A New Punk Band Discovery, New Local Concert Videos, And Much More!!

Let's dive back into some general and more varied news and notes for this third post of the month, so what's in store? Assorted recent notes, a milestone video of ours from our early months at the SMS, and some spring concert footage, but first, here's a new addition to our inactive band links!

We have a "new" local band to add to our band links, and they are F.F.B., a defunct punk trio who have quietly re-emerged in the past year with posthumous plans! We've acknowledged F.F.B. (acronym meaning unclear) on the site before, but only now do they have enough public information to make it fit on the site. Active for a 4 month span in 1999 and 2000, F.F.B. were distant predecessors to the inactive punk/grunge duo The Red & Black, with singer/guitarist Chris Shoust (Telephone & Address) and drummer Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda joined by Kyle Grawbarger (instrument unclear, possibly bass?), who isn't familiar from recent local bands. The band reportedly only played 4 shows during their brief run, with at least one being in Sault Michigan before the border tightened up, and they apparently recorded 16 songs, including originals and covers from bands like The Misfits, The Exploited, and Minor Threat.

Chris has teased releasing F.F.B.'s surviving material as far back as 2011 via their posthumous Facebook page, and the guys apparently agreed to release a film about this band last November, but  nothing has stated since. It's hard to comment on F.F.B.'s run personally, as their songs aren't known to be available yet, and I was 10 years old during their heyday, but stay tuned in case some archive material and/or that teased film make their way online!

Next up, here's some recent concert videos from prolific local concert filmer Chris Paci's YouTube channel, and yes, we'll touch on his last Hedley video later this week! Chris was in attendance for the Motherfuckers-headlined concert at The Oddfellows Hall on April 30th, but for one reason or another, the three videos that he shot that night weren't posted online for two months. Better late than never! His videos (all of the headlining Calgary hardcore punk band) include this short song, and this similarly quick number, but embedded below are multiple songs from The Motherfuckers' set. I admittedly am having trouble titling these (especially as they sound so similar to multiple tracks), but blame that partly on the muffled audio through the camera. Chris got solid footage though, and from a pair of angles, so give his videos from this all ages punk concert a look above & below!

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

• Oshawa "death punk" quartet Black Cat Attack have been forced to drop out of THIS FRIDAY'S concert at The Rockstar Bar due to unspecified van troubles, as per promoter J.D. Pearce on the Facebook event page on Friday. Disappointing to be sure, but the show must go on, as B.C.A frontwoman Valerie Knox's other band, Toronto grunge/punk quartet The Anti-Queens (who were already opening) are now the headline act, while classic metal quintet Project 421 have been added as a late opening band in their place (not punk, but their talent speaks for itself), and admission has been halved to $5! See above for more details!
• In a minor update stemming from their recent studio track postings on their Bandcamp page, the album cover for the apparently self-titled debut EP from local hard rock quartet Long Shot is featured on Bandcamp too! It's simple (pictures of the guys on a white background with their logo), but it'll get the job done if it is indeed final, so check out their EP's current content above!
• We missed this when we originally covered the apparent upcoming cassette album from Telephone & Address, but when BGP Tapes owner, musician, and Gore Street Cafe co-owner Sam Decter revealed the plans for "Are You Or Have You Ever Been?" on his blog The Tinderbox, he suggested that it would be a split, with side B focusing on his new experimental rap duo The Leash Kids. Again, Telephone & Address haven't acknowledged these (or any other) album plans lately, but this would be an interesting release, so keep watch for updates!

Finally for today, I wanted to share an archive video find that has never been featured on the SMS before, despite being the earliest surviving concert video that I have ever shot. This comes from the Skid Row Battle of the Bands/skatepark fundraiser at The Speak Easy on April 27th, 2008, during the first year of The Sault Metal Scene's run, and it's of defunct hard rockers Sense of Truth playing their early original "Anything At All" during their battle winning set! Represented by singer/guitarist Cory Murchison (Skeyes of Seven), guitarist Steve Myers (The Wild Iris), bassist Patric Belanger (who left the band by year's end), and drummer Ryan "Kev Riain" Haryett, the guys definitely delivered their A-game in what was their live concert debut! At this point, I was using a low quality cell phone camera (certainly not an iPhone), hence why the video quality is hideous and it's only 15 seconds long, but hey, for better or worse, it's a milestone for us.

