Here is this month's YouTube Channel Profile as we're continuing our monthly spotlight of 1-3 randomly selected YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk concerts, and this time, I have drawn two channels due to the first randomly selected channel only having two distinct kinds of videos and five total, with a second channel only having one video period being added to fill things out. These reflect two talented local bands from almost a decade apart, and there's a lot of good stuff to see despite the low video counts, so here's what you should know!
Owner: Former Browbeat frontman Randy "Dutch" Vanderploeg, also known from his stints as a bassist with Caveman Morrison and a guitarist with Nikkfitt, and more recently as a vlogger with the YouTube channel Randy's Rides
Channel Timeline:Launched on March 12th, 2012; Videos uploaded that day and on May 15th of that year
Channel Summary:A personal use channel, Dutch only ended up posting five videos here, all posthumous uploads of original songs by his local hard rock band Browbeat, who had disbanded in April 2011. Why You Should Watch:Given the propensity for Dutch to take down band accounts after Browbeat's lineup & name changes (and ultimately, their dissolution), this is the most official extant source to check out Browbeat's original repertoire, and consider doing so, as they were an entertaining hard rock band who deserved more attention in their heyday! However, none of Dutch's work with Nikkfitt or other projects made this channel, let alone with their more familiar earlier lineups. If you want to see live concert videos of Browbeat (also known as Social Play for one gig), then our YouTube channel has some early 2010s examples.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:
Skeletons.: Four of Dutch's videos are of a circa early 2011 jam session for Browbeat's final lineup, with him on vocals & guitar alongside current Dealing Without bassist James White and Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger (both were also bandmates in Caveman Morrison's last lineup and in the original version of Handsome Sandwich). The four videos are of Browbeat playing their original songs "Movin' On", "Days Gone By", their signature song "The Sound You Need", and in their most popular video, "Skeletons". Dutch even briefly explains the songs' meanings in the descriptions of each video! "Skeletons proper is a fun song with great bass work, and all of these songs have potential that I wish was realized on an album, especially as Dutch's singing is sort of buried in the mix throughout.
Brighter Day: The last video on the channel (and only one that is just an audio recording) is for Browbeat's song "Brighter Day", as set to a photo of this lineup live at the former Roosevelt Hotel. While the song proper is slower and more melodic, it may be the optimal way to actually hear the band, as Dutch's vocals are perfectly audible! I like them heavier, but it's nice to hear this in such good quality, and hopefully Dutch is doing well nowadays!
Owner: A member of 2016-2018 local blues/hard rock trio Electric Church, exact identity unclear
Channel Timeline:Launched on January 31st, 2018; Only video posted that day
Channel Summary:The official YouTube channel for Electric Church, just a single video was posted there before the band fell inactive by mid-2018, namely of them playing their original song "Muddy Water" at Odeno at Sault College in September 2017 during the college's reunion festivities. Featuring singer/guitarist Spencer Pine, bassist Elijah Nielsen, and since-relocated drummer Beau Whitfield, this video is well framed and showcases their solid genre base & talent levels nicely, and it's a shame that Electric Church didn't last longer in some form! More live concert videos from their run are extant online, including this 25 minute video from Shaw TV.
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around November 26th when we look at just one randomly selected channel, but it's a doozy, as I have drawn YouTube user greetingsbychris' channel, featuring over 700 videos, primarily of major local concert fgootage! Watch for this next month, and stay tuned for much more on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
Let's get some more news up on the SMS for you guys to check out, and it's a tale of band returns and new videos today, which includes a lot of classic sounds, unexpected news, and more, so read on below for all that you guys need to know!
Sault Ontario glam/punk quartet Dirty Virgin are apparently reuniting once again! The talented but infrequently seen local band will reportedly play their first concert in 11 months on March 30th, as they've been added to the lineup for that night's Lust Boys-headlined concert at The Canadian Nightclub! My source is the show's Facebook event page, and while Dirty Virgin themselves have yet to officially confirm the news, note that their online pages aren't frequently updated. This will mark just their second concert in the past 27 months (following their opening slot for Motley Crue tribute band Crued at The Canadian last April), and it remains to be seen if this will be a one-off gig or the start of a new active run. If this is 100% true, it'll be good to see Dirty Virgin back out there! They had a good sound & style going for them, and could handle glam rock and harder edged punk stuff pretty well, so whether this is another one-time thing or not, they'll fit in well with classic sounding metal bands like The Lust Boys and fellow local openers Late & Loud come March 30th! If I hear more on Dirty Virgin, you'll absolutely hear it here!
Also of note on this show briefly, Late & Loud guitarist Jonathan Tiberi had mentioned to me that another band has been added to this concert, though official pages have yet to confirm that news. I'll wait until official confirmation comes out to mention it here, but stay tuned for more on that!
