Two Inactive Local Bands, New Grunge/Alternative Covers, And Some Deleted Links!!

Let's keep our recent busy stretch going at the SMS with another news post, but what's on the docket this time around? Along with some link deletions from the site, we also have new covers from a pair of inactive & linked grunge/alternative bands, but first, we have some bands to consider as now likely inactive, so here's what you need to know!

I've opted to move two linked Sault Ontario metal bands to our inactive band links, those being local hardcore/death metal acts March Into Regression & With Blood Builds Character. Neither has issued a public update since last summer, and most of their personnel have been busy in other projects lately (Ray Cowan & Christopher Neveau in Unbound, Josh Stephney in The Bear Hunters & Giwakwa, Jeremy Hannah with solo indie material, and Tyler St. Amour in Social Suicide), so both bands seem to be on the backburner, or worse. As you may remember, March Into Regression (formerly Bring The Misery in mid-2011) was relaunched by drummer Travis St. Amour last June with a new larger lineup & a looser jam feel for shows in Laird & at The Rosie, but they were essentially succeeded by With Blood Builds Character in July, who featured the same lineup (minus Josh & Travis), though all of March Into Regression's last members played in some form at W.B.B.C.'s only gig last August in Laird. Note that M.I.R.'s return last year coincided with Travis' return home from college last spring, but I've heard nothing about a similar resurrection of either of these bands in 2013 (at least, not yet.)

Despite the informal nature of their shows, I thought both March Into Regression & With Blood Builds Character had a lot of promise (their originals proved that), and I hoped that one of the bands would last longer than they did locally, but at least most of the guys are keeping active in the local scene. Best of luck to Jeremy, Josh, Ray, Christopher, Dan, Tyler, Travis, and other ex-members in the future, and here's hoping we see more from them all shortly!

Next up, a pair of inactive projects from local musician Dann Pichette have some new audio uploads to check out via his YouTube channel on Friday! One is a cover of The Beatles' "I'm Not Sleeping", which is credited to his old grunge band No Arrow (though Dann played all instruments on the track), and while I'm not a scholar of Beatles material, Dann did seem to put in a good sound and effort on this cover, even if it's not that heavy! The vocals are somewhat punk-inspired & listless, but it gives it vibe similar to that of Dann's later SBD work. Check out his "I'm Not Sleeping" cover below!



Also, Dann also uploaded this cover of Syd Barrett's "Octopus" (credited to his most recent local band project, alternative/grunge trio SBD) onto YouTube as well! Featuring bassist Brad Griffith on drums in place of Shane Triplett, this is in line with many of SBD's live covers (lots of early Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett songs), and it shows more originality and a closer link to their sound than The Beatles one arguably did, so I like it more on that basis alone! Check out SBD's new/old Syd Barrett cover below!



Finally for today, here's some notes on deleted links leading from our recent layout changes. One deleted page was that of Andrea Gosselin Photography (who did lots of local concert photography and the photos for Garden of Bedlam's latest album), as her website is currently unavailable. No word on why this happened, but with no indications of it being temporary (or replacement pages), I've deleted it from our links... at least for now. The other deletions are inactive local metal-relevant message boards, as the forums for both defunct hard rock band Renderware & the former regional music webzine Northern Rocks Magazine have been taken down by their respective hosts. No reason was publicized for Renderware's forum, but the Northern Rocks forum was a casualty of the migration of old Forumer-hosted boards to the newer Yuku platform, similarly to why the old Sault Music Scene forums were taken down. It can be saved & completely migrated if requested by March 21st, but seeing as the magazine hasn't been produced since mid-2009, the odds are extremely slim. (I really wish the magazine was still around though, it had great content and a great purpose!)

With these closures, we're down to 5 active local metal-relevant message boards that I know of (Woods of Ypres & Gates of Winter's forums, Freq's Music Planet, SooNet Musician Central, and the 705 Video Magazine forums), but the 705VM boards are currently down (possibly due to spam issues), and only Freq's Music Planet has been otherwise maintained in the past year. This seems odd to see the dropoff, but maybe social media is diminishing the need for forums? I think there's still a place for message boards (even if my own attempts failed), and hopefully more will pop up soon!