This was originally featured on my personal Facebook page, where it attracted virtually no attention, but I have given it some extra life eight years down the road, namely by having the video fade in & out, and by replacing the extremely scratchy original audio with synced audio from Cory's own footage of Sense of Truth playing this song at the battle (all credit to him & that video's original filmer!) It's just 15 seconds of low quality cell phone footage, but it's our first toe in the water in terms of filming concerts, so check it out below, and of course, check out Cory's video above for the best view of this performance!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates as the week progresses! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Black Cat Attack), New Videos, And More Assorted Notes!!

As we continue to clear our our cache of recent news items, here's a packed news post for your Tuesday, and it includes some assorted recent updates, new concert videos from each side of the border (coincidentally, both including Led Zeppelin covers), and leading things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this summer, so here's what you need to know!

Oshawa "death punk" quartet Black Cat Attack will return to Sault Ontario for a headlining concert on Friday, July 8th at The Rockstar Bar! Almost three years removed from their local debut at the former Roosevelt Hotel in 2013 (ironically at a show relocated from The Algonquin Pub), this explosive genre-melding punk outfit should deliver strongly in their long awaited return to the Soo, and it never hurts that Sum 41 guitarist Dave "Brownsound" Baksh is a B.C.A. member as well! Frontwoman Valerie Knox's other band, Toronto grunge/punk quartet The Anti-Queens, will open in their local concert debut on July 8th, and their strong, to-the-point punk sound should get fans going as well at The Rockstar Bar this summer! Local support will come via punk/metal quintet Jack Spades (whose frontman J.D. Pearce is promoting this show), while at least one additional local band is to be announced, so message promoters at the official Facebook event page for more details just in case!

This 19+ concert has a 10:00 PM start time, and while admission will be $10, there will be some level of advance ticket sales, so stay tuned for updates on that front. It's great to see Black Cat Attack back in Sault Ste. Marie after such a long wait (I know the rumours of them playing Jack Spades' 2014 EP release show had some fans excited), so keep posted at the above links for full updates on what should be a big concert this summer!

Next up, here's some new videos, starting with lots of new concert videos from Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63's show this past Friday at The Rapids Lounge at the Soo's Kewadin Casino branch! All shared to the band's Facebook page over the past few days via personal Facebook accounts, one comes from attendee Brian Boswood, who filmed 17 seconds of Highway 63 covering Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You" that night, and while it's on the vertical cell phone camera angle, it's solid for what we get! The rest come from frontman Henry Switzer's own personal Facebook page, though the videos vary in length and camera orientation. Included are covers of Kiss' "Love Gun", part of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger", AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", The Outfield's "Your Love", the end of Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll", and as embedded below, Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", so click each link to watch each video to see what went down on Friday!

It's great to see a wide variety of new videos of this talented quartet, as both a sign that they are still playing announced gigs despite their caesura on Facebook promotion of them, and to give fans a fresh look at their recent shows! The videos are well filmed, and the guys sound good, especially on the heavier tunes, so give Highway 63's new Facebook videos a look!



Also today, here's a couple more hard rock covers from new local blues/classic rock cover quartet Red & The Muscle! Uploaded to frontwoman Marisa Valois' YouTube channel last week, one is a short audio cover of Heart's "Alone", joining a pair of Aretha Franklin renditions, but embedded below is a part of a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" from their debut concert at The Water Tower Inn earlier this month. It's a much better showcase of Marisa's strong vocal range compared to their earlier "Sweet Emotion" cover, and while the instruments are a little quiet, it's well done overall, so give it a look below, and see more from Red & The Muscle above!