Next up, another local band has resurfaced, and it's the local hair metal project Dust N' Bones! No, not the Guns N' Roses tribute band from Toronto that just played Sault Ontario earlier this month, they just share a name & genre. This is another project from End of Existence and Theatre of Night bandmates Craig Harrison and Steve & Greg Giles (with Craig on vocals), but compared to the darker & heavier sounds of their more prominent groups, Dust N' Bones is a tribute to 1980s hair & classic metal that doesn't take itself too seriously. Dust N' Bones have been active for a few years in the area, and we covered them a bit more often in the SMS' infancy, but they're resuming frequent public updates for the band after a public posting absence due to old band member issues with the material (probably the best way to put it.) According to the band's online pages, they have enlisted notable local musicians like Ben Huyck (NoXcape), Chris Leask (Powerslug), and Bart Rennels (I.S.O.M.) in their past lineups, but recent postings haven't acknowledged them as still being band members. As part of their public resurgence, they've updated their Facebook & Reverbnation pages, and have even posted a new song named "Ain't No Goin' Back" to go along with 7 other older original songs and one old live video from a 2008 concert!
The new song is, like their other originals, a complete departure from I.S.O.M. or E.O.E. material, but it's got a solid old school sound that should definitely find a local audience! Craig's singing is nice and melodic and fits the material, but I'd like to see him add some more grit. Still, if you enjoy 1980s hair metal, you should get a kick out of the local band named Dust N' Bones, so check them out once again at the above links!
We'll close with new videos, including one from the defunct local hard rock trio Browbeat... well, that and a couple of newly posted songs from their frontman Dutch Vanderploeg, who's keeping busy on his new solo project's Facebook & Reverbnation pages! Among the new media on Reverbnation are two newly posted original songs, including his old solo original "Eyelids Fall" and a new track named "So They Think". I've critiqued "Eyelids Fall" before for it's solid hard rock sound & unique chorus with dream-like elements, but "So They Think" has a great aggressive vibe and a nice solo, and I can definitely see Browbeat playing it live if they were reunited! Check them out at the above links, and as for that video? It's a previously unseen clip of Browbeat playing their song "Skeletons" at what looks like a jam session with their last lineup (including Caveman Morrison's James White & Johnny Belanger on bass & drums) circa early 2011, as posted to Dutch's brand new YouTube channel yesterday. It's not the first video we've seen of Browbeat from this set, but it's good to see again! More melodic with a nice hard rock vibe and awesome bass work, and it's nice to hear "Skeletons" in clearer fashion outside of a concert! Check out this newest Browbeat video below, and stay tuned for much more from Dutch and his various projects as I hear of them!
And finally, here's a new live concert video of a local band covering a hard rock song! Flat Stanley/Wishbone drummer (and local metal veteran) Glen Thomas uploaded this video of his old local rock band The Werx covering The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" at what looks like Korah Collegiate & Vocational School's 40th Reunion at The Essar Center in the fall of 2007! I'm assuming that it's that event by the band's similar attire and staging of Glen's other video from that show, where they covered U2's "I Will Follow". Also featuring Trish Halliday on vocals, Glen's old Huckster bandmate Sean Halliday on guitar, and former Driver bassist Scott Kennedy, this is a solid cover with nice soulful lyrics from Trish, though I've always found "She Sells Sanctuary" to be one of The Cult's more overplayed tracks. Glen also accentuated this video with some inset shots of their set, though they don't necessarily line up with the main center video. It's always good to see some bands of a non-metal persuasion cover something a little heavier, and The Werx pulled this one off well, so check out their Cult cover below!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news, this week's classic video, weekend concert previews, and hopefully my "W5" review as the week wears on! Thanks everyone!
It's time to clear out some of the stories from our recent news cache today, as this post is dedicated to assorted stories we've missed over the last week! I know that there's a new concert tomorrow and another cancelled for tomorrow, but I don't want to redundantly cover both almost identically for consecutive days, so stay tuned early tomorrow for weekend concert previews. For now, we have news on a relaunched solo project, Ypres Metal Fest news, new Half A Man updates & this week's classic video, so here's what you need to know!
Former Browbeat frontman Dutch Vanderploeg appears to have relaunched his solo project! He posted new Facebook & Reverbnation pages on Thursday to promote his latest musical ventures, while also deleting his short lived Training Snakes project's Reverbnation page. The pages mostly reference Dutch's musical past (specifically Browbeat, who he said would probably return in the future), while discussing a bit of recent work, like the Saturday jam nights he hosts in his basement. His Reverbnation page linked above features three audio recordings, those being new versions of the Browbeat originals "Walk Away" and "Sorry", and a softer new original song named "Brighter Day", and all appear to feature Dutch's former Browbeat bandmate James White (Redundant/Caveman Morrison) on bass & backing vocals. Nice to hear these songs again, and fingers crossed that Dutch continues to work on his original material and make local waves again!
His music (Browbeat or otherwise) has always been entertaining, and I hope these don't end up deleted like his other past projects and sites! The new song "Brighter Day" is a bit light for my tastes, but it's well performed, and hopefully there's more to come, so become a fan at the above links, and Dutch's new solo work has replaced Training Snakes in our active band links!