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

A Big New Outdoor Concert's Band Search, A Notable Band's Likely Status, And Much More!!

Here's some more news for this Sunday morning, and there's some notable stuff to address and cover! Today, we've got updates to one of our monthly feature series, a bunch of assorted news and notes, videos of a local metal guitarist, and the likely status of a local metal band, but first, here's some information on a planned major concert event that YOU can apply to play on!

Are you or your band interested in playing at a multi-band outdoor concert in the Sault Ontario area next summer? Applications are being taken right now for some sort of concert event to be held in June 2013, as per postings by organizer Rita Slater on our Facebook page, and a related "Sault Ste. Marie Outdoor Concert" Facebook page that she's launched. Rita is the general manager of Laird International Raceway and the organizer of the relaunched Hot Rides Cornfest that was held there this month & last August, and from what I can gather, this event (which may also be a festival) would likely take place in Laird as well, though it's not planned to be country music-centric like Cornfest is. Details are otherwise scant on this planned event, but headlining bands will apparently be announced later this year, and she's hoping to find 10-12 local acts to perform. If you or your band are interested in playing this outdoor concert event in Laird next June, e-mail Rita A.S.A.P. at theboomboomshow@hotmail.ca! I know the new Cornfest has been successful, but a new music festival in the area with rock integration (and hopefully some metal) would be neat, especially in June rather than later months where it'd have more competition. I'd say take Rita up on this offer to apply for this event, you never know how big it could be, so send your e-mails A.S.A.P., and stay tuned for updates on this event!

Next up, I wanted to note a band that we're regrettably moving to the inactive band links on the SMS, that being local classic metal quintet Sativa Rose. Though we're not at the one year-inactivity threshold for them (they were last visibly active in December via some concert video uploads), an immediate future for Sativa Rose is unlikely due to members Andrew Angelic & Adam Veale's planned move to London for college early next month. Nothing official has ever came out regarding Sativa Rose's status, but with Andrew & Adam focusing on the also-moving Valentine's Day Massacre, guitarist Anthony Orazietti now in Winkstinger, and drummer Alex Palmer living out of town himself right now (I think), the writing seems to be on the wall. It's disappointing to see Sativa Rose fall into inactivity, especially knowing their musical talent and the unrealized potential that their final lineup (including singer Marisa Valois) had following that lineup's first & last show in November. No matter what, they gave us a lot of great shows and originals from their summer 2010 debut through last fall, and classic metal fans had a lot to like and headbang with! Best of luck to Marisa, Andrew, Anthony, Adam, and Alex in the future, and maybe Sativa Rose will pop up again in some form down the road!

Thirdly today, remember how we shared videos from new Sault Ontario thrash metal band Pillory and their 2011 predecessors Roadkill on Thursday? Well, guitarist Robert Sartini has posted 10 solo thrash covers aside from his recent band work on his YouTube channel as well! With one exception, these were all filmed last year, and they include covers of Metallica's "Jump In The Fire" and the solo from "Disposable Heroes", and Viking's "Case of the Stubborns", but the rest are all Megadeth, including versions of "In My Darkest Hour", "Set The World Afire", "Victory", "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", and the solo from it in a separate video, so click each link to see Robert in action! He has skill at metal guitar work for sure, but his guitar is tuned a bit weirdly on some of the videos, and there are some rough patches. He does have talent though, and I'm curious to hear more from Robert in Pillory or solo uploads, so check out his cover of "Holy Wars" below, and see more at the above links!



Fourthly, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band or musician name:

• Local classic metal quartet Late & Loud have quietly uploaded their entire upcoming debut EP to their Reverbnation page! It's good to hear all of these songs in full, but as always, I'll hold on full thoughts until it's hopeful release. Check all five tracks out at the above links, and stay tuned for their long awaited return at the end of the month when they open for Skull Fist!
  
