New Videos From Heavy Lies The Crown, A Surprise Full Concert Upload, And Much More!!

At press time, I haven't heard of any 100% confirmed hard rock concerts in the Twin Saults and area for this weekend, but I will definitely let you guys know either tomorrow or on Friday if anything crosses my radar! In the meantime, today's post features some assorted recent updates, a surprise new full concert video from an artist you may not expect, and leading off, some new videos from a recently prominent local metal band!

St. Ignace, Michigan progressive metal quintet Heavy Lies The Crown posted two new solo playthrough videos onto their YouTube channel in the past week, so what can you see in these? One features guitarist Ted Olson playing "Time Diffuser" (or something else, as he put it) alongside the original recording, and this captures his performance across multiple camera angles. Solid and technically sound as you might expect from this very talented axe-slayer, so check out Ted's well-edited and performed rendition at the above links! Embedded below is singer Brandon West's own solo playthrough (singthrough?) video, this time tackling "A Hell Bound Heart", f.k.a. "Thing #1". Like Ted's video, post-production editing was done to spice things up, including some fade transitions and mirroring, along with the multiple camera angles, but the same basic idea is here, just vocally rather than on guitar.

Again, a solid and well edited performance that may help satiate some demand to see Heavy Lies The Crown live, and it'd be neat to see something similar from the other members of the band go online at some point! Give Brandon's video a look below, and check out more from H.L.T.C. above!

Next up, here's a mild diversion while news is slow: A near-full video of legendary comedy musician "Weird Al" Yankovic's concert at The Dreammakers Theater at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino in June 2007! This may seem out of left field for the SMS, but Weird Al has covered hard rock and punk songs multiple times in his long career, some of which are staples of his live setlist. To keep the SMS on relative brand, I'll only link to songs in our genre range here, but kudos to the Weird Al Concerts YouTube channel for posting this on Saturday! Touring in support of his 2006 album "Straight Outta Lynwood", Weird Al's set began with that album's polka medley "Polkarama!", which featured brief yet amusing vocal/accordion covers of the likes of Weezer, The Killers, and Velvet Revolver, while his very first proper song is "Canadian Idiot", his parody of Green Day's "American Idiot".

13 minutes into the 76 minute video, you can see Weird Al perform "It's All About The Pentiums", his parody of the rock remix of Puff Daddy's "It's All About The Benjamins" (the rock remix had Rob Zombie and Dave Grohl on it, so yeah, I can't ignore the inspiration!) Tenth filmed from this set is a 17 minute medley of assorted parodies that weren't performed in full on this tour, which is as good a way as any to witness his wide depth of covers in a short time! Within, he does perform "Bedrock Anthem" (The Red Hot Chili Peppers), "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi" (The Offspring), and "Gump" (The Presidents Of The United States Of America), among other songs. Immediately following, he performs "I'll Sue Ya", a style parody of Rage Against The Machine songs, while the last heavier detour is "Smells Like Nirvana" (parodying "Smells Like Teen Spirit, obviously).

For a 15 year old recording, these videos hold up really well, with the filmer getting solid audio from a near-front row vantage point, so don't let the age of the recording scare you off. Weird Al sounds great in these performances, almost album quality, and his energy and costume changes are excellent. Give the whole concert a watch below, there should be multiple things here for your musical and/or comedy tastes, and click here for SooToday's coverage of Weird Al's local concert proper!

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

 

• I have moved Sault Ontario "shield rock" duo Swampgut to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. The band has not issued a public update since releasing their self-titled album on Bandcamp on February 19th of last year, and while their lack of a proper social media page outside of there may not help, singer/drummer Frank McCormick's related visual arts page on Facebook hasn't had an update in longer still. Swampgut was active from 2011-2015 before coming back in late 2020, culminating in the album release, and hopefully this isn't the last we hear from Frank & Rob!
• I have removed inactive local metal band Unbound (a.k.a. With Blood Build Character version 2.0) from our band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook (and only surviving online) page at some point in the past year. Successors to State of Misery, Unbound are sadly best known for the passing of their original singer Justin Fratpietro before they could even publically launch in January 2013, and their only concerts took place in Justin's hometown of Thunder Bay in his memory, before falling inactive that spring. Unbound didn't have much luck, but hopefully Ray, Christopher, Kevin, and Nick are doing well nowadays!
• While they have not publically elaborated on the release of their teased EP, local punk quartet Vanity are already back in studio, revealing on their Facebook page yesterday that they were recording a song at Mission Control Studios, complete with photos of the band tracking their parts there. Very cool to see a young band like this already working at Mission Control, and we'll let you know when more comes out on this song and/or the EP!
  