Next up, here's the latest updates for the Ypres Metal Fest at The Canadian Nightclub on April 7th! A 12th band has been added to the lineup for this massive David Gold memorial concert, that being North Bay black metal quartet Empyrean Plague, who were previously confirmed for the David Gold memorial show in Toronto on April 5th as well. My source is the official Facebook event page. With at least 5 common bands now on both memorial concerts, it's good to see a lot of symmetry present in David's memory! Empyrean Plague are no strangers to the Soo, having headlined the 34th Roosevelt Hotel metal night last September, and they've opened for Woods of Ypres in the north on a few occasions, so they'll be excellent fits here and in Toronto next month! The other news relating to the Ypres Metal Fest is that tickets reportedly went on sale for $20 yesterday, as per a post by promoter Rich Moreland on the event page linked above. You can reportedly buy tickets through him, David's sister Marie Gold, The Rad Zone at The Wellington Square Mall, Northland Music on Queen Street East, and The Canadian Motor Hotel's front desk, but I'll note that nothing 100% about the ticket sales has been said since Monday. You can try to get tickets now if you want, but as soon as official word on their availability is made, I'll let you guys know! Keep posted for more Ypres Metal Fest updates as they come in!
Thirdly today, here's the latest from Brimley metal quartet Half A Man! A new unmixed demo original song named "Bad Way" was posted onto the band's Facebook page on Sunday, and though it's an instrumental, it has a solid groove and is pretty heavy all around! Unfortunately, this particular file is only online via a Facebook video right now (it's not on YouTube yet), and Facebook videos are sadly unembeddable, so check it out at the above links! Not all is lost though, as a solo acoustic version of this song (with vocals) was posted onto guitarist Erik Rintamaki's YouTube channel earlier today! It's got a noticeably different tone, but it's good to hear singing on this version, and Erik lined up the words with images he found on Google to link everything nicely! Erik's singing is better suited to heavier material, I find, but you can feel emotion in his voice on this track, so check out his solo unplugged rendition of "Bad Way" below, and check out more from Half A Man at the above links!
And finally, here's this week's classic video! With Garden of Bedlam's first concert of 2012 coming up THIS SATURDAY at The Rockstar Bar, I thought I'd post another older video of theirs that's not on YouTube yet! This comes from an early concert of theirs, when they opened for inactive Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band Sikamikanico at The Other Place (last known as GLOW) in April 2008, and it's of Garden of Bedlam covering Velvet Revolver's "Slither"! Now, better quality video from this concert exists, and you can hear their "Slither" cover in full and in higher quality at this location, but it never hurts to get new views on things! This video isn't of the full song (starting during the second verse), and the audio's very scratchy, but the filmer got a good angle of Garden of Bedlam, and their talent's audible underneath the quality issues! This video was filmed by an attendee and was later uploaded to the band's Facebook group by bassist Evan Belleau at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=17889665931. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Garden of Bedlam and the original filmer, I'm just trying to share this video with a wider audience like it deserves! With that said, check out this early Garden of Bedlam video below, and stay tuned for my preview of their concert on Saturday night!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow, our next entry in the Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series on Friday, our Defunct Profile on Paraside on Saturday, and yes, our "Woods V" review is coming soon as well, along with more news! Thanks everyone!
Hey guys, it's time for some news, but first, here's a little schedule note for the next few days: Tomorrow, we'll have a concert preview post for the coming weekend, then we'll post this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on Bad Side on Friday. I have our book review of "Soo Stories" tentatively placed for Saturday, but depending on personal commitments, that could change. News posts will be inserted where necessary, but I'm actually low on news after today, so that might not be until the weekend. So for today's post, we have this week's classic video and some more Woods of Ypres news, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!
The 19th Roosevelt Hotel metal night is now official for TOMORROW NIGHT, and I apologize for the short notice, lineup news didn't start trickling in until yesterday. Conveniently enough, the three most frequently seen bands from these Thursday nighters are coming together tomorrow in a repeat of the lineup from April 21st! Main eventing tomorrow are local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters, fresh off their new lineup's debut just last Thursday! Look for a moshing good time for this fast rising band, who'll pull no punches with their aggressive and well played brand of metal! Also scheduled for tomorrow night are As It Stands, in their first local concert since returning from their recording sessions in Mississauga! I'm sure they'll be in great spirits to deliver an energetic metalcore assault to their fans tomorrow, as they always do! Opening tomorrow are local grimecore trio Shit Liver, whose unique blend of grindcore and punk will make another deep impression at The Rosie tomorrow night! Same rules apply as ever tomorrow, with a 9:30 PM-ish start time, no cover charge, and a 19+ age limit.
For more details, check the above links and Dismembertainment's Facebook page! Sounds like a really solid show, make sure you guys take note and go see the metal tomorrow night at The Rosie! Stay tuned for a preview of this show tomorrow as well!
Next up, how about some Woods of Ypres? Seems like forever ago that we integrated newer Woods of Ypres news in a normal news post, but hey, there was a ton of news from them for a while, and now it's mostly cleared out! Today though, we start with a new Woods of Ypres live video, as filmed at their concert on Monday night in Panama City, Florida! Uploaded by YouTube user frostriuss yesterday, it's of Woods of Ypres playing their song "The Sea Of Immeasurable Loss" at that concert, and the video is below! Decent quality audio, though David Gold comes in really high compared to the rest of the band. The video quality would be good, but the constantly flashing red light is a hinderance. Solid song, I like the doomier version of it they play nowadays, and if only for the audio, it's worth checking out, so give it a look below!