• Former Bear Hunters/Skull After Betrayl guitarist Mike Vincent is looking for a hardcore/metalcore vocalist for his new project, which will apparently cover bands like August Burns Red and Whitechapel. This could be interesting if it gets to the level of Mike's older bands, but I don't know a whole lot on them yet. If you're interested, message Mike at this location or find his post on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group from August 6th!
• Also new on the Musicians Wanted group, local hardcore band With Blood Builds Character are officially looking for a drummer (they had temporarily enlisted Travis St. Amour for their debut show.) Frontman Jeremy Hannah indicated in a post late last month on the group that they're hoping to tour in January, so make note of that. If you're a technical metal drummer and are interested in joining W.B.B.C., message Jeremy at this location or read more at the above links!
  

And finally for today, here's some updates to our YouTube Channel Profiles, to make that monthly feature series more accurate and current! On the profile of YouTube user AshTraynor's channel (which is centric towards Kinross hard rockers Banned), I updated references to their current lineup (namely the return of Alex Schrovenwever as their new second guitarist), and made lineup adjustments accordingly, along with some date fixing. On the StateOfMisery2011 channel profile, I updated it to reflect State of Misery's latest breakup from earlier this summer, and finally, I edited the GardenofBedlamBand channel profile to note the current amount and usage of newer band channels, as it's been replaced twice over in the last 3 years. That's all for that latest batch of updates, but as more updates come up relating to our monthly feature series, I'll let you guys know so you don't miss anything that's added, removed, or switched! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly, including our next YouTube Channel Profiles and our Dead & Divine concert preview in a few days! Thanks everyone!

With Blood Builds Character & BeeFMouTH Videos, Woods V Reviews, And More!!

Wow, it's been a slow streak for news lately, hasn't it? That, and I got a cold that's sapped some of my energy, but there definitely hasn't been a lot of news this week so far, which explains the wait for this new post. We've got stuff today though, including your first glimpse of a new local band, a new video from a late 1990s metal band, some new "W5" reviews, updates to one of our monthly feature series, and a new video from a local guitarist, so read on below for what you need to know!

First up, here's our first video footage of new local hardcore band With Blood Builds Character! The new band formed by members of March Into Regression of course debuted at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird on Saturday, and two videos of their set were shot by attendee Tiia Opala-Ollinaho and uploaded to Facebook over the last couple of days, so click here to check them both out! I normally wouldn't share new personal Facebook page-uploaded videos here, but when it's all you have, they're too notable to not share! One video features W.B.B.C.'s current lineup (plus guest drummer Travis St. Amour, who's not staying full time from what I have heard), and the other video features M.I.R. singer/Bear Hunters guitarist Josh Stephney filling in on vocals. Not sure on the exact identity of either song, but the latter sounds familiar. These videos are of solid quality (though the first one is flipped sideways for some reason), and Jeremy does add a unique spin compared to most recent hardcore singers locally, though I've noticed from available photos and videos that their set on Saturday may have taken a more jam session/informal feel like March Into Regression's shows did. Even former M.I.R. bassist Dan Souliere is seen filling in for Tyler St. Amour in some photos I've seen , so it's almost like it was the same band with a different name.

I hope there's more distinction between With Blood Builds Character and March Into Regression in the future (if they are indeed different bands as Travis had said), but either way, W.B.B.C. and M.I.R. both have promise, and hopefully we'll see and hear more from them to come, so stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's a new video from defunct local hardcore punk trio BeeFMouTH! This is of Kevin Campbell & Boyd Rendell's old band playing their song "Tar" at a 1999 jam session, and it was uploaded to Boyd's YouTube channel on July 31st following some post-editing by Boyd's film company 62nd Chamber Productions (who are now in our "Other Local Metal Links" section.) Now, the video has a 62nd Chamber watermark, no letterboxes, a green hue and some more old fashioned effects, and a sound upgrade, and while I don't know if I'd have made it look older, it's a nice look back 13 years! The audio's decent, and though the members all face each other, the video quality isn't bad. "Tar" has that solid mix of high pitched vocals and heaviness again, though this is slower and doomier than some of BeeFMouTH's other available tracks. It's definitely worth checking out, and kudos to Boyd for posting this online for us to check out, so give BeeFMouTH's performance of "Tar" a look below!



