Concert Cancellations, Lots Of Sykotyk Rampage News, And F.A.T.I.L.'s New Video!!

Before we get to the rest of today's news, I just wanted to note that The Suicide Kings' planned concerts this weekend have been cancelled, just one week after their planned Rockstar Bar gigs suffered the same fate. The guys were scheduled to make their Docks Riverfront Grill debut yesterday & tonight, but they cited "a last minute booking issue with Docks" for their cancellation on their Facebook page last night. This may have been partly due to singer Mike Gaetano falling ill, as drummer Ben Boudreau was briefly looking for a fill-in vocalist for the weekend on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group, but they cancelled the shows shortly after. This is really disappointing, especially with the guys having to cancel consecutive concert weekends to start the year, but hopefully they'll play somewhere this month! As of right now, their next announced shows (and now, their real Docks debut) will be on February 9th and 10th, so if nothing else is announced, keep those dates in mind!

With that said, we have some more news to get to on this Saturday afternoon, including our first new audio tracks from a prominent local metal band, confirmation on their current lineup, and a new video from a prominent local metal band, so here's what you need to know!

The Soo's resident blue Chinese metal crash punk band Sykotyk Rampage have been posted two full streaming copies of new albums onto their Reverbnation page earlier this week! Like with their 2011 output, these were visibly delayed from the announced "release date", but it's good to finally start hearing these new songs! These are considered the band's 34th & 35th albums (despite being 30th & 31st in release order), and they're entitled "The Cross" and "Will Do Anything, Seriously?". Featuring 15 & 11 songs respectively, most of these tracks are new to longtime listeners, but a couple of recent live tracks are included (most notably "Hay Zeus" from "The Cross"), and that album seems to have an anti-religion concept, as the cover and song titles would suggest. The band's other 4 planned albums from last year ("Smells Real Good On A Bad Night", "Jonathon, Your Music Sucks!", "Sykotyk Ramp-Age", and "Anal Distruptions") have yet to be posted (save for the song "Roll A Doobie"), and like with their 2011 "Genius Mushrooms" albums, these have yet to be posted for sale.

I haven't heard most of the new songs yet, but if they retain the sykotyk and aggressive bent of albums like "Zombiez" & "22", they should live up to the hype! When the band posts more new material (or makes any new albums available for purchase), I'll let you guys know for sure! One more thing on Sykotyk Rampage: It looks like they've officially made Tony Briglio their permanent bassist, replacing Brian Cattapan. Nothing official was announced to that effect, but Tony's now listed as their bassist on Reverbnation, complete with the nickname "Chastity Boy" to go along with the other members' amusing monikers. Best known previously as a bassist in The Fury, Tony started filling in for Brian (who's lived in Sudbury for a few years now) this summer, which has to have helped with Sykotyk Rampage's quick concert pace in the latter half of 2012 compared to previous years. No word yet on if Tony played anything on Sykotyk Rampage's newest albums, but for what it's worth, Brian is featured in three of their 2012 album covers. Tony's a great fit all around with Sykotyk Rampage, but hopefully we'll see Brian turn up at some future shows as well!

Finally for today, here's a new video from Central Algoma death metal quartet For All That Is Lost! I'm not sure how this got bypassed for so long (I must have thought it was a re-upload), but this performance of their song "Northern Metal" from the Locals Attack show at The Canadian Nightclub on November 26th was posted on the band's YouTube channel two weeks ago! Filmed on a nice camera (albeit with dark lighting), the fi;mer got some nice moving angles of the guys from a high vantage point, and F.A.T.I.L. are at their brutal best here, so give this new-ish video of theirs a look below, and hopefully we'll see them back on stage soon!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for Queensryche fallout, more new videos, and much more shortly! Thanks everyone, and enjoy the Queensryche show tonight!

The Jamestown Massacre Concert Review!!

Hey guys, here's my review of Thursday night's Jamestown Massacre! I apologize for it being so late (and for missing the Riding Shotgun show last night), but I was working on an summer geography essay for most of yesterday evening, and that took up a lot of my time. We're back on track now though, so let's discuss this concer!