Also on the subject of Woods of Ypres, here's some more assorted stories! Bassist Shane Madden's tour blogs at MetalSucks are continuing, and Parts 2 and 3 are now online! Click here for Part 2, and here for Part 3. His writing style strikes me as that of a book author in many respects, and he shares some good insights on the tour live and varying shows, although he keeps things very vague in respect to the cities he talks about, including referring to some as "City A", "City B", and so forth. Very interesting recollections and thoughts, though hard to describe, take a look at the above links, and stay tuned for Part 4! Also for Woods of Ypres news, a Dutch review of "Woods IV: The Green Album" was posted on MetalFan.nl on April 7th, and you can check it out at this location! It is in Dutch language, so you'll need an online translator to make it out, but the 74/100 score is telling enough that it's positive! The reviewer, named Rik, calls it a "wonderful, versatile album", but says it is disappointing, partly from the depressing and dreary sounding early songs. Give it a look at the above link, but have Google Translate or something on hand. Finally, check out the blog Red Tentacle for a short post in praise of the South Korea-heavy press package David Gold shipped with original "Woods IV" copies, cause it's a nice writeup as well, if kinda late. Stay tuned for more Woods of Ypres news as I hear it!
And finally, here's this week's classic video! Once again tying it in with a performer at an upcoming concert, we're gonna connect this video to Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger! You may remember that he drummed for defunct local hard band Browbeat from late last year until their breakup this spring, and after they broke up, their internet pages were all taken down. Three videos were posted on the now deleted Browbeat MySpace page, all from jam sessions in January/February of this year. Two were of their originals "Days Gone By" and "Movin' On", which both are still online on bassist James White's YouTube channel. One video posted there that wasn't anywhere else was of Browbeat playing "The Sound You Need", which vanished from the internet when Browbeat took down their page. Well, I saved a copy and now it's back online for your viewing pleasure! Featuring James, Johnny, and longtime frontman Dutch Vanderploeg, this is a solid performance of what could be construed as Browbeat's signature song, with a nice hard rock sound and a catchy beat! Great quality video too, I wonder if more videos like this are around somewhere? Good stuff, it's a shame they broke up though. Check out Browbeat playing "The Sound You Need" immediately below, courtesy of our YouTube channel!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Hey guys, it's time for another news post, in this 30th straight day of new postings! Today's a mix of good news and bad news, including two band breakups, the latest Woods of Ypres news, and kicking things off, a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! Here's what you need to know!
I apologize for this being later than you'd assume, but it was only just announced yesterday. Sault Michigan hard rockers River Witch will hit The Merchant's Bar in Sault Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT for a short notice concert! The news came courtesy of this Facebook event page by The Merchant's Bar, which noted that drummer Ivan Schliska works there (I never knew that) and there will be drink specials as well! With that said, the band has not promoted the show on their Facebook page, but in all fairness, they don't frequently update it. A 9:00 PM start time is listed for this show, there is no announced cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend tomorrow night. Check the above links for more details! I still don't know much about River Witch's sound, but they sound like a good and entertaining hard rock band, so give them a chance and check them out tomorrow night if you're in the area! Stay tuned for River Witch news and notes if they come in!
Next up, here's some bad news, as two notable area bands have broken up. One of these bands is Sault Ontario hard rock trio Browbeat 101, which is really surprising given their new lineup's chemistry and the recent news we've heard from them. Frontman Dutch Vanderploeg announced the breakup on his personal Facebook page on Wednesday, thanking James White and Johnny Belanger and saying that they were "done forever". When I talked to Dutch yesterday about the breakup, he told me that it's partly due to some recent medical issues that have impaired his singing, and partly due to musical differences with the other members. There was more said, but I won't go in-depth publically unless band members do. Though the idea of a new singer was briefly explored, Dutch is looking to join a new band instead of fronting one, a concept he appears to have drifted away from. With the breakup, it looks like their concert at The Vibe Lounge next month is now cancelled, and coincidentally, Dutch's Knownaym solo project's page has also been deleted. Their MySpace page is still online, but knowing past trends of deleting pages to update new lineups, it might not be long for this world.
Despite numerous lineup changes and lengthy breaks, Browbeat (101)/Social Play were always a great and catchy hard rock band, and it was always fun seeing them live! Dutch had big plans for Browbeat, and it's too bad he's throwing in the towel, as there's definitely an audience for his solo work! I'd love to see him post some old Browbeat songs online just for archival sake, as he really is a good songwriter and musician, but who knows. I'll miss Browbeat, and I'd be there to see them if a reunion ever happened! Best of luck to Dutch, James, Johnny, and all former members in the future, we'll be watching!
The other newly broken up band is Sault Michigan metal quartet Hammerspace, which is also very surprising given their recent local prominence! Just a year after their MySpace page was launched, frontman John Bergeron announced on their Facebook page that the band was "dead in the water". He elaborated by saying that "everyone is moving on to different things right now" and a reunion may happen in the future when "all of our heads are on straight". This should shut the door on their planned April shows (sorry I never saw them until now), including their downstate concert in Topinabee. This is really surprising, especially with their frequent area concerts over the past few months, and they really seemed like a promising local band! I enjoyed their posted demos, no matter who was singing, and they seemed to have everything thought out for a successful local future, but hey, if life's getting in the way like it sounds, it's best to take care of that first. Hopefully Hammerspace reunite down the road, I know they'd pick up where they left off! Check out the above links for more from Hammerspace, and best of luck to John, Justin, Paul, Tim, and the other former members in the future!
