LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (HeadFirst & Oz), A New Interview, And More!!

Here's a new news post on this Wednesday morning, which features some new-ish videos, details on a new interview tat a local band conducted with a brand new outlet, and leading off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS on both sides of the border, so here's what you should know!

Iron Mountain, Michigan classic/hard rock cover quintet Oz will make their local concert debuts on Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd when they hit The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! While new to our coverage, Oz have been rocking venues in the western and central Upper Peninsula (and northern Wisconsin) since 2012, and deliver a wide ranging, crowd pleasing array of classic rock covers that include a healthy dose of heavier songs that should keep hard rock fans engaged. Be sure to check Oz out, they have no shortage of videos online from their gigs! As usual for Rapids Lounge gigs, these are 21+ affairs with 9:00 PM start times and no cover charge. Time will tell if Oz become favourite recurring bands at the Soo Kewadin like Peril, Scarkazm, and Fyrbird, but be sure to check the official Facebook event page for more on their local debuts next month!

Next up, let's head north to Sault Ontario for the latest from newer local hard rock quintet HeadFirst, who have confirmed new dates at Jay's Piston Broke Pub on Friday, March 29th & Saturday, March 30th, as well as Saturday nighters at Shooters Downstairs Lounge on June 1st & August 17th! These concerts are 9:30 PM, 19+ gigs with no cover, as usual, but they actually weren't announced by the band or either venue at press time, rather in an interview that HeadFirst took part in with a new local blog last month! This was for Who's Who In The Soo, a new local interview site launched by Sarah Vikken, who you may recognize as the former marketing & communications director of the Sault Area Arts Council, as a jewelry and craft maker with Vixxen Studios, and from her semifinal run as a singer in The Soo's Got Talent in 2022, among other artistic pursuits.

This blog is intended to cover "the stories of the people of Sault Ste. Marie" and will likely not focus solely on musicians, but HeadFirst are indeed first for Sarah's first long-form article, which went up on February 1st!Formatted like a news or magazine article, this interview was conducted with the full band, and Sarah goes into some surprising detail that other local band interviews don't! The article goes into how HeadFirst met (it helps that singer Red Jettison and bassist Claire Jeffrey are actually stepsiblings), their musical backgrounds (drummer Anthony Boudreau's old metal band Exploring Detritus is briefly mentioned here), their individual and band-wide musical influences, what the members would change about Sault Ste. Marie, and what their future plans are. Notably, HeadFirst revealed that AC/DC, The Tragically Hip, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive influence their sound, with a Rolling Stones-influenced attitude, which all pairs well with their set.

The band plans to put out original music "once we get a following", and they hope to release a music video "in the next few months". Sarah also filmed HeadFirst playing their original song "The Walk" as the first video for the Who's Who In The Soo YouTube channel, and surprisingly, this marks the first public video of the band that is shot horizontally and features them playing a full song. This bluesy hard rocker is played proficiently and with ease by this fast-rising quintet, with Red introducing everyone midway through, so give it a look below, and kudos to Sarah for a solid and revealing first interview that you can read at this link, and see above for more on HeadFirst's upcoming Shooters & Jay's gigs!

Finally for today, let's take a trip 23 years back in time for a newly uploaded video of local/Toronto indie/punk band Treble Charger live, in arguably their most seen television performance ever! On March 4th, 2001, the band was in Hamilton at Copps Coliseum (now the FirstOntario Centre) for that year's Juno Awards (hosted by Rick Mercer), where they were nominated for Best Single and Best Rock Album. Treble Charger lost both awards to Nelly Furtado and The Tragically Hip respectively, but they got their moment in the sun, as they played their Juno-nominated single "American Psycho" on stage! In the Junos' last year on CBC before a 16 year run on CTV, a national audience got to see Treble Charger at the "Wide Awake Bored"-era peak of their popularity, and it's neat to finally see this pop up on YouTube! The visuals are fuzzy given the VCR quality, but the song is faithfully performed with good energy as you'd hope!

