Kraken Mara's New Playthrough Upload, More New Videos, And Assorted Updates!!

News is predictably slow due to the current lockdown, but I have cobbled together enough content for a post on this Saturday morning, including some assorted shorter news and notes, and some new videos from some familiar faces. Here's what you should know!

As promised, local progressive metal duo Kraken Mara's newest playthrough video for their upcoming EP "Press Start" went public on their YouTube channel yesterday morning at 10:00 AM! Again, they went the "uploaded in advance for a scheduled premiere date" route. This video is for their song "The Woodward", and after sitting out their last two playthrough videos, guitarist Brendan Christie is back on camera for this one, playing alongside Jake here, albeit with the brothers-in-law filmed separately. Once again, I'll hold comment pending our review of the EP. As for it's remaining track ("Stratus"), that had a playthrough video shot in 2017 that was filmed outside of the former St. Mary's Paper building, and it's description has been edited to reflect the 2021 EP plans. "Stratus" does not appear to have been re-recorded, so I would not be expecting a new playthrough video for it.

Also, just to clear up any earlier discrepancies, their previously announced song "Moon's Haunted" appears to have renamed "Miscreant" for unannounced reasons. Now that all five songs are on YouTube and their website to stream, how soon will "Press Start" go on sale? Kraken Mara's website says that it is "now available for purchase", but that looks like a placeholder, as the band has not officially announced anything about a release. We'll let you know when more comes out, but check out Brendan & Jake playing through "The Woodward" below for some more metal action!

Next up, here's the newest videos from former No Arrow drummer/Faithless Sin guitarist Joe Falco's YouTube channel! After a three month hiatus, Joe returned last month to post eight new videos, all but one being acoustic covers. These include Pink Floyd's "Echoes", The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's "Blue On Black", Alice In Chains' "Don't Follow", Oasis' "Stand By Me", Poison's "Every Rose Has It's Thorn", The Jeff Healey Band's "Angel Eyes", and as embedded below, Poison's "Something To Believe In". I went with that song because Joe also posted a short blooper reel video from his attempts at filming that particular cover, so give that a look if you want a laugh! Despite his self deprecating tone in the description, this rendition is solid, and as all of these covers are unplugged, his voice isn't as drowned out as on his earlier covers! You definitely hear more of his range in these.

Joe also posted an hour-long video on Tuesday of him working on his Aria Pro II STG-004 Series Stratocaster, if you're itching to see him fix and play an electric guitar. These videos are all worth checking out to see some well performed acoustic rock covers and more, so give Joe's newest uploads a look above and below, and stay tuned for more when we hear it!

 

Also today, here's a new original song collaboration from Inner City Surfers/ex-Role Models bandmates Brad "Example" Lacell & Dave Bahun! Posted to Brad's YouTube channel on Monday, this is entitled "The Nightmare's Real", and it's a gritty yet folksy number that fits more in line with Brad's modern solo work, complete with his raspy vocals (is it wrong to get a bit of an Everlast vibe from this?) Not a traditional punk number, but well done, and you can hear it for yourself below!

 

 

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

 

• The second annual (and final?) Coronafest live-streamed concert takes place tonight at 6:30 PM, with all relevant links and information to be found on the Facebook event page. While Coronafest is not originating locally, Saultites Kyla Becker & Jacob Baillie will play the second set, while ex-Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan is a co-organizer of the event, and he will perform at 9:00 PM with his current Sudbury-based band The Rhythm Section. Check it out if you need some Saturday night entertainment!
• I have removed former local concert promotion agency Dismembertainment from our "Other Local Metal Links" section due to the deletion of it's Facebook (and only known surviving) page at some point in the past year. The banner under which ex-Time of Ruin guitarist Rich Moreland promoted local metal concerts in 2011 & 2012, and for a time afterwards in his current Alberta homebase, Rich has since switched primarily to work in concert photography, at least until the pandemic. Hopefully he's doing well out west!
• Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Tarnished took a surprising trip downstate to play at the Hotel Royal Oak outside of Detroit this past Saturday! It was only announced on four days notice, oddly, but click here for details about the show. Hopefully the road trip was a blast, especially as social distance-limited concerts can still take place in Michigan! Also, note that on the Facebook event page linked above, their bassist and drummer were credited as Donny Wayne and Josh Tyler, omitting their last names.
  