How about we close with some good news for today? Best not to end this post on a down note, and we'll cap things off with Woods of Ypres! Part 3 of their Barrie tour vlog is now online, having been uploaded onto frontman David Gold's YouTube channel on Wednesday, and if you enjoyed the live concert clips from Part 2, then good news: There's much more here! Only the last 33 seconds of this video don't involve the concert itself in some fashion, so there's loads of performance footage to rock out to here! The last 30 seconds only really feature the band making it to their hotel post-concert, with more from there presumably starting their Toronto vlog when it's posted. Check it out below for over 9 minutes of new concert footage, and I have much more on Woods of Ypres to share in the near future!
That's all for tonight, but I'll see you tonight at one of the bars for a concert, still debating on which one. Stay tuned for my review tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
How's about some new videos to close out this weekend? I know I missed the metal show at Foggy's, but I got caught up in homework, and you know how the end of a semester can be for assignments. I'll be back out there on Friday for either Sneaky Pete or Turner Up, and then I'll be at the Sewer Swampstravaganja and Lion Ride on Saturday, so keep an eye out! Now, let's begin with this LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!
Local hard rock trio Browbeat 101 will return to the stage for the first time in two months, and for the first time since adding "101" to their name when they rock The Vibe Lounge (also the first time for there, I think) on Friday, May 13th! The news was broken on the band's MySpace page earlier today. Hopefully the Friday the 13th day of this show doesn't amount to a bad omen for them! No word yet on if there will be a Saturday show as well, but as of right now, it appears to just be a Friday nighter. A 10:00 PM start time is listed, there's no announced cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend. Check the above links for more details! I hope a decent crowd shows up for Browbeat 101 next month, they do deserve it! However, with the day it's falling on and the "patchy" crowd totals I've heard from past metal/hard rock shows there, I really hope things will work out! Regardless, if you want to enjoy some hard rock and metal covers and originals from this talented trio, you know where to be next month! I'll likely be at the Woods of Ypres show that day, but I really hope this show's a hit!
On the subject of Browbeat 101, they have posted a previously unseen jam session video onto their MySpace page, and here it is! It's of their song "The Sound You Need", and it appears to be from the same set-up and camera from the last jam sessions that we've seen on bassist James White's YouTube channel. It's always struck me as a descriptive, sort of "signature" song of theirs, and though it's not their heaviest tune, it's catchy and worth checking out! The new lineup has got a good grasp of it too, check the video out for yourself below, and much more at the above links!
Next up, here's another brand new concert video from March 14th's Buckcherry concert at Kewadin Casino, once again from their set! YouTube user suffocation2 (who uploaded that Papa Roach video last week) has posted an eight minute long video of the band playing their song "Crazy Bitch", and you can check it out below! Compared to the video that Brian H. Myles shot of this very performance, this video has better, non-cell phone quality video but quieter and more reserved audio, so it's a best of both worlds effect, I suppose. If you liked or hated suffocation2's Papa Roach video's quality, the same feeling will apply here too. I think the crowd is slightly more animated in terms of getting in the way of shots, but that's all. Like before, you can tell that Josh Todd's singing is more monotone and tired sounding than on the original studio track, but the band seem to be into the song, so I'll give them that much! Good video, check it out below, and more from the concert at the above links!
And finally, the second edition of Woods of Ypres' tour vlog is now online at frontman David Gold's YouTube channel! Clocking in at around a half hour in length, I won't go into huge detail on them, but I'll tell you guys what to look out for! This one actually uses some new on screen graphics to watch out for, as I assume they're getting more comfortable experimenting with the vlogs before posting. In Part 1 (embedded below), you'll see the band's encounter with a blast beat animal, their exit from Sault Ontario, drivetime shots on the way to Sudbury, the band's Tim Hortons adventures in Blind River and Sudbury (including a lot of rim rolling), and their arrival at the venue for their next concert. Part 2 documents their arrival at The Serbian Hall for the concert and related events before the concert clips begin 1:34 in, and that makes up the remainder of the video. Good quality video too from the show, better angle than what I shot in terms of getting the whole band! Part 3 concludes the live concert clips 45 seconds in, followed by assorted shots post-concert, how they carried their luggage into their Sudbury motel room, what was up with their motel bathroom, the search for a missing Tim Hortons cup, the international bedroom boundaries, their departure for Barrie, and more!
Good stuff with lots of amusements and tons of great live shots (90% of which come from Part 2), so definitely check out all of the above links for those! I'll embed Part 1 here, but check out the rest, and stay tuned for the tour vlog from Barrie when it gets posted online!
In what is shaping up to be our biggest month since last summer on the SMS, we have lots more updates to share today concerning five local bands, including a band's new name & page, the newest video footage of a local band in action, another band's Warped Tour quest, and one more band's departure from an upcoming concert, but leading things off today is some big news from a prominent local classic hard rock band! Here's what you need to know!