Despite getting at least one Juno nomination out of all of their albums except "nc-17", Greig, Bill, Rosie, and Morris/Trevor were never able to to snag a Juno of their own. Perhaps if the album that Treble Charger had started working on in the late 2010s ever gets finished, we could see how it does commercially and with critics, let alone at the Junos. Thanks to YouTube user Scorpionsblackout 82 for posting this last month, and give it a watch for yourself below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sleep When You're Dead), New Woods Of Ypres/Juno Award Videos, And More!!

On day 62 of our posting streak, we have a lot of big stuff to get to, so what's in this post? It's half dedicated to new videos relating to Woods of Ypres, including embeddable clips from the Juno Awards and some awesome new rehearsal/practice footage from a few years back, but first, we have news from a newer promoter's upcoming concerts, including a lineup change and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know! (Updated on Monday at 1:22 PM)

A new ALL AGES metal/punk concert has been confirmed for The Oddfellows Hall on Wednesday, May 29th, and it will be headlined by Oshawa hardcore quintet Sleep When You're Dead! Though previously unfamiliar to me, this aggressive metalcore act have some really solid originals and stage experience under their belts, so don't miss this upcoming stop on their Tear It Up & Start Again Canadian tour! There will be at least two local opening slots, one of which will feature the first 2013 appearance of local extreme metal standouts Winkstinger! Dormant since July's Sewer Swampstravaganza, this will mark the live debut of the Battle For The Blood winners' new lineup, though public information on their new bassist (and new rhythm guitarist?) has yet to be revealed. I'll keep you guys posted if something comes out before the show, but it's great to see the guys back to incite more mosh pits after a 10 month stage hiatus! The other opening band was advertised to be local/Toronto classical/punk trio RedD Monkey in their own 2013 debut, but cellist Pete Mozarowski confirmed on the Facebook event page that they wouldn't be playing.

I don't know if the announcement was premature, or if RedD Monkey had to drop out, but it's disappointing, as their fast and unique punk sound has been missed since December! This concert (which is being promoted by AlgomA drummer Jamie Vincent) has an $8 cover charge, a 7:00 PM start time, and is ALL AGES like Jamie's other concerts. For more details, check the above links! This sounds like a quality concert for hardcore/metal fans, and with no age limits and a familiar location, it's all the better, so keep it in mind for May 29th, and I'll let you guys know when/if a second opening band is confirmed! Also in news relating to Jamie's recent concerts, there's been a lineup change for his upcoming Royal Red Brigade-headlined punk concert at The Oddfellows Hall on May 10th, as new local punk band Crawfather have dropped off the bill, as per that show's Facebook event page yesterday. A reason wasn't announced beyond that they "had to cancel", but hopefully we'll get a chance to see/hear them soon! Replacing them (and giving an extra metal kick to this show) is local grindcore rockers Shit Liver, in their first local concert in almost three months!

Also playing The Oddfellows Hall for the first time since July, this should be a solid showcase for Josh, Mike, and Matt in a couple of weeks, so don't miss their crusty & grimy sounds amidst the punk and grunge acts on May 10th! It's great to see Jamie introducing some more local acts with established live track records into his shows, and hopefully his all ages promotion snowballs further into the summer! Stay tuned for updates and news on these and more of Jamie's upcoming hard rock-featured concerts!

We'll close today's post with some new Woods of Ypres-related videos, starting with embeddable footage of their acceptance speech for their Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year Juno Award from last weekend! On Wednesday, YouTube user Darcy Inness posted two takes of their speech onto his YouTube channel, including the video from Dropbox that we initially mentioned, and in a bit of a surprise, some pro-shot footage of their speech! Also featuring the actual announcement of the win and some pre-speech slideshow clips, it shows both guitarist Joel Violette and late frontman David Gold's mom Esther's speeches, and it's much nicer in video quality and angle, allowing us to see the genuine emotions and feelings expressed by them, along with a bit of the crowd partaking in Esther's horn-raised chant of David's name! I have no idea where Darcy found this video, but kudos to him, as it's great to see this in higher quality! Give it a look below, and see the original lower quality Dropbox video at the above links!