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

New Videos From Fort Creek & Re:Born, Plus More News & Notes!!

I hope all of our Ontario-based readers are adjusting as well to the current lockdown as they can! After focusing solely on Sault Michigan last time out, we're (mostly) in Canada today, courtesy of lots of new videos from two prominent covers-leaning bands, plus a few assorted news updates to round things out with. Here's what you should know!

 

Before Ontario was locked down again, local Southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek played one social distance-enforced concert weekend at Reggie's West two weeks ago, and they live-streamed a bunch of songs from the Saturday, March 27th gig on their Facebook page! These are across five videos, all capturing at least two songs, and unfortunately, most were uploaded sideways. Two were thankfully at a normal angle, including the first video, which features Fort Creek covering Theory Of A Deadman's "Lowlife" and Tonic's "Open Up Your Eyes". The three sideways videos begin with this 12 minute video of them covering Radiohead's "Creep", The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's "Blue On Black", and Luke Combs' "Can I Get An Outlaw" Next was an 8 minute video of Fort Creek tackling Shaman's Harvest's "Dangerous" (complete with fake emergency alert intro) & Monster Truck's "Don't Tell Me How To Live". 

The fifth and final video was the longest, running for almost 20 minutes, and it features renditions of Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down", Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy", Seether's "Tonight", and Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" (by way of Nonpoint, perhaps?) Embedded below is the fourth video, and longest of the two that aren't sideways, which features covers of Luke Combs's "Beer Never Broke My Heart" and a southern rock version of Motley Crue's "Live Wire". During Justin's introductions of the band in the fifth video, he acknowledged that bassist Robin "Bones" Lee was playing despite a broken shoulder, so now you know what his teased health issue was. Fort Creek posted this black & white video last week where Bones updated fans on his recovery, thanked everyone who saw them at the Reggievelt, and assured fans that he'll be ready to go when they can play live again.

 

Informative video with some humorous touches, including a very surprising contest for band merchandise! Nice to see so much new video content from Fort Creek when they could still make it, complete with a lot of surprising modern rock covers, and despite three of the five live-streams being sideways, the audio quality holds up! These also give a look into how Reggie's West dealt with social distancing (the lack of fans up front is not accidental), but it is a shame that Shane was stuck behind that cursed pole on the stage. Give Fort Creek's new videos a watch above & below!

Next up, here's some newly uploaded videos on local power rock quartet Re:Born's Facebook page last month! On March 7th, the band shared a brand new rehearsal video (with the caption "There's a pulse......."), of them also covering Motley Crue's "Live Wire", and while only 18 seconds long, it was a promising sign of life! You know it's a new video because of guitarist Blair Burch's much shorter haircut. The video only shows Blair and Brandan in frame, but the audio quality is solid, and it is nice knowing that Re:Born were playing again.... until the new lockdown, of course, but hopefully they can jam again next month! Embedded below is a newly posted concert video from Re:Born's first show with Elly McWatters on vocals, namely their headlining gig at Soo Blaster on March 12th, 2019 to warm up before opening for The Killer Dwarfs there, and the video features them covering Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It"!

Filmed on a stationary (if slightly crooked) angle, this is a strong rendition of this 1980s metal classic, and assembled fans on the floor definitely enjoyed it! Re:Born had a good first year with this lineup, but alas, the pandemic put the brakes on their momentum, so fingers crossed they can get back on stage safely when things lighten up, hopefully later this year. Give Re:Born's new videos a look above and below!