Reports of Turner Up's demise have been exaggerated, and I can now confirm that they are still together! Their last lineup did break up, but founding member Robert Brown and drummer Scott McClurg are in fact moving forward under the Turner Up name, with some big changes in place! Scott confirmed the details here with me via e-mail this morning, so there's my source if nothing new shows up on their Facebook pages beforehand. Firstly, the band has parted ways with singer Krista Marshall, guitarist Len Ward, and bassist Jeff Gray. Without public word, I won't state reasons why here, but nothing hinting towards bad blood has came to me over the past few days, so take that for what you will. Best of luck to Krista, Len, and Jeff though, they're all talented performers! With that said, the band has officially added singer KT Antler and guitarist Kyle McKey to the band. KT has made some waves in recent years for her original solo work, and I can vouch that she's a very talented singer! Kyle's well known as Stillbroke's former bassist, but his resume includes everything from Sailor's Tongue to Asylum Country to Rob & Scott's old band Lois Lane, effectively giving Turner Up and Lois Lane the same lineups, minus vocals!
So this officially makes Turner Up a quartet, with Robert moving to bass, though I should note that there will be a lot more instrument flexibility in this lineup than we're used to. Robert and Kyle can both play bass and guitar, while KT, Scott, and Kyle all have singing chops, so make note of that when you go see them next! Speaking of which, all of their prior dates (booked during their last lineup's run) are intact as scheduled, so your first chance to see Turner Up V4.0 will be NEXT WEEKEND on April 1st and 2nd at The Nicolet Tavern (they had this weekend off already prior to the lineup changes.) There is one exception though, as their planned weekend set at The Canadian Nightclub next month has been moved up two weeks from April 22nd-23rd to April 8th-9th. Aside from that, the only differences will be the band's lineup, so check our concert listings on your left for more! So remember, Turner Up have NOT BROKEN UP, but their look and sound will be different next time you see them! Thanks again to Scott for the news, and apologies for any past misinformation. I do my best to make sure things sound correct, but sometimes, multiple sources will have conflicting views on the same topic. I'll work to improve on that!
Next up, here's the latest lineup news for April 9th's massive Sewer Swampstravaganja all ages concert at The Oddfellows Hall! Firstly, here's some good news and bad news. The bad news is that Bring The Fallen have officially dropped out of this concert, which has long been rumoured. The good news is they're not breaking up, as frontman Josh Stephney confirmed on the Facebook event page's wall that they were "taking a break" while they write some new material. At least they're not breaking up, despite the rumours that didn't sound all that promising. Still, if it's true that they're merely laying low to write some new stuff, I can't wait to hear it! With that said, they haven't been replaced on the lineup, and at least at present, the organizers are going with just 11 bands, with a new concert start time of 3:45 PM. As such, the lineup's been amended again, so here's what's changed! Five of the bands were been bumped up one slot on the bill to reflect the new start time, though a couple got better promotions than others. Shit Liver got moved from 5:15 PM to 6:45 PM, while Frightlight catapulted from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM! The start times for Sativa Rose, The Bear Hunters, and RedD Monkey are unchanged, and only one band, Late & Loud, got pushed back in the order (from 6:45 PM to 6:00 PM.) For full current details on this show, click here!
Thirdly today, here's the latest news from local hard rock trio Browbeat, or should I say, Browbeat 101! Yes, they have altered their name by adding "101" to the end (allusion to Rock 101, maybe?) to avoid confusion with the defunct Italian metal band of the same name. I honestly wouldn't think it's a big deal when the other Browbeat is broken up, but at least this way, members won't sue or complain if they catch wind of the local Browbeat! With that said, the newly rechristened Browbeat 101 have launched a brand new MySpace page following the deletion of their old pages, which you can now check out at this location! It's pretty sparse at present, but updates are forthcoming, including audio recordings featuring the full current lineup, so stay tuned for that, and more! I still don't think they needed to delete all their pages, but this isn't a new concept for Browbeat 101 or for their past names, so I'm used to it! Stay tuned for updates!
Finally for today is some more new Woods of Ypres video footage! Two videos from Saturday's concert in Halifax at Coconut Grove were posted on YouTube this past weekend, and you can check them out at YouTube user ImpaledBman's channel! The same user posted videos of the band from a concert in Halifax from May 23rd, 2009 as well, the link above will point you in the right direction to check those out as well! The new videos are of Woods of Ypres playing their songs "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground" and "A Meeting Place & Time", and they're actually of very good audio quality! Everything's clear, these are some of the best sounding live videos I've seen so far from the current Woods of Ypres tour! The videos are dark, and heavily centered on Joel Violette and Shane Madden due to the filmer's placement, but it's more of a natural lighting. Don't judge the image on the video below before watching, that's auto-brightened by YouTube and it won't look that distorted when watching it. Good stuff, check out the video of "A Meeting Place & Time" below, and get more at the above links!
That's all for now, but I have more news to share very soon, and yes, our next CD review will be up by the end of the week ("Against The Seasons" is the leading candidate!) Thanks everyone!
Let's close this weekend off right with my review of last night's Browbeat concert, but we'll lead off with some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS that should interest you metalheads! Here's what you need to know!