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:

• In some clarification on new local band Gianni Gagoots (who are opening for Cocaine Moustache at July 12th's's punk rock bingo event at The New A), we can confirm that their lineup features Late Shift's Matt Sibilo on guitar, his former Redefined bandmate Josh St. Amour on bass, and veteran local punk drummer Frank McCormick on drums. Frank confirmed on the show's Facebook event page that they are a jam band inspired by numerous genres (including metal & punk) that make up songs on the spot. No word yet on their name's inspiration, who (if anyone) sings lead vocals, or if they'll launch an online page, but kudos to Frank for the info!
• Troubled Mind drummer Mike Vincent's third original song since relaunching his solo project can now be heard at his Bandcamp page! Entitled "Six, Six, Six", it's a fast and heavy instrumental that has some thrash and groove metal elements, but the production is uneven. Give it a listen above, as well as newly mastered versions of Mike's first two 2016 songs!
• We have moved Strongs, Michigan "backwoods metal" trio Swampghas to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. The Werehold Records-signed band hasn't posted an online update since their participation in March 2015's Friday the 13th music event, and we waited for this year's before making any calls on their status. Relaunched in 2012 after previously forming in 2001, Swampghas are a gritty & entertaining metal band whose album "The Raco Tower Incident" seemed to be coming along well, so hopefully we see Swampghas back soon, and best of luck to Jason, J.R., and Doug in the interim!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results on the site tomorrow, and for more news and previews as well! Thanks everyone!

Soo Band Roulette Review!!

FINALLY, we can get our review up of Saturday night's Soo Band Roulette at The Rockstar Bar, as the internet connection out of town has finally gotten it's act together, so our videos are now up in full and we can get this rolling! Without wasting any more time, here's what you need to know from this past Saturday's first ever event of this kind!

Though advertising for the event indicated an 8:00 PM start time, it kicked off much later than that, with the first band being announced a couple of hours later. As you may remember, the crux of Soo Band Roulette revolved around band members for each act being randomly drawn before they privately jammed, and promoter Steve Mozarowski and Smokin' Heroines member Amanda Brown drew the names on stage out of 4 hats, one each for singers, guitarists, bassists, and drummers. For the first band, the drawn names were Telephone & Address' Chris Shoust on vocals, ex-Late & Loud bassist Benn Garside, and ex-Winkstinger drummer Jonas Gasperas, while the guitarist was a relative unknown named Tyler Toews (any relation to Jonathan?) It eventually came out that Tyler is a member of the Nelson, B.C. indie/techno hybrid band Tofu Stravinsky, who some of you may remember as a late notice addition to last year's Creepshow concert at the former Roosevelt Hotel. Remember the name Tofu Stravinsky, as it will come up again!

Before their set, however, was the announced open mic set to fill time while the first band rehearsed and jammed out their short set, and while it was announced to be hosted by Northwest guitarist Greg Callaghan, he didn't make the event for unannounced reasons and was replaced by the aforementioned Steve Mozarowski. Deja vu from this year's Sewer Swampstravaganza, though unlike at that event, we had less performers on Saturday, with only 3 different musicians (all singers & guitarists) taking the stage. Steve kicked things off playing covers of everyone from Oasis and Radiohead to The Smashing Pumpkins, and handling each in solidly entertaining fashion for fans of his prior solo sets, before handing things over to Patrick Evans, who I'm largely unfamiliar with, but shown some grit and skill on country covers from the likes of Darius Rucker and Uncle Kracker. Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger ended the open mic set with his own acoustic punk covers, including the likes of The Vapors, Biffy Clyro, and Social Distortion, and fans of his recent solo appearances will have liked this too, but his vocals seemed a bit more monotone.

As for the first roulette band, their name was announced as Orgasmatron (presumably after the Motorhead song), and they broke from the norm by playing original alt/punk songs that they jammed, before ending with a cover of Pennywise's "Bro Hymn". For a band operating on under an hour of rehearsal, they sounded pretty good, and though I won't largely nitpick their stage presences given the format, why did Chris face the back wall throughout their set? Under the circumstances, everyone sounded good, and if Orgasmatron theoretically stayed together, I can see these songs working in a live setting with more refinement! After their short set, the next band was drawn, and their lineup would end up featuring Tofu Stravinsky singer Sarah Orton alongside AlgomA bandmates Boyd Rendell (a.k.a. Darby Wigwaus) and Jamie Vincent on drums and guitar respectively. A bassist was also drawn for their set, but they dropped out for unannounced reasons, so Jamie played bass on some songs as well to fill in the void.