Finally for today, Gates of Winter/ex-Woods of Ypres guitarist Bryan Belleau uploaded 47 minutes of footage of David Gold and him practicing Woods of Ypres songs onto his YouTube channel on Wednesday! Likely filmed in 2009 (possibly 2008), I believe these were shot in Sault Ste. Marie, and they feature David leading Bryan through some vocal & guitar renditions of songs from their second album "Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth", including tracks like "Shedding The Deadwood", "Summer's Envy", and "The Sun Was In My Eyes". Uploaded in two parts (the last few minutes are viewable here), this is really cool to see, as it shows David teaching how to play some quality Woods of Ypres songs, especially as "Woods II" songs weren't the most prominent in post-2007 concerts. It works on that level, and now we know how "Shedding The Deadwood" might have sounded if played live in the late 2000s! Kudos to Bryan for posting these finally, and give David & Bryan jamming some "Woods II" tracks a look below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news as the week rolls on and April wraps up! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Skeletonwitch), Woods of Ypres/Juno Awards Fallout, And Late & Loud's "New" EP!!

58 days into our posting streak, we have one more update before TONIGHT'S Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands Finals, so what's on tap? Along with news on a surprisingly sudden CD release and plenty of fallout from Woods of Ypres' Juno win this past weekend, we're leading off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for June that should be really exciting for many readers, so here's what you need to know!

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?

An attendee of the Juno Awards filmed the speech and posted it onto Dropbox on Sunday, but it's since been deleted for unknown reasons... but not before I could see it and download a reference copy! In the speeches (which run over 2 minutes long), Joel thanked Earache Records & producer Siegfried Meier, and complimented this honour as a "fantastic note for Woods of Ypres to end on", while Esther Gold's remarks (some of which were transcribed in our post on Sunday) include invocations of lyrics from "Adora Vivos", her belief in orbs in photographs being David's energy, and her belief from teaching that if you say something three times, it is yours (which led to the devil horn-raised chant of David's name three times to close their speech.) As the original video's been deleted, I can't share it with you right now, but I may post the acceptance speech video online at some point in the future. I will say that the video is from a sharp angle near the front rows of tables, and it's hard to make Joel & the Gold family out during the speeches, but I imagine it'd be more powerful & emotional on a better angle.

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.

This reissued EP will be available for $5 TONIGHT during Late & Loud's finals appearance at The Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands, so keep that in mind if you're attending! This is somewhat surprising news given that Late & Loud have already indicated that Jon Tiberi is moving out of town after the battle, and who knows what that means for their status going forward (be it a hiatus, breakup, or member replacement), but if there is a level of finality to their set tonight, at least they're going out with a bang! I hope to buy the EP tomorrow and review it in early May on the site, but above all else, I'm judging them fairly and honestly on their battle set tomorrow, not the bonus of a CD release, so I won't comment on anything else related to the disc until after the battle. That said, will Late & Loud defend last year's Sault Humane Society Battle title TONIGHT, or will The Bear Hunters, Haggith, The Pesto Shirts, or The Suicide Kings claim the top prize instead? Come on down to The Rockstar Bar at 10:00 PM to find out! $10 admission, 19+, and I hope to see you guys there! Thanks everyone!

Woods Of Ypres' Juno Award Win, Plus Other New Local Metal Videos!!

With a major news story last night in the local metal scene, we have to address it A.S.A.P., so that's the main topic of today's post, but hopefully some people caught the late notice Tym Morrison show on Friday night that we couldn't rush into a full post on here, and hopefully he'll be back with new solo gigs soon! Today's post also features some new recent videos, but first, here's last night's huge top story, so here's what you need to know!

Woods of Ypres have won the Juno Award for Best Metal/Hard Music Album!! As covered on SooToday last night, amongst numerous media and metal websites and Twitter accounts, the defunct local blackened doom metal band's last CD "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" posthumously won in the Junos' second-year metal category at last night's private gala dinner (hosted by CBC's Jian Ghomeshi) at The Credit Union Eventplex in Regina, Saskatchewan, winning out over other nominees The Cancer Bats, Castle, The Devin Townsend Project, and Ex Deo. Though video has not yet came out from either the dinner or any pre-/post-gala press events, the award presentation was among the first last night, and the band was represented yesterday by guitarist Joel Violette and late frontman David Gold's family, with David's mother Esther accepting the Juno on their behalf. Among her emotional remarks, she said “I’m speaking to you as a mother with a broken heart”, “Everything that we think, say, feel and do runs parallel with our sorrow", and "He was a beautiful man (and) I miss him dearly” (source here), even getting the crowd to do the devil horns in David's honour!