Thirdly, here's yet more reviews of Woods of Ypres' powerful final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light"! In February, "Patrick" from the blog Beards etc. gave an A grade to "Woods V", calling it "a very emotional experience" and an early contender for album of the year (although he admitted being biased), even admitting that parts of the album brought him close to tears. It's great to know that David Gold's music can have that effect on some people, it's a testament to his songwriting skills and influence, and check out Patrick's review at this location! In April, Peter Clegg from the blog We Must Obey gave "W5" a positive review, calling it "phenomenal" and a "fitting epitaph", while emphasizing the finality and "death note" feeling that it gave. Solid review, and well written, so click here to read it! Finally, a writer at the doom metal website Doommantia gave "Woods V" a 7/10 rating in February, recommending the album on it's heavy & emotional lyrics, though docking points for what they saw as "minimalist" and "fairly simple" music. I appreciate the honesty in their comparisons to other doom metal bands and the musical quality, but I'd say David & Joel deserve more credit. Still, great points are raised, so click here for their review, and stay tuned for more "Woods V" reviews as I find them!

Also, here's some assorted updates to our YouTube Channel Profile Series, just to make our entries in that monthly feature series more accurate & current. In our Garden of Bedlam YouTube channel profile, I edited the channel info to note that it's no longer their currently-used YouTube channel (that distinction belongs to the "Videos of Bedlam" channel), along with noting that the former Foggy Notions (a frequent early venue of theirs) is now the new Coch's Corner, and also a minor note on songs from their Rotaryfest 2010 set now being on their "Everything Will Die" CD. Similarly, I edited the profile on guitarist Josh Belleau's YouTube channel to note the abundance of official channels. On the joeybeairl channel profile, I renamed Unleashed drummer Jacob Hotland's current band from Tantrum to their new name Tantrym Tyme, and I also restored the video for Candle Hour's song "Overture" due to it's link changing for one reason or another on their channel's profile. Finally for this batch of updates, I noted that ex-Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie has posted a new video to his YouTube channel in our profile of his channel, and because we haven't featured it here before, let's talk about it right now to close this post!

Posted on July 3rd, this must have got lost in the shuffle of our 5th anniversary posts, but it's of Scott's solo cover of the Periphery song "New Groove" (or, about 90 seconds of it.) It's very well done, but I wish Scott had covered more of the original track, but it's a solid start, and he knows it really well! Very technical, but he can handle it for the most part, so check out Scott's newest video below, and stay tuned for more on both him and our next YouTube Channel Profile updates soon!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this weekend's concert previews either tomorrow or Friday morning! Thanks everyone!

Two New Local Metal Bands, New Tym Morrison Material, And More!!

It's time for a new news post at the SMS, including lots of notable updates, but first, just letting you guys know that I don't think there's a Rooosevelt Hotel metal night tonight, despite today being next on the recent bi-weekly schedule. Nothing official has came out about the 48th and next installment of the Thursday metal concert series, so I doubt there's anything imminent, but I've heard rumblings about a show on August 2nd, so stay tuned for updates! Now, today's post features updates to one of our monthly series, new material from a prominent musician, and leading things off, two new local metal bands, so here's what you need to know!

Our first new band is a local progressive hardcore outfit named With Blood Builds Character, and you may recognize their lineup as featuring four members of March Into Regression! This new band features Like Father Like Son frontman/sometimes concert promoter Jeremy Hannah on vocals, guitarists Ray Cowan (ex-State of Misery) and Christopher Neveau, and Social Suicide bassist Tyler St. Amour (no drummer has been announced yet), and they will play their first show under this band name as the last confirmed band at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird on August 4th! They'll take the 6:00 PM slot, but they forgot the "With" in their name on the Facebook event page. This all said, what does this new band's formation mean in terms of the status of March Into Regression? M.I.R. drummer Travis St. Amour (who, along with Josh Stephney, is not visibly in this new band) commented on the event page above that the two bands "have no affiliation", and he has been looking on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group this month for singers & guitarists to work with, so it sounds like the four members of W.B.B.C. broke off and started a more formal new band for some reason or another. That said, M.I.R.'s Facebook page hasn't been updated since July 9th, so I can't say for certain if they are completely gone, or what M.I.R.'s next steps are, but I'll keep you posted!

