom's reunion, and added a link for Crank Sound Distribution, who provided sound each night. In terms of that profile's section on later bands with battle alumni, I replaced Big Wheel & The Spokes, High Road, March Into Regression, and That's Chester with 415E, Bone Yard, Giwakwa, and Pocketful of Scoundrel to better reflect newer & more recently active bands. On the Sault College Battle of the Bands profile, I added newer folk band The Soft Shoe Shufflers (featuring 2/3rds of battle winners' Blackwater) to that same section on newer band with battle alumni. Finally, I edited the Downtown Showdown profile to reflect competitors' SBD's now inactive status, while adding Giwakwa & Sykotyk Rampage to the same newer bands section. That's it for that batch of updates, and stay tuned shortly for more updates to another of our monthly feature post series!

That might be all for today, but stay tuned for more news as it trickles in (maybe not until we preview this weekend's metal concerts), and of course, our review of Destroilet's new CD! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Full Circle) And This Weekend's Concert Previews, Including Whitesnake!!

It's time to preview this weekend's concerts on the heavier side of the local spectrum! This weekend is short in volume of shows (at least right now), but there's some big name bands playing this weekend, including a major Kewadin Casino concert (possibly a Tym Morrison solo show too, but he hasn't confirmed a possible Service Grill concert for Saturday yet.) To start though, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this weekend!

Local classic hard rock quartet Full Circle are on the scene this weekend for a Saturday night concert at Foggy Notions! Previously unlisted on the now deleted Turner Up Facebook group's concert listings, the band are only playing on Saturday, as the previously announced show for tomorrow night has been cancelled for unannounced reasons (for what it's worth, I haven't heard of a concert or event of any type for Foggy's tomorrow, in case that was why.) So if you want to end August with Full Circle, you'll have to go Saturday! Admission should be free for this show (there could be a nominal cover charge though), you must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at 10:30 PM on Saturday night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Even if their usual weekend is halved, Full Circle will have a great set of rocking hits for their fans on Saturday, so head down to Foggy Notions for all the excitement! For a preview, click here and move to 13:20 of the video to see Full Circle cover of Heart's "Alone" from their set at this year's Rotaryfest!

Now to the previously announced shows, and first, it's the 30th Roosevelt Hotel metal night!! Intentionally for this milestone or not, Dismembertainment have booked a stellar lineup of metal bands for TONIGHT, so here's who to look out for! Winnipeg death metal sextet Laika will headline tonight's show with a melodic and folk influenced brand of death metal that's guaranteed to melt faces and impress musically at the same time! Don't miss them, you'll absolutely enjoy them! Backing them up on this stop on their "Tour of Redundancy Tour" will be Winnipeg extreme progressive band Annex Theory, who you may recognize as being the current band from former Quo Vadis singer Trevor Birnie! Very technical and creative sound amidst the wall of brutality they'll bring tonight, so definitely check them out as well! Also playing tomorrow in the midst of their own summer tour are local favourites Thekillingfield! The North Bay tech metal trio are sure to be eagerly welcomed back to the Soo tonight for another high impact set of extreme sounds and hopefully some huge pits, so let's welcome them back in style! Finally, local grimecore trio Shit Liver will add some local flavour as the concert's openers tonight, so get ready for some crust and death metal to kick things off in a heavy fashion!

A $6 cover will be in effect for this show, but for these 18 talented musicians, 3 awesome out of town bands, and one rising local band, that cash will be well spent at The Rosie tonight! Shit Liver will open the concert at 9:30 PM, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an awesome and brutal concert, and here's hoping I can make it out! If not, you guys have a devastating night, and kill August with some death metal! For a preview, here's the video for Laika's original song "Dead March"!



Speaking of big shows, we have a huge one taking place TOMORROW NIGHT at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino across the river, and if you're into some classic 1980s metal, get ready, as Whitesnake are coming to town! The British hard rock legends (as led by the one and only David Coverdale) will hit Kewadin Casino tomorrow on their Forevermore tour in support of their new album of the same name, in what I think is their first ever show here in the Sault area! Of course, Whitesnake have sold millions of records worldwide, and will be sure to play hits like "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love", "Fool For Your Loving", "Still Of The Night", and "The Deeper The Love" for their fans at this concert! This should be a great show, and their newer stuff is really good, so if you love Whitesnake, you'll wanna see them tomorrow night! I don't know if there will be an opening band, and even though I've seen nothing to suggest one, I have been wrong before (as in the Ace Frehley concert), so if I hear about an opening band, I'll let you guys know! Luckily though, if you don't have your ticket yet, I have good news, as they are still on sale!

Tickets are still available for $54 American at this location, at the Kewadin box office, or by calling 1-800-KEWADIN. When I checked, there was still reserved seating, but all general admission tickets are taken save for standing room only, so make note of that if you try and get a ticket. The show starts at 7:00 PM tomorrow night, and as this is a Dreammaker's Theater show, it should be all ages. Check the above links for more details! Whitesnake should deliver a great set tomorrow, and hopefully lots of fans are there to see this legendary band in action! Stay tuned for more on this show and it's aftermath, and for a preview, here's Whitesnake's video for their classic single "Still Of The Night"!