The win was one of at least two for local musicians at the 2013 Junos, as country singer & Korah graduate Crystal Shawanda won the Aboriginal Album of the Year award last night as well. This is all absolutely huge news for the local metal scene, let alone the music scene, and to me, it's complete vindication of David Gold's work, dedication, talents, and efforts with Woods of Ypres and related ventures since their 2002 launch! It's also proof that more local bands can achieve heights like this, and hopefully this is just added incentive for the current generation of metal acts in the Soo area to keep plugging away and climb to similar heights! It's just a shame David couldn't be in Regina last night with his family and Joel to see the fruits of all of this labour, but I hope somehow, somewhere, he's smiling and showing his happiness and gratitude for this huge honour! That said, I do believe that Woods of Ypres will be acknowledged on air in some form during the live Juno Awards telecast on CTV TONIGHT at 8:00 PM, as the untelevised awards usually are, so keep an eye out just in case there's footage of Esther's acceptance speech!

For now though, click here, here, and here for the best photos I've found of Joel & the Gold family from last night's gala, and if I hear any more substantive fallout (i.e. major news articles, presentation/acceptance speech videos, local media coverage), I'll be sure to let you guys know! Congratulations to David, Joel, and everyone else associated with "Woods V", we're all extremely proud!

We'll close today's post with new videos, starting with a new talent show video from Sault Michigan metal quartet Tantrym Tyme! Uploaded to frontman Jacob Hotlen's YouTube channel last week, this is of the former Abstract playing at the Sault Area Middle School talent show (exact date unknown), and it features them covering Volbeat's "Heaven Nor Hell" and Rise Against's "Make It Stop (September's Children)". Their steady improvement is still very present, and it's cool to see more local bands covering Volbeat, but Jacob's vocals still need some development. His range has improved, but I'm curious to see how the tone of his singing voice sounds when he's a bit older. Solid stuff all around, and hopefully they have a lot more up their sleeves for future gigs and plans! Check out Tantrym Tyme's latest video below, and as a note to the school, good move not having the sound guy behind the band this year!



Finally for today, the full free demo from local/Peterborough hardcore punk project Kidshit has been posted onto YouTube (complete with lyrics) by local punk/metal album uploader Richard Dryfist, so there's another outlet to check out this material! Of course, this is the project featuring Cross Dog mainman/veteran local musician Mark Rᶏnd alongside AlgomA drummer Jamie Vincent, and though I can't confirm yet if Cross Dog are similar sounding (or locally based), this is still some quality furious hardcore that calls to mind Mark's earlier Detroit work! Check out the demo's first song "Heroes & Cops" below, and click here for the rest of the material!



That's likely all for today, but stay tuned for more news this week, including this month's YouTube Channel Profiles TOMORROW and our preview of the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands Finals on Tuesday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Nudge), Plus Previews Of This Weekend's Concerts & Woods Of Ypres At The Juno Awards!!

As our extremely busy stretch at the SMS continues, we have just our second non-preview/recap/feature post on the site since Monday, and it's got two functions. The latter half is to preview a major local band's Juno Award nomination this weekend, but first, we have previews of this weekend's known metal/hard rock shows, all in the Sault Michigan area, starting with SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you need to know!!