With Blood Builds Character do have promise judging by the Jeremy-sung songs that they did when I saw March Into Regression, and hopefully they can last locally and inject some creative heavy metal into some upcoming concerts! Stay tuned for updates on both With Blood Builds Character and March Into Regression as it all rolls in, as well as the Laird show next month!

Today's other new band to add to the SMS listings is the Sault Michigan metal project Denaturant! Currently, the band only has one member, that being former Hammerspace guitarist Justin Smith, but he's currently on the hunt for additional musicians to complete a full lineup that would "take a specific journey through music." Denaturant was actually launched last July, but Justin has only recently returned to actively updating the band's Facebook & Reverbnation pages towards a proper launch. Plans are for Denaturant to play all original music and to bring back "the raw energy and skill that it deserves", but more musicians are needed to further those goals, so message Justin at this location if you wanna try out! Aside from a video of a brief original sample from last fall, there's no previews yet of Denaturant's sound, but that video has promise, and I liked Justin's work with Hammerspace, so hopefully he can get this new band even further off the ground and bring some more active original metal to Sault Michigan! Check them out at the above links, and both Denaturant and With Blood Builds Character are now in our active band links on the SMS!

Next up, here's some news from local metal musician Tym Morrison! Though best known recently for his solo acoustic cover gigs and his sets with his band Caveman Morrison, long time fans are bound to remember his original music as well, which led to the release of his debut album "Solo Project" in the mid-2000s. Samples of 9 songs for a planned "next album" have been streamable on his official website for some time now, but in recent months, all we've heard from Tym in terms of solo material has been newer compositions, mostly of a softer or comedic nature. However, he's been posting a bunch of new solo original recordings onto his YouTube channel over the last couple of days, including new versions of the planned album tracks "Dungeons & Dragons" & "Lay It On The Line", new takes of his songs "Someday", "The After Life", and the 9/11 tribute song from his website, and two newly posted originals entitled "His Sacrifice" and "Termination of Exystance", so click each link to check them out! Apparently, Tym is working again on his second CD according to recent posts on his personal Facebook page, and if these new songs are any indication of what to expect, I think things are in good hands!

Under the premise that these will be on an album coming out, I'll hold detailed thoughts for a future review, but these songs do cover a wide range of topics and sounds, and if you like heavy metal, most of these will fill that void! I'll share "Dungeons & Dragons" below (featuring some very good singing on Tym's part), but check the above links for more, and stay tuned for updates on Tym's second CD and future original compositions!



And finally for today, here's the rest of the recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series posts to make them more current and accurate! On the Algoma University Battle profile, I added a trivia note on Creedon & The Animal Detectives drummer Terrence Gomes' future battle appearance as Changing Waves' bassist at the Battle For The Blood last month, while the Sault College/Scotties Tournament Battle's profile saw updates to reflect first place winners Blackwater's inactive status, third place act Sykotyk Rampage's current album count, and the current solo projects for Blackwater frontman Cody McMillan & Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan. Finally for this batch of updates, the Downtown Showdown profile now refers to third place winners The Tenagens' recent reemergence in the local scene and guest Bring The Fallen bassist Mike Kyle's almost-return to a battle when his current band Shit Liver were listed to play at the Battle For The Blood at one point. Things aren't completely up to date with these profiles though, as these were part of edits I made so long ago that there's stuff I missed (i.e. With Blood Builds Character's formation), so stay tuned in the near future for more updates and fact changes to this and our other monthly feature series at the SMS!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for previews of this weekend's Rotaryfest Second Stage TONIGHT! Thanks everyone!