And finally for this weekend, we have a couple more shows at Kewadin Casino this weekend, as local hard rockers Monkey's Uncle will hit the stage at The Rapids Lounge tomorrow night & Saturday night for some solid sets of covers and possibly originals! If you're in for some more music after Whitesnake, or just want some free entertainment at the lounge, Monkey's Uncle will surely have you covered this weekend! The talented quartet should be on at roughly 9:00 PM both nights, there's no cover charge, and you must be 21 to enter The Rapids Lounge for either night. Check the above links for more details! Monkey's Uncle will surely deliver a solid weekend of hard rock to their fans over the next couple of nights, so if you're across the river, don't miss them! I just wish they updated their pages more, I'm sure there's new developments and media we could check out! Oh well, hopefully one day! For a preview, here's Monkey's Uncle covering Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" in 2008 in St. Ignace!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more soon, including maybe a review of tonight's Rosie metal night (I hope), our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Infathom, our review of Sykotyk Rampage's "Zombies", and more! Thanks everyone!

New Bands On Three Shows & The Latest SMS March Mayhem Updates!!

Hey everyone, its time for another news post at the SMS! We're mostly gonna detail the March Mayhem bracket, but we will start with some new bands on three upcoming concerts, and later tonight, I believe we'll have a new news post with some more stories from the last while! So let's begin this post!

I have new bands added to three upcoming Dismembertainment concerts! Firstly, local death metal quintet State of Misery have been added to the lineup of the next metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel on April 14th! This is sort of unexpected given that they're playing on April 28th as well, and there usually isn't the same band at consecutive metal nights, but they should do well! State of Misery join Desbarats' For All That Is Lost on the bill, and my source is drummer Nick Kainula's Facebook page, where he was asked by organizers if they wanted to play beforehand. Also, WinkStinger have been added as the local openers for May 23rd's Isosceles Project concert at Foggy Notions! My source is the official show poster which you can see at this show's Facebook event page, and if that's not a good source, I don't know what is! WinkStinger will fit right in as openers, joining fellow extreme Ontario acts Thekillingfield and Like Animals! Finally, Winnipeg metal band Annex Theory (featuring former Quo Vadis singer Trevor Birnie) will join Laika at the August 25th metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel, as confirmed on their summer tour's event page! I'm impressed with them, good extreme sound and awesome vocals, remember this show come August! Check the above links for more!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets, and begin the last polls of the first round! Yeah, I know it's April now, but why change the name when "March Mayhem" flows so well? With two weeks of voting in the can, we're now down to 20 bands, and I again want to thank you all for voting so well in most of these matchups! Though only one of the polls crossed 20 votes, we got good results for all, so, here are the final totals for the 5th-8th first round matchups!

Half Past def. Late & Loud 12-4
Mike Cliffe def. Riverin 5-2
Sativa Rose def. SBD 13-5
Shit Liver def. Sense of Truth 20-18

What do you guys think? Half Past's win isn't surprising given their higher local profile compared to Late & Loud, who are relatively new, but with Half Past's scattered activity of recent months, I figured the results would be closer. I expected the Mike Cliffe vs. Riverin match to have low votes because they aren't the most well known bands (no recent concert history doesn't help), but thanks to those of you who did vote! I had no idea who'd win, but congratulations to Mike on pulling it out! Sativa Rose's win over SBD wasn't too surprising either, they've made more waves in recent months than SBD, whose concerts are less frequent, and I'm sure their genres helped influence the votes. Shit Liver's win of Sense of Truth was really interesting, in what was the only real "close" fight of the week. Though they never led, Sense of Truth were neck and neck with Shit Liver all week, and with that kind of a high result, imagine how it might have looked had they not been on such a long hiatus! But Shit Liver's loyal fans helped them win it all, and they're moving on to the next round! Now, here's the updated March Mayhem bracket!

As you can see, Half Past will now face Lion Ride in the second round of the tournament, thanks to Lion Ride's first round bye. Mike Cliffe will face off with Sativa Rose in the next round, and Shit Liver will clash with the winner of this week's Sneaky Pete/State of Misery match. The Half Past/Lion Ride match starts NEXT WEEK, with the remaining second round matches taking place in two weeks, so remember that! Other than adding the winners for the next round, nothing's changed to the bracket itself. With all of that said, the final 1st round polls for March Mayhem are now online, and the same rules apply as before. You have one week to vote, it's one vote per person, and pick your favourite band in each of the four matchups below with the polls on your left!


Can veteran local hard rockers Sneaky Pete take out fast rising hardcore quintet State of Misery despite not debuting on stage until Friday night? Despite their long hiatus from the stage, can Stillbroke overcome the crash sounds of Sykotyk Rampage? Who will win the battle of classic hard rock cover bands when That's Chester collide with Turner Up? And can Tym Morrison's acoustic solo project overcome the extreme stylings of WinkStinger? The winners of all of this week's matchups will collide in two weeks, where the Sneaky Pete/State of Misery winner faces Shit Liver, the Stillbroke/Sykotyk Rampage & That's Chester/Turner Up winners face each other, and the Tym Morrison/WinkStinger winner faces Woods of Ypres! So there are our last March Mayhem first round battles, and to vote, the polls are on your left! VOTE TODAY, YOU HAVE ONE WEEK! And remember, next week, the second round begins with bands whose names are between the letters A and L!

That's all for now, but VOTE IN THE NEW TOURNAMENT POLLS TODAY, and stay tuned for another news post later tonight! Thanks everyone!