Marquette/Ishpeming hard rock quartet Nudge will apparently return to The Satisfied Frog in Sault Michigan TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, but these were only just announced on Tuesday on Nudge's Facebook page (though oddly not through Facebook event pages), and these just couldn't fit into our posts since then due to how busy things have been on the site this week. The shows definitely are on Friday and Saturday, and they followed members' Danzo McCracken & Scott Kusmirek's usual acoustic gigs at The Frog on Wednesday and Thursday, which were their first acoustic dates here since last year, as their Soo dates last month didn't feature them. Look out for a packed weekend of metal and hard rock renditions from these local favourites tonight & tomorrow, and like usual, there's a 21+ age limit, no announced cover charge, and a 10:00 PM start time. For more details, check the above links! These should both be good shows, so don't miss Nudge at The Frog TONIGHT OR TOMORROW, and for a preview, here's Nudge covering Shinedown's "The Sound of Madness" in Negaunee last year!

Also in known heavier concerts this weekend, Kinross classic/hard rock quintet Banned will continue their highly frequent recent concert pace with a return to Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT! Easily one of Banned's favourite concert venues since debuting there last year, hopefully there's a sizeable crowd for the Traynors and company's return to Moran (an hour south of the Soo, 30 minutes northwest of St. Ignace), so don't miss their varied blend of covers and originals tomorrow (and if you can't make it, they'll be back there next weekend!) Admission should be free for tomorrow's 21+ concert, and I'd expect them to be on again at the earlier 8:00 PM start time. For more details, visit Banned's Facebook page! This should be a solid "job" as usual for Banned, so head on down to Moran to check them out tomorrow night, and for a preview, here's the guys (and girl) covering The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" at the Sault Kewadin Casino last month!

Finally, we have a special sort of preview, as TOMORROW, we find out if defunct local blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres will win a Juno Award for Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year! As covered in The Sault Star & SooToday, Woods of Ypres officially received a posthumous nomination in the Junos' (essentially Canada's Grammys) second-year metal category on February 19th, which is obviously for their fifth & final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" (which came out too late into 2012 for consideration at last year's ceremony.) The Cancer Bats, Castle, The Devin Townsend Project, and Ex Deo are the other bands up this year, which should make for stiff competition like last year, when KEN Mode beat the likes of Anvil & Fuck The Facts for the inagural metal Juno Award. The ceremony itself (hosted by Michael Buble) will be held in Regina, Saskatchewan this Sunday live on CTV, but it's very unlikely that the metal award winner will be awarded live then (which isn't just a metal snub, as less than 10 of the 40+ awards will be given out on the televised ceremony.)

I'd expect the metal awards to be a part of the untelevised private gala dinner that's being held TOMORROW NIGHT at The Credit Union Eventplex in Regina, where the vast majority of awards will be given out, so we won't be able to see the presentation (unless there's a webcast I'm unaware of), but as soon as I hear anything or reports concerning the metal award, I'll let you guys know! Local news articles on the nomination confirmed that late frontman David Gold's family will be in attendance at tomorrow's gala, along with the band's final guitarist Joel Violette (the only surviving band member who played on "Woods V"), so there'll be some local, family, and band representation when and if Woods of Ypres win the Juno. This is obviously a huge weekend for local music, let alone metal, as it's not every day that a band or artist from here gets a Juno nomination! I believe this would be a perfect cap to David Gold's career and legacy in Canadian metal, and it's just a shame he's only getting recognition of this scale over a year after he died. As soon as I hear anything relating to the Best Metal/Hard Music Juno being announced, I'll let you guys know, and best of luck to Joel and the Gold family tomorrow! David would be proud!

That's likely all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for a huge post full of big new metal/punk show announcements, and our profile of last year's Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on it's one year anniversary! Thanks everyone!

Woods Of Ypres' Juno Nomination, Apocalypse: The Musical Updates, And A Possible Local Concert!!

Here's one more news post before we preview this weekend's metal and hard rock concerts tomorrow morning, and in today's entry, we have a possible show for the spring that needs a booker, a lineup change for an upcoming local metal show, and leading off, huge news relating to a major award nomination for a local band, so here's what you need to know!

