The Soo's Got Talent Finals Results & Video!!

Before we preview tomorrow's Black Mastiff concert and cover some more recent updates, here's our long awaited fallout/results post from the finale of a major local entertainment competition (and ARCH fundraiser) that wrapped up over a week ago, so here's what you should know!

After four weeks of exciting performances, the second annual Soo's Got Talent competition ended at Soo Blaster on Friday, October 11th, with singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan being named as the winner! Apologies for the delay, we were waiting for video from the finals to turn up online before making a full wrte-up. As outlined in this SooToday article by Darren Taylor, Adrian narrowly edged out vocalist Juliana Regan for the top spot, as determined by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, Lesley Walsh Tibben, and guest Tim Murphy. Adrian picked up $1,000 for the top prize, and judges actually announced everyone's final ranking publically, including a strong third place showing for resurgent rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, which is supremely encouraging given their long layoff and outlier status! Their finish was better than at the VM Radio Battle finals run in 2015, if you want to compare the events.

Also, kudos to Coulson Perri (a wild card finalist, mind you) placing in fourth! Adrian is briefly interviewed in the above article (which includes photos of all seven finalist acts), where he notes that he has solo music on Soundcloud, he's currently in an up & coming local band named The Uncanny Valley, and he is primarily inspired by classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin & The Who. We didn't see Adrian tackle any heavier bands in his covers during The Soo's Got Talent, but he is a very talented musician with a bright future ahead of him, and it'll be very interesting to see what he has in store down the line! As for the final round video, SaultOnline and ONNtv outdid themselves to cover the last round, as partly due to each finalist playing two songs, the last episode runs for over two and a half hours! As aired on ONNtv on Wednesday and posted on their YouTube channel on Friday, what all can you see in the final round?

The video starts with Tim Murphy covering "This Is The Moment" from the Jekyll & Hyde musical,  before moving into the finalists, who are each starting with a song picked by the judges. Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet (5th place) opens with an interpolation of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", which includes pre-recorded vocals of his and live beatboxing. Interesting approach, and he worked with what he was given, but I think his regular repertoire suits him better. Other "judges pick" covers include Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (7th place) singing Alessia Cara's "Scars To Your Beautiful" & The Dancing Divas (6th place) performing Jessie J's "Price Tag", followed by the impeccably dressed Apocalypse Afterparty covering R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", and the rapid fire vocals and lyrical content suits their sound really well! Coulson Perri is next singing Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed", and he plays the part nicely, complete with Alice-esque costuming and makeup!

Juliana Regan is next doing Sinead O'Connor's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", with Adrian Sullivan rounding out the first half by covering George Michael's "Faith". In between halves, the "surprise celebrity tribute artist" was actually local Elvis Presley impersonator Jimmy Fiore covering "Burning Love" & "Can't Help Falling In Love". I'm not a big Elvis fan, so judge for yourselves how he compares! The second half performance order is identical to the first, and it features Killabeatz doing a parody of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin leading into a beatboxing performance, Bethany covering Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel", and The Dancing Divas covering Wilson Phillips' "Hold On", before The Apocalypse Afterparty played a laid back yet hard-edged original song that suits their approach! We also get Coulson (sans makeup) covering Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" and Juliana tackling Postmodern Jukebox's jazz cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army".

Adrian closed the competition with his own original song "Something To Believe In", before 2018 Soo's Got Talent winner Daniella Brewer returned to update everyone on what she's done in the past year, and to sing her cover of Lewis Capaldi's "Bruises". Afterwards, we got an unadvertised guest song from the rapper who performed with Killabeatz in earlier rounds, accompanied by Apocalypse Afterparty frontman Paul Stanghetta on drums. The video ends with the judges announcing the winners and their closing remarks. I will say, the video proper started going out of sync with the audio track after a while, but there's a lot to take in here, hence why this post is only devoted to the finals. A lot of promising young talent took the stage for year #2 of The Soo's Got Talent, and it will be very interesting to see how everyone's careers progress as a result, but congratulations again to Adrian on his big win, and be sure to watch the video below and the above links for much more from this event!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Black Mastiff preview and more next! Thanks everyone!

Rosie Metal Night #17 Review, Plus A Cancellation!!

