Updates To Our Band Links, Plus Chase James Wigmore Updates!!

Let's do some catch-up in today's post via long overdue updates from a talented local solo musician, and leading off, house cleaning notes on our active band links, so here's what you should know!

We have two bands to remove from our active local metal/punk band links today, the first being local death metal band Exploring Detritus, who have been returned to our inactive band links due to over a year's inactivity. Four years after the former Kaepora Gaebora fell inactive, guitarist Dan Souliere and original drummer Anthony Boudreau surprisingly brought the group back in April of last year, but Exploring Detritus never progressed past jam session videos despite some very promising lineups, last posting on their Facebook page in July 2022. Extreme metal hasn't been super prominent among local bands post-pandemic, but hopefully we hear more from Dan, Ryan, Justin, and Anthony soon, and don't miss brief frontman Mitch Sirie in his array of current projects, including his and Justin's recent Bear Hunters revival! As their only live gigs were under the Kaepora Gaebora name, they are listed on the SMS under that name anew.

Next up, local pop punk project Forever Will Be have sadly been deleted outright from our band links, as they no longer have a formal social media page centric to the band. As it was, their now-deleted Facebook page was scarcely updated, with project leader Ryan McLaughlin primarily posting Forever Will Be updates on his/their label Relentless Audio's Facebook page. That said, Forever Will Be proper are likely still active, with Relentless Audio last posting about the project in December, so even without a proper band page, hopefully we hear more from Forever Will Be soon! Note that Relentless Audio did post two Facebook videos in February to demonstrate what Ryan can do with his computer programs to make songs sound better, including this clip of him improving the quality of "Acolyte" by the inactive Cambridge, Ontario metalcore band The Intake Of Glass, but the other video didn't produce a song match on Shazam.

We'll close today with some the latest media and updates from prolific local extreme metal/folk punk musician Chase Wigmore! We haven't posted much about him since the winter, the Darsombra show aside, but back in February, he posted the second part of his trilogy of "The Pit" songs under the project name Manitou, as uploaded to his "Jason Walker" YouTube channel. Part 3 was belatedly uploaded in April, and while not extreme metal, these marry his guitar prowess and alternate influences fairly well, with part 2 dipping into Black Lodge Masters-esque techno stylings, and part 3 even had clean singing layered into the track. Effectively done and accentuated with trippy visuals, so don't bypass them (or part 1!). On April 5th, Chase noted that he'd been practicing and playing a few open mic nights, but had largely been "chilling out on music" in recent months.

His long-gestating and allegedly "last" solo album "The Chaotic Rite" is 75% complete, and Chase noted that it will only run 25-30 minutes (a big drop from the prior rock opera teasers for the former "Story About A Kid Named Todd"), but his aim here is to focus on quality over quantity. His planned book on the guitar "Ars Cithara" is "mostly done" but was then on a break, still needed to be edited & restructured, and could be split up into a trilogy. Basically, Chase wanted to take time to "step back and become a human being again" rather than "focusing 95% of my time in music", but he hopes to release both by year's end. Fingers crossed! Four new non-Manitou videos have been posted online in mid-2023, including this trippy animated piece on his Facebook page set to ominous techno music (is this AI art?), plus a new original song named "From Beyond The Clouds" featuring dark but cleanly sung vocals.

While not extreme metal, it's certainly an intense and well layered song with some eerie background effects that are accentuated by the images of forests and bad weather, so give it a listen above! The others have Chase performing unplugged on camera, including his older original drinking song named "Running Out Of Beer" and, as embedded below, him playing his song "The Guilt & Shame Of Being" from his most recent album, last fall's "We Are All Going To Die". This one is heavily filtered in monochrome and layered with dark imagery, but both songs play into Chase's live free-wheeling intensity and passion, and it's good to see him rocking out, so check everything out for yourselves above & below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Local Hard Rock/Punk Video Showcase!!

Got a new post on this Monday evening to check out, and it is devoted to some recent videos from hard rock and punk bands playing and/or from here, so let's get things rolling!