First, I'll note that there was a disappointingly low turnout. I don't think there was even 20 people in the bar itself for the headliners, but I know it was nearing the holiday weekend, so it could have been worse! The opening band was local punk trio Redundant, who I hadn't seen live since the Ypres Metal Fest in April, and in the interim, they seemed to add a lot more originals into their setlist than I'd remembered. They sounded good, and if you were a fan of frontman Justin Langlois' original work with The Scary Uncles, these will be familiar and easy to get into! They also played some well received covers, including some amusing asides to Eminem & TLC material, and it showed their sense of humour well! Talentwise, Redundant gave exactly what I expect out of them, and bassist James White didn't let his birthday get in the way of playing as good as he ever does. I also liked the "R.I.P. Tony Sly" shirt that Justin wore, nice of him to honour the late No Use For A Name frontman! It was good to see Redundant live again, and hopefully it won't take 4 months for me to see them tear through some well done punk covers & originals (plus some fun on-stage banter) again!

Next up was the original crash band themselves, Sykotyk Rampage, but they looked slightly different thanks to the absence of bassist Brian Cattapan, who I believe couldn't come home for the show on Thursday. However, instead of playing without a bassist (like at the Zombie Walk afterparty), Sykotyk Rampage instead enlisted a guest bassist for their set, that being Tony Briglio, who you may recognize from the inactive "don't call them punk" trio The Fury! It was good to see him back on stage after so long, and he seemed to fit in well with Sykotyk Rampage in Brian's place! Their set was somewhat abbreviated from a usual Sykotyk Rampage concert, with only a couple of non-drinking songs (including "Acreage") and a bunch of songs to have a beer with, like "Roll A Doobie", "Drinking on the Weekend", and a well-received cover of Flogging Molly's "Fuck You, I'm Drunk" that this show's booker J.D. Pearce joined in on! For the most part, Sykotyk Rampage's improvised mix of punk, metal, alternative, and blues sounded as creative and entertaining as usual, and Paul Becker was a workhorse on drums and singing, but I did notice that guitarist Dirk Becker didn't sing a whole lot, and that includes backing vocals. Sore throat, or just not enough songs? Either way, they had fun and it was good to see them back!

Co-headlining The Jamestown Massacre was local punk/classical trio RedD Monkey, and they sounded as energetic and unique as ever. Their Canadian tour definitely didn't sap their energy, and they seemed happy to be home! Playing most of the songs from their CDs "Thought Control Tower" and "All Baroque" along with their cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" and some non-album originals, they shown the high tempo speed and punk intensity that we've come to love, and the fans that were there definitely enjoyed RedD Monkey's set! If anything, frontman Steve Mozarowski's voice did seem a bit strained at points, but that's my only major complaint. Steve's guitar work was often blisteringly fast, Joe Bumbacco's drumming kept up well and set great pacing, Pete Mozarowski still plays the cello better than anyone I've seen locally, and even when rapping about four dozen cookies, it fits with their sound! As always, I enjoyed RedD Monkey's set, and they're definitely one of my favourite active punk bands in the Soo!

And your main event on Thursday night was Calgary hard rock trio The Shotgun Dolls, and I have to give them props from the start for their cool light setup on stage that actually almost made it look like a different venue altogether! You know a band's good when even a small crowd is overly praising them & calling for an encore, and I can say the same for The Shotgun Dolls, as they delivered a high energy mix of hard rock and punk to who remained inside The Rosie on Thursday, and though the Lion Ride comparisons I'd made earlier in the week were visible, they had a bit more vocal freedom and some heavier guitar work to compliment their array of original material! Turner Midzain had solid vocal control and guitar skills throughout the night, Mike Badmington' bass playing was top notch, and though drummer Ty Gogal looked like he was melting under the lights, he kept up well on drums! The guys seemed happy to play here, and their songs definitely had a lot of aggression and attitude without getting too over the top, and I just wish they could have shown their sound off to more people. Great closing set by The Shotgun Dolls, and hopefully they're back in town soon!

Overall, this was a fun concert, if under-attended, and it never hurts to a see a show with more of a punk flavour! I did get some photos, so click here to check them out or visit our Facebook page, and yes, I have a couple of videos too! Here's Sykotyk Rampage (featuring J.D. Pearce) covering "Fuck You, I'm Drunk" and The Shotgun Dolls playing their song "New Blood"!





That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes tomorrow! Thanks everyone!