Well guys, before I get to my review of last night's show and a cancellation, I do want to say that I have only two videos from last night & no photos. Why? Because my camera is officially dead. The reason why my battery drained faster than normal at the Fuck The Facts show was because it wasn't charging at all, and through some multimetre testing, I've proven that the AC adapter and/or charging port on my camera no longer work. So I brought my camera last night strictly to film as much video as I could before it finally drained the last juice on the battery, and as such, it died 1:41 into my attempted As It Stands video. That's not substantial enough to post given their songs' lengths, so I won't upload it, but I'll make it up to them! So I apologize for the lack of photos or an AIS video, but I hope to get a new camera for my birthday, for what that's worth! Now, to the review!

Yes, last night was the seventeenth Roosevelt Hotel metal night, and after a late start, the first band was Desbarats death metal quintet For All That Is Lost, who I was seeing live for just the first time! I'd heard promising things from them online, but how were they in person? Very impressive! From their opener "Graves of the Ancestors" on, they employed a lot of brutal, fast, and technical death metal that stands up with the best we have in the Soo! Tyler Sperry has really good death metal vocals that have some well needed clarity, though I found that his asking us how we liked certain songs didn't seem very confident. Their music spoke for itself, including some fast proficient drumming from Kameron Nicholson and some really cool guitar and bass work as well! With originals like "The Return of Dionysus", "Viscosity of Blood", and "Blood Law" in store, they shown exactly why they're one of the most promising bands in the Algoma District, and they had a nice chemistry and stage presence to go along with it! I can't wait to see these guys again, hopefully they're back sooner rather than later!

Second were local hardcore quartet Changing Waves, in their second straight metal night appearance! They were the advertised headliners, but they were quietly moved to the middle in the band order. No matter though, they delivered another high energy set that actually happened to take place at the beginning of frontman Benjamin Kallonen's 21st birthday! Luckily, he didn't mail it in due to his birthday being on, and the guys sounded as good as ever, possibly better than last week! Setlist-wise, things weren't much different, with originals like "Tital", "Jung Jung", and "Lockdown" getting some moshpits going in the (thankfully) growing crowd! Terrence Gomes is growing more and more into his role in the band, Mike & Alex Hagerman were as good as expected on guitar and drums, and Ben's stage presence continues to get better and better! Another entertaining set with lots of influences adding to their unique hardcore sound, and just wait til you see them next on June 4th (more in our next post!)

Finally was As It Stands, in what will likely be their last local concert before heading to Mississauga to record their new album! I've seen them a lot this year, but luckily, their talent and chemistry never seems to change between each show, and it was evident again last night! Justin Pregent, in particular, seemed to be on his best game, showing more energy and aggression in his vocals than I remember at their last couple shows! The rest of the band were on form, and as I say often, the sheer amount of movement and energy that Garrett Masters and Angelo Huckson have on-stage is always impressive! Originals like "One Last Chance", "One Less Than Wayne Gretzky", and "Conception" were in store for fans last night, which led to some high level moshing and a lot of entertaining breakdowns and heaviness that we ate up! I can't complain too much about As It Stands' set last night, they've never been better, and I can't wait to hear their album when it comes out!

Good concert overall, I had a fun time, although the camera issues and the delays before & after For All That Is Lost's set did put a dampen on things a tiny bit. Great way to kick off my birthday weekend! Here are the two full videos I got from last night, of For All That Is Lost playing their original "Graves Of The Ancestors" and Changing Waves playing their song "Bingo"! I'll make it up to you guys for the lack of photos & As It Stands video, I promise!





And finally, here's a concert cancellation that you may have heard about already. The planned all ages concert tomorrow night featuring Dancing With Paris, Horizons, and local openers has been cancelled due to the inability to secure a new venue for the show. Promoter/As It Stands drummer John Mignacca confirmed this in an e-mail to Facebook attendees this morning. The concert was originally scheduled for The Oddfellows Hall, but it was announced on Tuesday that it was being moved to a new venue for unannounced reasons. Nothing came of that until he let us know about the cancellation earlier today. I was hoping it'd find a venue, or at least stay at The Oddfellows Hall... I wonder why it was moved in the first place? It's disappointing to see the show cancelled, especially for Dancing With Paris, who've now had two local concerts in the same month called off, including their planned Foggy Notions concert earlier this month with punk and screamo bands. Hopefully they can play here again soon, it sucks to see a bad luck string like this! So the show tomorrow is not happening, sadly, but I have a feeling you'll see these bands around sooner rather than later!