 

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

Oddfellows Hall Concert Fallout, An Inactive Band, And Much More!!

On this cold Saturday afternoon, we have an assortment of updates, including a new cover video, an inactive band to take note of, and more assorted updates (including a prominent CD reissue), but first, what went down at last night's all ages concert? Here's what you need to know!

As you may know, yesterday's heavy and persistent snowfall and weather warnings put a damper on the all ages metal show at The Oddfellows Hall, most notably preventing North Bay headlining acts TheKillingField and Buried Out Back from making the trip for the show. That's definitely disappointing, especially given how long it's been since either band played here, but hopefully they'll get a local raincheck! On extremely late notice, Blood Shed Productions metal duo Brutaly Fatal were added to the bill as the night's opening band to help fill the gap, in just their second show, their first (I think) with new drummer Tyler "Ringsnaps" Gibson, and their first since announcing plans to deemphasize death metal. As well, a later post on the event page said that the thought-defunct Mike Haggith & The Din were added late as well, which would mark the acid rock trio's first live set since the summer (complete with a new lineup, apparently), but details beyond there have yet to be publicized.

The weather did regrettably keep me from attending, but hopefully the people that came out had a great time! This definitely isn't the best way for Heavy North Entertainment to kick off their run as local concert promoters, but they apparently plan to reschedule the headliners in the near future, so fingers crossed that the second time's a charm, as I didn't wanna miss last night's show! Also, kudos to Ringsnaps for pulling triple duty last night (and to Pillory for headlining), and hopefully we see all the performers back soon!

Next up, I'm regrettably moving a local hard rock band to our inactive local band links, that being the second version of With Blood Build Character (originally known as Unbound.) While not past our one year threshhold for inactivity, they have issued no public updates since March, and a recent Facebook status reply from drummer Nick Kainula started with "If I had a band going", so it doesn't look like they're functioning at present. Originally fronted by the late Justin Fratpietro, his passing last year actually predated the band's public launch, with their surviving members (all formerly of State of Misery) staying together with bassist Kevin D'Orazio on lead vocals, and playing their only concerts in Justin's hometown of Thunder Bay in March 2013. Due to a naming conflict, the band recycled the With Blood Build Character name (after Ray Cowan & later addition Christopher Neveau's short lived late 2012 band) for their last show on March 29th, though activity stalled afterwards.

Unbound/W.B.B.C. had promise, especially as they deviated from State of Misery by playing a more straightforward hard rock sound, but despite optimism from Nick in personal conversations, things didn't go the way they were intended both before & after Justin's death. It would have been great to see the band power through and play some local dates last year, but at least Justin's family got to see them live! Best of luck to Kevin, Chris, Ray, and Nick in the future, and they're now in our inactive band links (albeit listed as Unbound, their longer used & less cumbersome name.)

Also today, Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy has posted yet another solo cover onto his YouTube channel, this time of Lifehouse's "You & Me"! Though it's his first proper cover video of 2014, he preceded it with a new original song named "Paradise Sunrise" that is an lively acoustic rock number, but it definitely shares more similarities with his recent covers than his band work. The new Lifehouse cover is par for the course of his recent work, featuring vocal, guitar, and drum performances, and it's well done (especially if you like this style of music), so give Alex's new video a look below!



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

• Are you curious to see local classic/hard rock quintet The Thrill Junkies' setlist? Former bassist Jamie Cameron apparently made one of sorts during his early 2013 tenure with the band via a 30 song playlist on his personal YouTube channel, which features links to songs by everyone from Alice In Chains & The Beatles to Velvet Revolver and Volbeat. Interesting mix, with a lot of metal tunes, so give it a look above (though be cautious, as things may have changed since he left.)
• I've removed local banquet hall & sporadic concert venue The Verdi Hall from our concert venue links due to their website being taken offline, possibly due to the expiration of the domain name. The Queen Street West hall is still open (it just hosted the Ray Brown benefit last fall), but we typically only see it used for heavier concerts if there's a benefit/fundraiser component. If the website returns though, we'll re-add it!
• Earache Records are finally reissuing one of Woods of Ypres' first three albums under their banner, as their 2008 CD "Woods III: The Deepest Roots & Darkest Blues" will be reissued on CD and in limited coloured vinyl pressings on March 24th, with some bundles including new t-shirts. Click here for complete pre-order information and details on the packages, and hopefully this new release is a success so their earlier albums (and more?) are officially seen again!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Curse The Witch! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Full Throttle), A New Band Discovery, And Sault Ontario News & Notes!!