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

• The live-streamed virtual concert festival Coronafest will return for a second installment on Saturday, April 17th as per the Facebook event page! Co-organized by former Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan (now based out of Sudbury), last year's event featured Brian and local hard rock singer Cory Murchison among it's diverse and mostly non-local lineup, though the current roster has no recognizable local hard rock/punk names. If things change in that regard, we'll let you know, but see above for more details!
  
• The Harp Bar & Grill (formerly Madison's Pub) at 701 Pine Street has reportedly closed it's doors permanently due to the third lockdown, and celebrated it's last call on Good Friday, as per their Facebook page. The Harp hosted a number of acoustic concerts from their 2013 Irish rebranding until the pandemic began, but it may be better known to readers from Madison's higher profile run of electric concerts in the 2000s. I won't get into their divisive response to the pandemic on social media here, but it is sad to lose a venue outright like this, and we do wish best of luck to Harp & Pizza King staff and regular patrons in the future!
  
• Kewadin Casino in Sault Michigan have announced that tickets purchased for all 2020 concerts postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic will be refunded, if not done so already. According to their Facebook page, Kewadin box office representatives will be contacting people with outstanding tickets and will be sending out checks for refund purposes. These dates do include the Black Label Society and Candlebox shows that were called off last spring. Here's hoping for concerts to resume there as normal down the line!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Live Streams From A Dire Setback & The Hair Scare, Plus More Assorted Updates!!

Here's another new post on the site today, and while I am running dry on topics to start the week, I guarantee we will have a new post each day through at least Thursday! This post has some assorted shorter stories of note, and a live-streamed video from a popular local radio show, but leading off, here's even more big updates relating a recently released punk album!

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and widespread concert cancellations may have wrecked A Dire Setback's plans for a CD release show at LopLops on Saturday, but the guys made due by live-streaming a release party on their Facebook page that night! As preluded by Facebook posts about their plans to get the gear set up for live-streaming, the local alt-punk trio ensured that the show went on (albeit from their jam room), and while an actual release concert with CDs in hand is still planned for the future, fans got the next best thing on Saturday! The whole thing is embedded below, though the video began rolling 19 minutes before the promised 10:00 PM start time, so fast forward as such to get to the actual start of the set. In performance order, the guys played "Everlasting", "Faded", "Forget This Memory", their cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" with bassist Matt Quinn on lead vocals, "Catastrophe", "A Dire Setback", "Endless Dream", a cover of Green Day's "Longview", "Drop Dead", ...

..."Kicking & Screaming", "Nightmares", and covers of The Misfits' "Last Caress" & Iron Maiden's "The Trooper", both with Matt singing lead again. One thing I noted way too late while watching is that "Drop Dead" is actually the renamed version of one of A Dire Setback's earliest originals, "Wasting Away", apparently at the suggestion of producer Bill Priddle to make the song angrier. I should have caught on to that way sooner, apologies for sounding ignorant! Performance wise, the analog audio recording setup & warm lighting aren't ideal, and this is a very casual performance, but in light of what's going on in the world, how can you nitpick? The guys are clearly having fun, and I've never seen Chris so talkative between songs! The new covers ("Ace of Spades" aside) are nice surprises too, so fans will definitely enjoy this live-streamed set, as well as this thank you video for fans who watched, where they also reiterate plans for a real release concert, show off their gear, and ask for feedback.

Also, A Dire Setback's self-titled debut CD dropped on other services beyond Spotify yesterday, so you can now stream it on Apple Music and YouTube, and buy it on Bandcamp and Google Play (the latter two for around $9). Whatever your preferred source, definitely buy or stream it A.S.A.P., especially with the CD release in limbo! See above for much more the album, read our review of it in yesterday's post, and here's their full live-stream!