The next Roosevelt Hotel metal night will take place on March 31st (one week from Thursday), and it will feature the debut of a new local metal band! Skull After Betrayal (featuring Bear Hunters & Despised Eyes alumni) will make their first ever appearance on a local concert stage as one of the headliners at this concert! Remember to check them out on MySpace as a preview, but due to the quality of the posted recordings, you'll likely be better served to judge them live for a first impression. They do sound promising though from what I've seen! Joining them will be local hardcore quintet As It Stands in their first local show following a recent out of town swing. With new studio material in hand and a continuing heavy assault to bring to their local fans, look for another impressive set from them next week! Though the final band has not been publically announced by bands or promoters, I can confirm that the third band will be grimecore trio Shit Liver, in their first local concert since opening for The Rebel Spell earlier this month! They have yet to announce the show, but promoter Rich Moreland confirmed their involvement with me earlier today. The same house rules apply here from earlier metal nights, those being 9:30 PM start time, 19+ age limit, and no cover. Stay tuned for updates if they come in!
The other new show will take place on Saturday, April 2nd, and it will feature an out of town band headlining! On that day, Montreal progressive sludge metal band The Great Sabatini will finally make their way to Sault Ontario over five months after a planned local date on Halloween last year that never found a secured booking, but this time, they'll for sure be playing at Foggy Notions! Their sound is quite unique compared to what we tend to see locally, with lots of doom metal inspired aggression, but they should make lots of local fans! One local opener is confirmed, and once again, it's Shit Liver (thanks Rich for confirming this with me!) It's a wonder they're not plugging these shows on their pages, time's ticking! A second local opener is expected for this show as well, but they have yet to be announced. This concert will be on April 2nd at Foggy Notions, and it will have a $3 cover, a 19+ age limit, and a likely 10:00 PM start time. Stay tuned for updates as they come in! This also sounds like a good concert, with some nice noisy and technical metal in store, hopefully I can make it out for this one! I'll keep you guys posted!
Now to my review of last night's Browbeat concert, and before anyone asks, their pages aren't down because of a band breakup. They're just down so the band can relaunch them completely with new info, material, and customization to reflect their current lineup. So last night, this was my first time seeing Browbeat live with new drummer Johnny Belanger, and the first time I've seen one of their standard length concert sets since their lone "Social Play" concert, and luckily, they delivered a very good show! It was nice hearing Dutch Vanderploeg's voice in top form after their abbreviated set in October especially, though the cold bug hit again this time around, with bassist James White's voice hit by the flu. It didn't affect their set too much though, and by the second set, his voice was getting stronger! Browbeat launched into three lengthy sets of hard rock and metal originals and covers, including original tracks like "Walk Away", "Sorry", "The Sound You Need", "Days Gone By", and "Narrow Mind", but their launched into some hard rocking covers as well! Along with heavier fare like Metallica, Megadeth, and Judas Priest covers, we also got some interesintg hard rock covers of Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" and even "The Cover of the Rolling Stone", which was definitely interesting!
The band were mostly in top form last night, despite a smaller than expected crowd, which peaked at maybe 20 people. I don't encourage poor attendance, but I do like one aspect of shows like last night, and it's the increased camaraderie and personalization that the band has and gives to the fans that do shows up, which is welcome! Respect who does show up, and you'll get respect back. Dutch made the most of his voice on almost every song, exmplying some nice aggression and melodies where needed, though his vocals on "The Ripper" could have been ramped up a bit. Nice guitar work too, he pulled off some great solos and never seemed to lose a step! James was great on bass too, I like his slap playing and he proved to be good at improvising when Dutch's guitar string broke mid-song! And of course, Johnny was solid on drums, and seemed to be a natural fit in Browbeat! He seemed at ease, and his sense of humour showed, as did the whole band's! Some guest singers even got a chance to join in, including Johnny's Bear Hunters bandmate Nik Deubel, who sang on "Master of Puppets" in clean vocals, oddly enough! I think his clean tone doesn't match what I'm used to for the song, but he proved he can pull it off!
Overall, this was a fun night of music, all things considered, and hopefully next time around, Browbeat can pull in a bigger audience! They've always been a very good hard rock band, and they've put in a lot of work to get to this point, so hopefully there's much more in store from Browbeat in 2011! I did get photos, so click here to check them out, or visit the SMS' Facebook page! And yes, I did get a video, so check out Browbeat playing their song "Sorry" right here!
That's all for tonight, but I have some long overdue news to share tomorrow, so stay tuned for that! Thanks everyone!
It's poll day at the SMS! I apologize for this being late a day, I was working out a lot of kinks in what will constitute our next poll(s). This will be interesting, to say the least, but before we get to that, we have a poll from last month to outline the results to! As you may remember, we posed thia question to you guys last month: "What was your favourite local metal concert of 2010?" 31 votes, decent total, could have been better or worse! Remember, this poll included almost all of the choices from the prior half year polls on 2010 concerts, and does this declare a definite winner? Give it a look and see, as here are the results!