Continuing with our recent abundance of Sault Michigan news, we have even more on this Saturday morning (our first of two posts today), so we'll lead off with a new band discovery and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT! After that, we'll touch on some recent Sault Ontario updates, including a new video and much more, so here's what you need to know!

In some recent Google searching, I recently discovered a defunct Sault Michigan hardcore/punk band named Poverty Stricken, so here's what you should know about them! Previously named Death By Kickdrum, Poverty Stricken were a young band (at the time) that was active from roughly 2003-2006, and they have a fairly detailed autobiography on their Angelfire website that has even minor details about their run, along with more info on their Tripod website and their PureVolume page. Their lineup widely varied, but frontman Taylor Keller & drummer Jack Messer were constants (alongside guitarist Ian Rose & bassist Justin Menard in their last lineup), and notable local metal guitarists like Mike Libertoski & Scott Savoie were briefly members according to the above links. Poverty Stricken did play live gigs, mainly at school functions, but they did play at the local Sidewalk Sales event in August 2006, and I can't find much else for band details after that point. They also released two demo tapes featuring mixtures of original material and metal/punk covers, and four rough demos were posted onto their PureVolume page linked above, but how do they sound?

The quality's rough, but there is a carefree style and a hard edge to the posted songs, and I think Poverty Stricken sound pretty good given their ages! I also admire the work put into their websites, band pages this old (let alone from high schoolers) don't tend to be this detailed. Some of the songs are a bit punk leaning, but there's something there musically, and I'd be interested to see what Taylor and Jack are up to musically now! Poverty Stricken are now in our inactive Sault Michigan band links!

Next up, here's that SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Full Throttle will be playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this was only just announced yesterday, and it'd have made our last Sault Michigan-only post too long if I shoved it in late. Recent favourites at The Bird, Full Throttle (featuring Absolute's Donny Newell on vocals, guitarists Jason Lamoreaux & Steve Pevarnic, drummer Mark Gillotte, and a bassist to be determined) should have a varied set of hard rock-leaning covers in store for fans tonight, so if you need something to do after LemmaFest, why not take a trip down to The Bird for some Full Throttle action? There's no announced cover charge for this 9:00 PM show, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for details, and for a preview, here's Full Throttle's current incarnation covering Velvet Revolver's "Slither" in March!

We'll close this post in Sault Ontario, starting with new videos from local hard rock quartet Ashes To Dust! These are their first live concert videos since last fall, and like most of their other uploads, these come from performances on the stage at Superior Heights Collegiate & Vocational School, where the members still attend. Featuring their current lineup (though with Noah Morden focusing on vocals only with no bass), the videos are of Ashes To Dust playing their new original song "Forgotten Lives" and (as embedded below) a cover of 10 Years' "Wasteland", and the quality's fantastic on these! Noah's vocal range is improving, and the guys have a good sound and know the songs, though they could all stand to be a bit more energetic. Check out their 10 Years cover below, see more at the above links, follow Ashes To Dust on Twitter, and don't miss the guys at the third annual Swampstravaganza in August!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from Sault Ontario, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or venue name:

• Queen Street East bar/concert venue The Bottom's Up Lounge will close this weekend, due to the building's landlords selling the location to new owners who want it vacated by July 1st. Though not a common metal venue, Tym Morrison once frequented this small (though classy) lounge, and metal band alumni have played at their open mic nights. Disappointing news for sure, but hopefully the ownership returns with a new spot down the road!
• The July 6th Promonium Jesters-headlined concert has switched venues (sort of), as promoters have quietly moved the show from The Rockstar Bar to their downstairs neighbour The Algonquin Pub. A reason wasn't announced, but a scheduling conflict wouldn't surprise me, as it is a Saturday nighter. The show should still be great no matter what floor it's on, so don't miss it!
• I've removed defunct local hardcore band With Blood Build Character (the original band under this name, not the former Unbound that guitarist Christopher Neveau is also a member of) from our Sault Ontario band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page earlier this year. Essentially the successors to March Into Regression, they played live just once (in Laird last August) before falling inactive, but hopefully their members stay active in local music going forward!

That's all for now, but stay tuned later today for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on ex-Intrepid guitarist Donnie Hank's channel! Thanks everyone!

Unbound Updates & Name Change, Plus New Videos!!

In our 27th straight day of SMS updates, we've got some more news and videos to share today, including some new solo covers & new material from separate local projects. However, we'll lead off today with a bunch of stories from a newer local metal band, including their first live concert video, a guitarist departure, and a familiar name change, so here's what you need to know!