Let's start with videos from Hamilton-based Pearl Jam tribute band Leash's headlining concert at Soo Blaster on March 4th, as Christopher Paci's YouTube channel has us covered with videos from that night! Apologies for the three week delay in these making the site, I didn't notice he posted videos from it until after I found his Pop Evil videos. Chris filmed eleven videos at this concert, including eight of the headliners, who he filmed tackling the Pearl Jam hits "Given To Fly", "Even Flow", "State Of Love & Trust", "Jeremy", "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town", "Daughter", "Corduroy", and as embedded below, "Alive". More of a musical tribute than visual, but at least in these videos, they are closer to Pearl Jam in total sound than some of their videos implied. Interesting how he holds the whole microphone stand up over the crowd to let fans sing along!

Visually, the stage lighting can mess with the clarity a bit, especially on more rapid flickering (watch and you'll see what I mean), but the quality is more than serviceable, and the audio is less tinny than how things came across at the Pop Evil concert. Good stuff for grunge fans, so give Chris' Leash videos a watch above & below!

Chris also filmed/uploaded three videos of opening local punk trio Vanity First, who can be seen here covering Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name", Weezer's "Say It Ain't So", and as embedded below, most of their original "Playboy Magazine". While definitely filmed from further away, Chris zoomed in well to capture Andrew, Mikhal, and Keeghan's set, and their clear talent and lively set looks like it got the evening off on the right foot, so check their videos out above & below also!

Now let's head four hours east to Sudbury, where local southern hard rock trio Bone Yard ventured this past weekend for rare out-of-town gigs at The Coulson Entertainment Centre! Delayed a couple of weeks, Bone Yard made the most of their road trip for media on their Facebook page, starting with this "Reel" where the guys hyped that they were coming to The Coulson and encouraged Sudburians to be there. In another "Reel" on Wednesday, they teased making new shirts with new designs that would go on sale at these gigs. Photos from the Friday nighter were posted to Facebook, and four videos that aren't "Reels" (despite all being vertical) were posted between the two shows that can be embedded on external websites like this. One features bassist Warren Reville showing off a "magic trick", so to speak, but the other three are proper concert videos, with the one from the Friday nighter seeing Bone Yard covering The Rolling Stones' "Miss You", but the filmer oddly focuses on the floor of the stage for most of it.

Two videos were uploaded from their Saturday concert, including covers of ZZ Top's "La Grange" and, as embedded below, Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" (yes, the band is in frame for the duration on these). Entertaining covers from Greg, Alex, and Warren across the board, and while more fans on the floor would have been nice, southern and classic rock fans were in good hands, so check out their Sudbury videos above & below!

Let's close with a mild bit of unfinished business from yesterday's review of local pop punk project Forever Will Be's debut album "Dead and Dishonest", as I mentioned there that they also recorded an acoustic version of the closing track "Downsides" that isn't on the album, but was posted to their YouTube channel in December. This is also a good time to state in a normal post that the vocalist heard on Forever Will Be's studio material is not project leader Ryan McLaughlin, rather session vocalist Billy Douglas, who fronts the British punk band Colosseums, a fact that wasn't overly prevalent in all of the band's social media marketing initially. Ryan found a strong vocalist to bring his lyrics to life, but you'll already know that if you've heard the album, and don't sleep on Colosseums either! "Dead & Dishonest" didn't have a traditional ballad, but of what was included, "Downsides" is one of the better fits to an unplugged format.

The minimal screaming and less varied structure adapt fairly well, though I will say that the guitar work can be a little repetitive at points as Ryan plays a punk song meant for electric instruments in this way. Interesting change of pace, so do give this a listen below, and hopefully we hear more material and updates from Forever Will Be in 2023!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Forever Will Be - "Dead And Dishonest" Album Review!!

(Updated at 9:15 AM) It's now time for our 165th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, as we're taking a look at newer local pop punk solo project Forever Will Be's debut album "Dead And Dishonest"! Released to major streaming services on November 17th of last year, this is the home project for former As It Stands/For July guitarist Ryan McLaughlin's independent studio/label Relentless Audio, who previously worked on original material for other acts as well as Forever Will Be's original guise as Great West Falls. "Dead And Dishonest" was recorded over the preceding year, and while Ryan is the only credited band member, vocals were provided on a session basis by Billy Douglas of the British pop punk band Colosseums. You can stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora (US only), or Deezer, all handily linked on Hearnow. If you actually want to buy the album and own the mp3 files therein, the album runs for $7.92 on iTunes, so consider that option to support Ryan's work as well!