Woods of Ypres have been posthumously nominated for a Juno Award! As revealed during yesterday's announcements of the nominees (viewable here), the defunct local blackened doom metal band were nominated in the Best Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year category for their final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", which is absolutely huge news for both the local metal scene and the band as a whole! (for Yooper reference, the Junos are essentially the Canadian Grammys.) "W5" is up against the newest albums from The Cancer Bats, Castle, The Devin Townsend Project, and Ex Deo for the honour, ensuring some stiff competition for the award (KEN Mode beat the likes of Anvil & Fuck The Facts to win the first Juno in the Metal/Hard Music category last year). The 2013 Juno Awards will be held on April 21st in Regina, Saskatchewan, but the metal category will likely be a part of an untelevised private gala dinner the night before the main ceremony, as was the case last year (but those awards are acknowledged on air during the main ceremony on CTV.)

This is fantastic news, and I think in some ways, totally unexpected, as you don't picture the Junos and local metal bands going hand in hand, but the introduction of a full metal category is great in that regard! This may seem like a late nomination given the "Woods V" release last spring, but eligible songs/bands/albums for this year stretch from the end of 2011 through most of last year, so it came out too late for the 2012 awards. I don't know as of yet if anyone connected to the band will be able to attend the awards (guitarist Joel Violette & Gold family members would make perfect sense), but it is still sad that frontman David Gold isn't with us anymore to fully realize how well "W5" has been received. This just adds to the mark he left as a musician locally and nationally, and if this helps spread Woods of Ypres to a larger fanbase (even posthumously), their legacy will benefit, win or lose! I just wish the metal awards were broadcast in some form. If any updates come out concerning the category or ceremony that would impact local Woods fans, we'll have them here, but keep the Junos in mind come April! David would be proud!

Next up, here's another lineup change relating to Apocalypse: The Musical at The Canadian Nightclub on March 1st, as Late & Loud have dropped out of the all-tribute concert. A reason for their withdrawl wasn't announced, but seeing as two members are still playing at the show, I imagine there's either individual scheduling or personal reasons involved. Hopefully we'll see Late & Loud back soon though, as their recent shows have been way too sporadic! In their place, a one-off tribute band named Loud Lazer has been formed, ostensibly because it's a combination of members of Late & Loud (guitarist Jonathan Tiberi & bassist Benn Garside) and local rock quintet Lazer Queen (singer/guitarist Kate Drew & drummer Bret Shuttleworth.) This "new" band will still be playing a set of Motley Crue covers, as Late & Loud had originally intended. I'll note that Bret's involvement returns him to this show following his & Jon's thrash band Pillory's exit earlier this month, while the complete Loud Lazer lineup is almost the same as Lazer Queen, but with Benn Garside on bass (not keyboard) instead of Josh Hatherley, there is a unique direct L&L connection.

This "new" band should be interesting to hear, especially with the added lead vocal possibilities now that Kate's involved! Make sure not to miss Loud Lazer along with The Fiend Brigade (essentially T-Rex Manning) and Xanadu (Jon Tiberi's metal band from Welland) one week from Friday at The Canadian! Click here for all current details, including the updated poster above!

Finally for today, wanna help bring a touring metal band here for a concert? Last week, I received an e-mail from Aaron Homma, a guitarist in the Ontario/Quebec grindcore supergroup Killitorous, and he's hoping to get a booking for both them and Hamilton groove/hardcore metal band Skynet in Sault Ontario in May. I sent him some promoter contacts, but can you help? Killitorous' lineup has a lot of local concert connections, as Aaron played here with Immersed in July 2011, while they also boast members of Blind Witness, Today I Caught The Plague, and Blessed By A Broken Heart in their lineup, all of which you're bound to remember from late 2000s hardcore/metal shows! Skynet themselves have local links too, as members Blake Prince & Adrian Levasseur are alumni of local concert headliners Straight Reads The Line, and they were briefly advertised to headline the Locals Attack show at The Canadian in November before dropping out, so if this show goes down, it will be very familiar!

Musically, both bands are very cool, with Killitorous employing a brutal moshable grind/death sound, and Skynet having a djent-inspired technical style that has some Meshuggah influences, and I recommend checking both out! In the event that the contacts I sent don't work out, can you help promote or book Killitorous & Skynet in May? Message Aaron at this location if you're interested, and hopefully we'll see the guys here in the spring!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!