Let's start with some news from the newer local metal band known as Unbound, starting with the news that they have changed their name yesterday. As revealed on the Facebook event page for their show in Thunder Bay on Friday, the name change is to avoid confusion & conflicts with a prior Thunder Bay metal band named Unbound, whose name late singer Justin Fratpietro got permission to use as inspiration for the local band's name. Good move on the surface, as you could tell that there was some questioning of a "new" Unbound playing there, and hopefully everything's smoothed over! As a result, the band's new name is With Blood Build Character... wait, haven't we heard that before? You may remember last summer when a band of that same name was formed by the non-drumming members of local hardcore/death metal band March Into Regression (Jeremy Hannah, Ray Cowan, Christopher Neveau, and Tyler St. Amour), but they only played one show in August before going inactive. Since then, Christopher & Ray joined the former Unbound, and it looks like Christopher had the W.B.B.C. name to give to this new band when the time arose!

Note that aside from the name & common members, these are definitely two different bands, as the current W.B.B.C. don't play hardcore songs, and they were initially formed under a different name. Personally, I find the new/old name is a downgrade, as it's grammatically awkward (shouldn't it be "...Builds Character"?), and it was initially conceived for a different style of metal band, but at least in this case, members have the rights to this previously used name!

It also looks like they've already split with lead guitarist Ray Cowan at some point in the past week, as per his removal from W.B.B.C.'s Facebook page's lineup recently. A reason wasn't announced, but hopefully things are amicable, and best of luck to Ray in the future, as he's a very talented guitarist! With his departure, their lineup currently lists Christopher Neveau back on guitar, with frontman Kevin D'Orazio on vocals only, and the bassist position is empty. If there's a member search on the horizon, I'll let you guys know! Finally, the former Unbound made their live debut two weeks ago at Pier 61 in Thunder Bay two weeks ago, and the first video from their debut is now online to check out! Normally, I wouldn't plug this, as it's a personal Facebook video, but with no other glimpses of 2013 work yet, I wanna spread the word until something public & embeddable pops up. Uploaded by attendee Kiko Tommasini, it's of With Blood Build Character playing an original song named "Pound It Back", and it seems to be influenced by groove metal bands like Prong or Pro-Pain, which is cool to see from a Sault Ontario band!

Kevin D'Orazio has the right vocal aggression and tone for the material, but he needs to get a bit more diverse and less monotonous in my opinion, and the song is somewhat repetitive. Their stage presences could also be a bit looser, but overall, I like where the new With Blood Build Character is going, and hopefully they play more local shows than the first version did! Stay tuned for more updates!

We'll close today with some new videos, including one and some extra updates from Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night! Oddly, none of their recent news have been about their planned third re-recording of "Christmas Night", instead focusing on different new projects, possibly leading to a new EP that they hyped on their Facebook page on March 17th. Though it's possible concept or theme isn't known yet, could it be classical covers? They already posted one Mozart sonata in a metal style, and on Friday, they posted their cover of Mozart's "Symphony No. 25" onto their Reverbnation page, and it's predictably good as a metal rendition! It's not as familiar as Mozart's #11, but give it a listen above for some quality classical metal! The other new posting is a video previewing a re-recording of their 2011 original "Uthgar's Last Stand" (not "Ulfgar's Last Stand" as it was called then), though I'll note that their Facebook page is crediting it as a "brand new" song.

Posted to their YouTube channel on Thursday, it features two short samples of the re-recorded track, which will reportedly feature vocals from singer Gaby Koss when it's completed, along with footage from what looks like their recording studio. It sounds like it will be an improvement, but of course, stay tuned for updates as they come in, and check out their new sample video of "Uthgar's Last Stand" below!



Finally for today, here's a new solo cover from Valentine's Day Massacre bassist Adam Veale! Yes, he's getting in on the solo video action, as he's been featured in two filmed covers on his dad John's YouTube channel within the past 4 months. Featuring him on vocals & acoustic guitar from his current London homebase, the covers are of The Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" and (as embedded below) The Smashing Pumpkins' "Today", and they amount to the first videos of Adam singing that we've seen since before Sativa Rose got a full time singer. The Pumpkins have heavier stuff, but I think Adam's vocal range suits softer material like this better, and he does display some guitar talent in the process! See if you like Adam's solo clips above, and his cover of "Today" is below!



That's all for today, but I'll see you guys at 180 Gore Street TONIGHT for Soul Killing Female, the debut of AlgomA, and Honest Job! ALL AGES, don't miss it! Thanks everyone!