Frightlight at Coch's Corner on June 16 (7 votes, 23%) Garden of Bedlam at Foggy Notions on February 27 (3 votes, 10%) Turner Up at The Canadian Nightclub on March 27 (3 votes, 10%) Algoma Hope4Haiti at Nite-Life Dance Club on February 20 (2 votes, 6%) Sense of Truth at The Canadian Nightclub on February 26 (2 votes, 6%) Lion Ride & Sense of Truth at The Canadian on May 22 (2 votes, 6%) Garden of Bedlam & Half Past at The Canadian on April 2 (2 votes, 6%) Endast & Blood Drunk at Foggy Notions on September 2nd (2 votes, 6%) Total Chaos at The Oddfellows Hall on Nov. 21st (2 votes, 6%) Sativa Rose at The Roosevelt Hotel on December 23rd (2 votes, 6%) Other (2 votes, 6%) Garden Of Bedlam at The Rockstar Bar on November 12th (1 vote, 3%) Sativa Rose at Foggy Notions on December 31st (1 vote, 3%) Caveman Morrison at The Roosevelt Hotel on April 9-10 (0 votes, 0%) Crued at The Canadian Nightclub on May 1 (0 votes, 0%) Downtown Showdown at The Oddfellows Hall on May 28 (0 votes, 0%) Kiss at The Essar Center on August 10th (0 votes, 0%) Gunz N' FN' Rosez at The Rockstar Bar on September 23rd (0 votes, 0%) Grady at The Grand Theater on November 16th (0 votes, 0%) The Mark Rand Band at Coch's Corner on December 29th (0 votes, 0%)
So, how do the results look? Well, seven concerts tied for last with no votes, none more surprising than Kiss at The Essar Center in August. Seriously, NO ONE picked that enormous concert? Very surprising. Garden of Bedlam's Rockstar Bar show in November and the New Years Eve concert at Foggy Notions tied for 12th place with a single vote, both of which seem a bit off given the reception they both got! Amazingly, right above them was an eight way tie for fourth place with two votes each, and while all deserve a high placement, the logjam is something I'm not used to seeing. You think there'd be more of a spread! The second place options tied with three votes each, those being Garden of Bedlam's Foggy Notions show in December and Turner Up's March show at The Canadian Nightclub, though voters on that choice may have just picked them in general for the whole year. I expected they'd get higher, no worries there! And in first place, just as they were for the first half of 2010 poll, was the "secret" Frightlight concert at Coch's Corner! The secretive nature of it kept people wondering, and if you were there, you'll recognize why this had such a big impact! I still wish I could have attended, but there you have it, the winner of the "favourite concert of 2010" poll is Frightlight's secret show in June!
So, what is this month's poll? I've decided to try something different, as inspired by the current NCAA college basketball tournament! I've long been against polls on the SMS which compared bands individually, as I don't want to seem preferential or biased towards specific bands. However, I had a good idea for a poll event that would feature bands competing in a fun, hassle-free tournament a'la "March Madness" to see who could be considered the "winner". After getting a positive reaction from some SMS readers when I proposed the idea, I'm running with it, and we'll see how it goes over! So, I'd like to announce the debut of The Sault Metal Scene's March Mayhem! (EDIT, 4:24 PM: I replaced Turner Up in the bracket to reflect their demise as an active band, and replaced them with Skull After Betrayal, with alphabetical adjustments where needed.) Click on the image to see the full bracket, which will be updated frequently! This will be an eight week tournament event featuring four matchups a week (until the "final four" are decided) involving 28 of the higher profile active metal and hard rock acts in Sault Ontario! I wanted to get it to 32, but I was having trouble getting that high. The 28 bands I chose are all active at present (well, maybe not Bring The Fallen, but nothing's official), and they'll face off in this single elimination tournament, a'la "March Madness"! Nothing's on the line here besides bragging rights, it's simply for fun, curiosity, and to see if something like this would even be popular for the SMS to attempt. In case anyone's wondering, the seeding is done by alphabetical order, as I found it's the only fair way to do it, I couldn't rank bands and risk alienating or seeming biased towards any of them. That said, if you've noticed As It Stands, Garden of Bedlam, Lion Ride, and Woods of Ypres got byes to the second round, it's only to ensure that after the first round, the tournament can have a 16-8-4-2-1 breakdown like a usual tournament, with no screwy rounds. Those four bands were given the free pass for their recent local prominence, not on personal preferences, so that's why they'll skip the first round.
SMS March Mayhem will take place over the next eight weeks, with the opening round taking place over the next three weeks through April 9th. The second round will be two weeks long, ending on April 23rd. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals will all run for a week each, ending with a final winner on May 14th! So each individual matchup will be it's own poll, running for a week, with four matchups taking place each week until the semifinals. So the first four 1st round matchups alphabetically will run until next Saturday, so VOTE TODAY! Here are the matchups!
Which death metal quintet will take the battle between The Bear Hunters & Bring The Fallen? Can Browbeat frontman Dutch Vanderploeg overcome his old band Caveman Morrison in this contest between local hard rock trios? When Changing Waves collide with Destroilet, will old school hardcore trump the new? And can Gates of Winter pull out a victory over Frightlight despite their slow activity and low profile of recent years? VOTE TODAY on your left to help decide! Remember, the Bear Hunters/Bring The Fallen winner faces As It Stands in three weeks, the Frightlight/Gates winner takes on Garden of Bedlam, and the winners of this week's other matchups face each other! You have ONE WEEK to pick the winners of these matchups, so get voting!
Stay tuned later tonight for a new news post featuring some more big recent news, and I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Rosie for Browbeat! Thanks everyone!