With eight songs running for around 27 minutes in length, let's begin this review with its first song, "Former Self"!  Opening with an extended drum intro, the rest of the instrumentation and Billy's vocals come in slowly with intent, building to a screamed half-verse and melodic choruses. He has the pop punk/screamo balance down nicely, but the music definitely takes a back seat to the vocals, more keeping time with the lyrics than standing on their own. Still a good opener for pop punk fans, and with good lyrics to boot! Next is the album's longest song, "Afflicted", which opens with a solid guitar riff but it stops dead in its tracks for the verses, though not in a bad way, setting the tone for the lyrics well. This actually builds up the vocals better for me, and they work in concert with the music better!

Billy lets loose with the screaming on the choruses to strong effect, and if he did all of the vocals in one take, then he switches from screaming to clean singing seamlessly! The fade-out at the end feels like it came out of nowhere, but an improved and more prominent instrumental section and some passioned vocals put things on an upward trajectory already! Third up is "Shadow Of Myself", which makes use of a good spacey guitar riff before the full song kicks in, and it is the heaviest and fastest song yet, so screamo and post-hardcore fans will definitely be drawn to this one! No reinventing the wheel here, but the up-tempo energy and enthusiasm is sure fitting on this track, and Billy's varied vocals fit the mood whether screaming or singing, so this album definitely continues improving track by track! Fourth on the album is "Antihero", which is not nearly as aggressive as the preceding but has another catchy intro going for it.

Interestingly, he seems to skip an initial chorus, but it still structurally works for pop punk fans, and the bass pokes through the best on this song of the ones so far! I will say that some of Billy's harsher vocals sound a little forced compared to earlier songs, and the opening guitar riff should have repeated itself more than it did, so the song is a dip in quality for my tastes but certainly still worth hearing. The second half leads off with the album's shortest track, namely "Conversations In The Dark", which is a 2+ minute instrumental piece. Until the last 35 seconds, we just get spare guitar work with muffled background dialogue (the title conversations, no doubt) before the full band kicks in for a heavier-leaning punk attack. For me, it's a shame that the closing stretch wasn't longer, as I honestly wasn't feeling this song until then, but I understand that it was probably intended to break things up on the album.

We're back to traditional songs from Forever Will Be next, with "Nosedive", which honestly reminds me a bit of early Fall Out Boy aside from the screamed vocal parts (which are less prevalent here than on the first half). Admittedly, I don't like Fall Out Boy, but emo punk fans will like the comparison of styles here! The higher vocals and more vibrant playing help this song stand out, and it is well performed, but for my genre preferences, I do prefer the album's first four songs for aggression and guitar work. The penultimate song is "Drown", which does return to the style of the first half of the album with more screaming, more of a punk edge, and more of a freewheeling attack that accentuates the solid guitar work. The big addition is actually voicemail from an unidentified woman during the bridge, which makes more sense in context. Definitely a return to form for "Dead & Dishonest" overall, and not a moment too soon!

The album closes with "Downsides", which you may also know from its later acoustic version (Forever Will Be's newest release at press time). This is a more melodic song on average with limited screaming, but unlike "Nosedive", this isn't as Fall Out Boy-esque. At the same time, the vocals are (on average) sung safer and without as much energy and changes in tempo or pitch. Not a bad closer to the album that is well within the ballpark for subgenre fans, but also not as lively and intense as earlier songs, but listen for yourself to see what you think!

So, what are my final thoughts on Forever Will Be's debut album? It's inconsistent for what I go for in punk rock, but fans of pop punk, emo, and/or screamo will find a lot to like here! Ryan shows clear multi-instrumental talent, while Billy uses his voice in lots of different ways to get across the sounds and styles on offer, and if I had to compare the songs here to a known band from the mid-2000s glory days of emo-leaning pop punk, I'd say The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus would be a reasonable choice. The production quality helped this album stand out despite its independent trappings, and you can tell that this comes from a place of love for these subgenres (if Ryan had put this out twenty years ago, it'd have been huge locally). "Afflicted", "Shadow of Myself", and "Drown" were my favourite songs based on the aggression and guitar riffs in particular, but there are things to address.