Next up, let's head to Sault Michigan, where long-running Rock 101 program The Hair Scare finally has it's own official Facebook page! Their official Facebook group is still alive & well, but that is more of an officially recognized fan club, compared to the new page, which host Scott Cook created back in January. Of course, The Hair Scare provides a 3 hour blast of hair and glam metal classics from the late 1970s-early 1990s every Saturday at 9:00 PM on 101.3 FM, and you can now see an hour-long glimpse of Scott at the controls from the newest episode via the live-streamed video embedded below, so if you've ever wanted an insider look at The Hair Scare in action, this will do it! In order, you'll hear Scott play Sven Gali's "Under the Influence" (joined in progress), Ugly Kid Joe's "Everything About You", Poison's "Look What The Cat Dragged In", Skid Row's "Sweet Little Sister", Slaughter's "Mad About You", Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine", Trooper's "Raise A Little Hell", ...

...Whitesnake's "Judgement Day", and much of Tesla's "Modern Day Cowboy", plus all of the breaks in-between where Scott takes requests, reminisces about the Soo area and past concerts, and talks to fans tuning in. This is an entertaining inside look at this popular Rock 101 staple in action, if not as clear for audio as the actual show would be! If you're a hair metal fan, The Hair Scare is appointment listening every Saturday, and if you like when Rock 101 diverts from their standard playlist, both The Hair Scare and Scott Cook In The Morning are your best bets for anything with local DJs! Give this Hair Scare live stream a look below, and don't forget to tune in on Saturday!



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

• SooToday previewed the Facebook live-streamed Coronafest event on March 21st via this article earlier that day, featuring remarks from organizer Brian Cattapan and fellow performer Cory Murchison. The article neglects to mention that there were more than two Saultites on the bill (Brian, his wife Krista and Jason "J Wyza" Wysynski are all from here too), but it's great to see Coronafest get some local news attention! A sequel on April 18th is also in the works for Krista's birthday the next day, so click here for details.
• If Mike Haggith's CD release concert at LopLops goes through on May 15th, then his live backing band that night will include one more musician, as local folk/alternative solo artist Jacob Quarrell (formerly Shit Creek Survivor) will be the lead guitarist on this night, as per the Facebook event page last week. Jacob opened for Mike at his Outspoken Brewing acoustic concert in August, which Mike credits as "the show that kicked off this album in the greatest possible way." While his solo music isn't hard rock, Jacob's very talented and should deliver well with Mike and crew in May... I hope!
• Local hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison will be interviewed tonight at 9:00 PM on The Taxi Passenger Revue, a radio show hosted by Mike Robillard on new local internet radio station The Borderline. The series features in-depth conversations akin to what you would have with a cab driver, hence the name, and if the Facebook event page is anything to go by, the interview with Tym will heavily deal in his recent conversion to Christianity. This should be an enlightening listen for fans, so check it out tonight at 9:00, especially if episodes aren't posted to stream afterward!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our second installment in our seven part WLS0 9O.1 FM retrospective series tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Livestreamed Facebook Performance Videos From Local Artists & More Updates!!

Let's keep this string of new SMS posts going with one mostly devoted to a run of recent live performances that you may have seen pop up on Facebook in the past few days, but to round things out, I do have a handful of recent news and updates. Here's what you should know!

Some readers may recall seeing Facebook advertisements for an event called Coronafest that took place yesterday, which was basically a social distance-friendly "concert" featuring live-streamed Facebook videos of performances by an assortment of mostly Ontario-based musicians. This was actually the brainchild of ex-Sykotyk Rampage bassist Brian Cattapan, who currently lives in Sudbury and performs there as a solo artist. Brian, his wife Krista, and his former Renegades bandmate Jason Wysynski (with a DJ set) were among the array of Coronafest performers, and though most do not have obvious local hard rock/punk ties, there's a lot of quality talent to see there! The best known local name here is former Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison, who contributed a half hour-ish set yesterday at 6:30 PM, with help from his fiancee Shelby Kerns and some nice stage lighting to spruce up the at-home setting.

The first video (embedded below) features Cory playing original songs named "Breaking Free", "Enjoy the Ride", "Ashes Fall", "Wasting Away", "Take The Heat", and the tenatively-named "Believe", which cuts out mid-song due to his phone suddenly disconnecting. He finished "Believe" in the second video (uploaded from Shelby's phone), before closing with "Rule the World" and a viewing angle flip. Cory's vocal & guitar work here was solid as ever, and this array of newer originals sound ready for a true live concert stage! Strongly done with good humour in peculiar circumstances, so give his and other Coronafest performers' videos a look above & below!