Oh, and I edited yesterday's weekend concert preview post to reflect the cancellation, so we're not falsely previewing a show that's not on. That's all for now, but stay tuned, as we have a HUGE post featuring FIVE LOCAL CONCERT PREVIEWS early tomorrow! Stay tuned for that!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Garden Of Bedlam & Changing Waves) And Weekend Concert Previews!!

As promised, we have more news coming today, courtesy of our weekend concert previews! It's a smaller than expected weekend on the metal side of things, though this is partly due to a few cancellations. Full Circle (formerly Turner Up) were supposed to play The Canadian Nightclub this weekend, but the shows were cancelled due to unforseen circumstances (drummer Scott McClurg is my source), while Half A Man tentatively scheduled a show for Sunday night at The Bird, though it's been postponed anyway. There's still shows to get to, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, but we have one major new show I don't want to break the previews up with, so let's lead off with that! Here's what you need to know!

Garden of Bedlam are finally returning to stage! The prominent local hard rockers will take the stage at The Rockstar Bar on June 17th for their first concert in seven months, and just their second in ten months! It's been a long time coming for these guys, but with a new album forthcoming later this year and a ton of big stage experiences and lots of great originals under their belts, they'll be sure to melt every face in the building next month! Things should be similar to their Rockstar Bar show in November, as there's no openers, a 11:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and a 19+ age limit. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I've been eagerly awaiting Garden of Bedlam's return to the local stage, and you can bet a packed house and a lot of great music will be present, including some surprise new covers! I just hope their's no issues with the venue sound like at the November show. I'll be there, and I hope to see all of you there too for Garden of Bedlam's next local concert! Stay tuned for updates!

Now to the weekend concert previews, and first, here's the SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! My apologies for having this so late, it was actually announced on Tuesday, but my computer and Blogger issues made me bypass it. I can suck and/or be negligent, and I sincerely apologize for this being late. That said, the 17th Roosevelt Hotel metal night is TONIGHT!! Yes, Dismembertainment has another quality package of metal bands tonight, including headliners Changing Waves, in their second straight Thursday night appearance! With a lot of varied and entertaining hardcore originals, and possibly some free demos to give out, they'll be sure to make a big mark tonight! Fellow hardcore outfit As It Stands make their record 9th appearance at a Thursday Rosie metal night as the middle band tonight, in what is being advertised as one of their last shows before they hit the studio at MetalWorks Studios in Mississauga to record their new album! Should be good to see them again tonight, they're constantly improving and ready to throw down! Opening tonight are Desbarats death metal quintet For All That Is Lost, who'll make another roadtrip to rock the Rosie to it's core with their brutal original songs! Check the above links for more on all scheduled bands!

As always, this concert will start at 9:30 PM, there is no cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend. Check the above links for more details! I always like to load up on concerts over my birthday weekend (I turn 22 on Tuesday), so you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be at The Rosie tonight! I hope to see you guys there, and for a preview of TONIGHT'S show, here's Changing Waves playing their song "Tital" (also called "State of Emergency" on their setlist) from last Thursday!



Also this weekend is a pair of shows in Sault Michigan, courtesy of local hard rock quartet Monkey's Uncle! This frequently seen band will return to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino for concerts tomorrow night & Saturday night, as their new lineup (featuring new singer/guitarist Donny Newell) continue to leave an impression on the local scene! Not a lot is known specifically on the show, it seems about normal for their usual Rapids Lounge stops, though their pages aren't updated frequently enough to indicate any differences. So in that event, I imagine these shows have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover charges. Sounds like fun though, and if you're in the mood for some well played hard rock across the river, you'll wanna head to Kewadin Casino this weekend! For more details, check the above links, and for a preview, here's Monkey's Uncle covering Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer"!



(EDIT: Friday, 3:52 PM) The announced all ages concert on Saturday featuring Dancing With Paris, Horizons, and local openers has been cancelled. Promoter/As It Stands drummer John Mignacca confirmed this news in an e-mail to confirmed attendees on Facebook on Friday morning. The show was cancelled due to an inability to secure a new venue for the show, which was moved from The Oddfellows Hall for unexplained reasons on Tuesday. I'll have more on this in a post on Friday, so stay tuned for that, but remember that this show is no longer on for this weekend.