"Conversations In The Dark" was filler until it wasn't, "Nosedive" (despite being the single with music video) was a little too emo compared to what I like, and I do think the album started and ended on songs that were a little too direct and vocal driven despite not having the peaks & valleys of other songs in the vocal department. Still, for a first solo effort, Ryan (and Billy) impressed with Forever Will Be's debut, and if you like early-mid 2000s screamo and pop punk, do check this out for yourself above! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and look for our review of Mike McCleary's new solo EP "Fallout From Midnight Tides" on the site next month, and for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

The Northwest/Gambit Concert Preview, Plus New Videos!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (and Hanukkah) and got in lots of family time and presents underneath all of this snow! With the year winding down, here's a new news post on this Tuesday morning, and it mostly includes new videos, but leading off, here's a mid-week concert preview to check out, assuming you can swing it on a work night!

Local indie/punk quintet The Northwest will headline a special charity concert TOMORROW NIGHT at LopLops Lounge! Ending their eventful 2022 in style, this will be The Northwest's first LopLops appearance since the pandemic began, their first local gig since the Marianas Trench show in September, and their first show period since their Guerrilla Grooves date in North Bay in October. This should be a fine way for the guys to cap off the year with their increasing profile & strong originals, so don't miss out tomorrow night! Revived and renamed local punk supergroup The Gambit (née The Sick Sons) will play their first concert since their LopLops dates in December 2019, preceding a three year pandemic hiatus, name change, and reportedly adding a fifth band member (identity yet unclear). It's great to see The Sick Sons Gambit back at long last, and remember that drummer Clint Wilson is a Northwest alum himself!

Reportedly taking place during renovations at the Queen Street East nightclub, tomorrow's 19+ show has an 8:00 PM start time, and admission is $20 at the door or via advance tickets purchased through the Facebook event page. However, The Northwest are holding a charity drive for St. Vincent's Place tomorrow (something they hope to reprise next year), where non-perishable food or hygiene product donations will get you either $15 door entry or $5 back (LopLops will match each donation for $5 apiece). Wonderful idea, as even after Christmas, many are still needing help from the community! Visit the above links for more on this holiday season concert, and here's The Northwest live!

Next up, let's dive into some videos, starting with the latest Mikey & His Uke cover video, as uploaded to the project's YouTube channel on December 16th! It's not a seasonal song or a carol, but that's just as well given that I'm only covering it now. This time, Mikey and crew are tackling Rancid's "Daly City Train", with Mikey himself on guitar and (at first) ukelele once again. Vocals are split four ways here, courtesy of Slackers frontman Vic Ruggerio (also on accordion), Buck-O-Nine singer Jon Pebsworth, Bedouin Soundclash frontman Jay Malinowski, and Mighty Mighty Bosstones singer/ex-Jimmy Kimmel Live announcer Dicky Barrett. Jon's Buck-O-Nine bandmate Andy Plafoot handles bass, while ex-Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfieffer (a former bandmate of Mikey's in The Dookies) rounds out the lineup here. I'm not a massive Rancid fan, but everyone acquits themselves well on this rendition!

Having four different singers spreads the wealth and lets some strong names in on the action, and they each do Tim justice in their own ways, and the instrumental performers more than hold their own (even the accordion isn't out of place!) Solid stuff as usual, so if you love punk rock, don't bypass Mikey & His Uke's latest effort below!

Also today, here's a new videos from prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore's Facebook page on Friday! This video sees him covering "No Children" by folk band The Mountain Goats, which Chase noted that he has covered in a video before, but allegedly didn't know what he was doing originally. The grainy monochrome quality of the video proper is at least livened up by rapidly changing backgrounds laid overtop of the original footage that seem to feature outdoor forest settings and animal skeletons in a living state. I'm not familiar with "No Children", but Chase gives it an ominous building quality with good vocal passion, so do check it out below, and more is coming soon!

Finally, here's a new acoustic version of a song from new local pop punk solo project Forever Will Be's YouTube channel two weeks ago! This is the unplugged version of "Downsides" from their debut album "Dead & Dishonest", and while I'll hold full comment on this song pending our review of the album (currently pencilled in for February), it translated well enough to this format, though the peppy, upbeat nature suits a full plugged-in band more. Check it out below, and stay tuned for more from Forever Will Be!

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

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Soundcheck), A New Local Punk Project, And New Videos!!

Today's post was going to be our latest Defunct Local Band Profile, but a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (partially missed, at that) hit my desk this morning, so we're pushing the feature post ahead slightly. To fill things out, there's also some new videos and a surprise new local punk band to take a look at, so here's what you should know!