Next up, this was not all for live-streamed Facebook performances from familiar faces lately, as local punk trio Redundant had their own "concert" of sorts on their Facebook page on Friday! Prefaced by this short video where frontman Justin Langlois plugs their upcoming jam at 7:20 PM that day (fans had 22 minutes notice to tune in), we were soon treated to a half hour video featuring Justin, Andrew, and Rick in their headquarters, so what's on offer here? After 3 minutes of setup, Redundant tackled Nirvana's "Molly's Lips", their original song "That December", a brand new cover of Katrina & The Waves "Walking on Sunshine" (seriously), more covers of Weezer's "El Scorcho" (sans "No Scrubs" interlude), Rise Against's "Swing Life Away", Operation Ivy's "Knowledge", and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", and their own standby "What Will You Do". The audio quality is very rough, and the vertical camera angle is unfortunate, but it's nice seeing Redundant back at it!

Of course, Redundant were supposed to be preparing for their Toronto road trip this coming weekend for the Bout Music Festival competition, obviously cancelled due to the coronavirus, but at least local fans can see this video! That said, I am surprised that they only played two original songs despite having three more on their debut EP, but in spite of their recent break, the guys' chemistry is undeniable, and everyone kept their social distance for the set! Give Redundant's own livestream set a look below!

Also in the realm of recent live-streamed videos from familiar local bands, acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns recorded one of their own last night for their Facebook page, albeit not part of the Coronafest lineup. This 34+ minute video features singer Christina Speers and her husband/guitarist Rob in a rare duo appearance, with no sign of Jesse Cook (it's not clear whether that's due to social distancing or not.) According to Christina at the start, The Stallyns were planning to play an actual concert in an actual venue this weekend to celebrate Rob's birthday on Tuesday, but COVID-19 had other plans, so this home-shot video is a substitute, complete with a few fan-requested songs. In order, the Speers' can be seen covering Bob Marley's "Could You Be Loved", Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" & "Wishlist", Cee-Lo Green's "Fuck You", Madonna's "Material Girl", Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Radiohead's "Creep", and Dorothy's "Shelter".

The first three songs and the Green Day cover have Rob on sole lead vocals, while the rest have Christina taking the lead or in a full-on duet. This is the most casual and laid back of today's three live-streamed videos embedded on the site, but the audio quality holds up, and the covers are well done, even the ones that were clearly not established in their set, like "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." This coronavirus stuff has thrown so much out of whack locally, but this will help tide Wyld Stallyns fans over in the interim, so give it a look below, and hopefully we hear more from them in the near future!



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

• On February 8th, local guitarist Michael McCormick posted on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group looking to join a rock band. He has 5 years of experience, and while he's influenced by The Eagles, Guns N' Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Motley Crue, he's open to playing anything. This may not be the best time to jam and rehearse with new musicians in the social distancing era, but if you want more details, message Michael at this link or above!
• Local Foo Fighters tribute band The Soo Fighters announced on their Facebook page on March 5th that "we're back" and that a show announcement was "coming soon." Alas, "soon" may be delayed indefinitely due to COVID-19, but this is still a notable announcement because this theoretically means that they are planning to play their first non-benefit or Halloween concert this year, and aren't just a seasonal band. Fingers crossed that we see Jules and company out there soon!
• The Steel City Nerdcon at The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center on April 26th has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, as per promoters Steel City Events' Facebook page yesterday, which is disappointing but not unexpected news. This is relevant to the SMS because Steel City Events is co-promoting that night's First Jason concert at The Canadian, and frontman Ari Lehman (the first Jason Voorhees) was going to be the featured guest at Nerdcon. As of this writing, the First Jason show has not been publically cancelled, but things aren't looking great for it. We'll keep you posted!

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