Though there was supposed to be a performer before the second band's set, none played. For also unannounced reasons, John Mignacca's Dillinger techno project did not play on Saturday night, while the planned public debut of new rap/metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty also did not occur, In their case, time constraints got in the way, but you can see them live THIS SATURDAY when they open for IDNS at The Oddfellows Hall!  Despite The Apocalypse Afterparty's lack of a set, their Smokin' Heroines supporters were on hand for their public debut, with marshmallow gun in tow, though someone apparently stole the gun before night's end, so hopefully it's found and returned! As for the second roulette band, their announced name was Cat Sass (the placement of the first "S" is important), and they played a short cover set including a rendition of Sublime's "Santeria", and while Jamie & Darby have ready made chemistry, Sarah's smooth lead vocals added an extra dimension, and if this band theoretically stayed together, they'd have a unique sound of their own that'd be worth checking out! Also, given the makeup of the band, would Galgoma be a fitting name?

As for the third band, their lineup was drawn to feature Tofu Stravinsky's Jon Perry on guitar, former No Arrow bassist Brad Griffith on bass (pictured from an older show), The Apocalypse Afterparty's Paul Stanghetta on drums, and.... me on vocals?! See, I had suggested at the sign-up area earlier that if singers were slow to add their names, I could add mine to help out, and I insisted not to add my name early. They added my name early, and I was drawn as "Rob You-Know-Who". I went along with it though, and we all went to the secret jam area to knock out a three song set to end the night, which ended up including Neil Young's "Keep On Rocking In The Free World", Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", and Blink-182's "All The Small Things". All things considered, I thought we did alright given the time limits and lack of time to get to know each other, and everyone was very nice and accomodating to each other! The set itself got a good response, and no one lynched me over my singing ability (or lack thereof?), though like with the other two bands, things would no doubt sound better if we had more than a half hour to prepare.

As for our name, I suggested Some Metalhead & The Talents, lightly playing off my lack of band experience and how I was referred to on RedD Monkey's Facebook bio. Also, before our set, DJ Seith played a set of his own DJ and turntable mixes that seemed to go over well, though to be fair, I only caught the last 5 minutes or so of his set. After our set, Steve returned to the stage to announce the winner based on crowd reaction, who would recieve $100, and after a number close calls regarding who got the loudest cheer, the winner was..... CAT SASS! If counted as a "battle of the bands", this was all 3 members' first of recent memory in the Sault, and all the more impressive given that they played as a trio rather than as a quartet, so congratulations to Sarah, Jamie, and Darby! As for my final thoughts on Soo Band Roulette itself, I thought it was a great and unique concept, but there are a lot of bugs to work out, mainly concerning timing and delays. The between-band gaps were often longer than the given half-hour, and the show itself didn't begin until well after the 8:00 PM start time that was announced.

Had things been tighter ran for timeslots, we could have saw bands featuring the likes of Johnny Belanger, James Watterworth, Kevin Campbell, and most of The Danger Cats, among others that signed up, and hopefully for next time, there will be room for 4 or more bands! Also, it'd be nice to see an actual wheel for a roulette to decide bands, and I've offered the services of my own stand-up casino wheel for a second band roulette if need be. Due to my performing involvement with the last band, and largely missing DJ Seith's set, I didn't get any videos of the last two acts, but I have media of everything else, so click here for my photos from Soo Band Roulette, and as for videos, here's a compilation video of the open mic acts (covering New Order, Darius Rucker, and NOFX), Orgasmatron playing an original jam, and Cat Sass covering Sublime!







That's all for now, and I'm just glad to finally get our Soo Band Roulette review online! Also, thanks again to Sarah, Tyler, and Jon from Tofu Stravinsky for participating in the roulette, it was nice to see some out of town flavour, and hopefully fans who enjoyed their talents on Saturday give them a listen! Stay tuned likely tomorrow for weekend concert previews, with some more big news to come soon as well! Thanks everyone, and thanks again for your patience over the last few days!