We have a new local screamo/pop punk project to add to our Sault Ontario band links, namely Forever Will Be! This act is led by former As It Stands/For July guitarist Ryan McLaughlin, though I don't know if this is the same project as his 2019 offering Great West Falls or not, or if anyone else performs on their material. Their Facebook page is mostly a shell so far, but Forever Will Be is considered "the home project" of Ryan's independent studio/label Relentless Audio, who have been covered on the SMS previously for working on his old band As It Stands' posthumous EP "The Lost Tapes" and Christopher Raginskis' online page-less punk solo project 9 Times Dark's debut album "Vicissitude", both from 2020. According to posts on Relentless Audio's Facebook page, Forever Will Be's debut album from November 17th (entitled "Dead & Dishonest") has been "a year in the making" and he hopes to take listeners back to 2004 with the songs.

You can hear the album for free on major streaming platforms linked via this Hearnow page, but it is on sale on iTunes for $7.92, so consider buying it if you want the mp3s and/or to support Ryan's work. I'll hold comment on the songs until I review the album proper (likely next month), but definitely check out the album's preview videos on the Relentless Facebook page, and here's their first music video for "Nosedive" from their YouTube channel, set to clips of people in varying states of despair. If you like Ryan's past local band work, do check out Forever Will Be above & below!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to Reggie's Place for a concert TONIGHT, after previously playing there last night! I profusely apologize for the short notice and for missing yesterday's show in our concert preview post on Thursday, I just heard about both this morning via Reggie's Facebook page (who only announced them Wednesday night), and Soundcheck themselves have not mentioned them on their own Facebook page. Yesterday's and TONIGHT'S shows mark(ed) Soundcheck's first at Reggie's since mid-October, and hopefully their fan-friendly blend of classic, hard rock, and country covers found a strong audience last night, and will do so again TONIGHT! It is worth noting that Reggie's is now up for sale for $480,000, as per this SooToday article by Kenneth Armstrong on Monday, noting that Reggie Daigle himself actually still owns the property.

The sale "doesn't include the business", as from what I understand, Randy Lapossie is just managing bar operations, but whether the new owners would keep things as they have been since late 2020 is yet unknown. It sure seems like business as usual for now at Reggie's, but after Reggie sold Reggie's West, this can't be too surprising. We'll keep you posted! TONIGHT'S (and yesterday's) show has a 9:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. See above for more details, apologies again for missing last night's concert, and here's Soundcheck live!

Also today, here's a couple of new videos from prolific local extreme metal/folk punk guitarist Chase Wigmore's Facebook page! One is just a Facebook copy of his original song "The Guilt And Shame In Being" from his newest solo album "We Are All Going To Die", and while I'll hold comment on it pending our review of the album later this month, Chase did clarify that this is "one of the quieter ones" on the album. The new video proper from Sunday is cryptically titled "$20", and features him playing the guitar solo from Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb". The grainy black & white filter combined with a poorly placed light over Chase's face don't add to the video, but he nails the solo, helping forget about the visual deficiencies. Check it out for yourself below, and stay tuned for more from Chase!

Finally for today, here's some new videos from local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek's Facebook page, albeit not primarily focused on their "Christmas Blowout" at Soo Blaster tonight. As they have done for a guitar last year, Fort Creek recently held a raffle on Facebook for a custom jazz bass donated by Tommy Lair, with proceeds going to the Algoma Regional Community Hospice (or ARCH). That, along with a giveaway for a band t-shirt and tickets to tonight's show also took place in the past couple of weeks, with bassist Robin "Bones" Lee and drummer Anthony Fabiano appearing in this one hyping all of their draws, and more band members turned up in this video to announce the winner of the shirt/tickets raffle. Be advised that some of these recent videos have awful audio that almost sounds like an old 78 RPM record, not sure what happened there.

The draw for the bass is ongoing until December 21st (or until all 100 allocated tickets are bought, whichever comes first), so visit their Facebook page for details on how to enter! As for the videos, I'll embed the one from November 29th here, which features a clip of Bones playing the bass to demonstrate its abilities and sound for prospective ticket buyers, as preceded by a clip of their studio original "Hammer Down" and an oddly echoed audio recording of him discussing the raffle. On the gear and performer's end, everything sounds good, so definitely check it out below, get details above, and don't miss Fort Creek tonight at Soo Blaster!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!