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a new Woods of Ypres-centric post later tonight (barring another Blogger maintenance issue or a computer problem), and I hope to see you guys tonight at The Rosie! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Dancing With Paris), Rotaryfest News, And More!!

Our triple post Saturday is now on! As we scramble to get back on schedule, I've broken up some of the more major recent stories into tentative separate news posts, so this news post solely concerns Sault Ontario. I have one on Sault Michigan coming tomorrow, so if you're expecting stuff across the river, I'll hopefully have it tomorrow! And just as a reminder, I should have our Gravity Crash profile up this afternoon, with Sunday concert previews and the conclusion of the March Mayhem tournament tonight, so stay tuned! Now, to this news post, which features news on a new band hitting the studio, the newest material from a local band, and the return of the Rotaryfest Second Stage, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Do you remember the punk-centric show originally scheduled for tomorrow at Foggy Notions featuring Toronto hardcore band Dancing With Paris? Well, it appears to have been cancelled. I don't know why, but the Facebook event page was quietly deleted earlier this month, and that's never a good sign. However, all you Dancing With Paris fans can rest easy, as they're headlining a new concert this month! They're now lined up for an all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall on May 28th, so if you want to enjoy their multi-genre influenced brand of metalcore, mark this date down! The rest of the lineup is totally different from the originally announced show yesterday, so here's who to look for! Mississauga post-hardcore band Horizons are the other out of town band scheduled, and though their more "screamo" sound doesn't quite cross the metal line, they'll fit right in here with their energy levels and talent! The local openers include two metal bands, those being hardcore quintet As It Stands & extreme rockers WinkStinger, who just shared the stage at The Rosie on Monday! Solid choices, they'll fit in well & start some moshpits! The final opening band is Cowboys & Indians, the new indie rock trio fronted by The Crossed's Jordan Flesher. Not metal, but the band has talent, so give them a listen if you want!

This ALL AGES show will take place on May 28th at The Oddfellows Hall, with everything starting at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $7 in advance or $9 at the door, and you can contact members of any of the local bands to get a ticket. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Pencil me in for this concert, I want to hit lots of concerts for my birthday weekend, and an old school all ages show like this would fit very nicely! Stay tuned for updates if I hear them!

Next up, the Tenaris Second Stage is coming back for this year's Rotaryfest! The 7th installment of the popular outdoor concert series on Queen Street East will return on July 15th and 16th, and as has been the case in recent years, organizers are calling out to YOU to apply to perform this year! Yes, if you or your band want to rock the Rotaryfest's Second Stage, you can send in your applications right now, but what do you need to do? The form to submit your applications is at this location, so head there A.S.A.P.! To be considered for the Second Stage this year, you must submit a band/artist biography & brief band history, a high quality photograph of the band, links to your websites and pages, and 3-5 ORIGINAL songs of good sound quality (either uploaded at the above link or mailed on a CD/DVD at the address found here.) Preference will be given to bands who have professionally released their material in the past. For full details on what you need to send in to be considered for this year's Second Stage, click here! The deadline to submit your applications for this year's Rotaryfest Second Stage is May 26th (one week from Thursday), so get your applications in soon, before it's too late! Again, check all of the above links for every shred of information you need if you're interested!

I highly recommend to you band members that you send in applications to get on Rotaryfest this year! This would be a high profile gig at a major annual festival, and the Second Stage organizers are certainly not averse to metal! In just the past few years, bands like Garden of Bedlam, Gates of Winter, and Stillbroke have all played on the Second Stage, and maybe your band's next? I'd love to see another metal band playing this year, or two, or more, so please don't hesitate and send your Second Stage applications in at the above links! You have until the 26th!

Thirdly today, local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters have officially began work on their debut EP! The news was broken in a short statement on the band's Facebook page on Tuesday, and guitarist Mitch Sirie has referenced the beginning of sessions on his personal Facebook page as well. Public details are scant so far, but I believe it's mostly self-produced, and though the recording's apprently not under ideal conditions, Mitch and the band do fully plan on getting it done! The EP will be called "Bloodthirst" (as in the song of the same name), and I'd expect at least some of their originals to make the cut, like "Succumb To Eternity", "Collapse The Sun", and "Dominate", though nothing official on that front has been said. This news really surprised me, given how soon it came after Josh Stephney joined the band, but I know that this was a longstanding goal that Mitch had for the band since their public debut last year. I'll be more than interested to hear full studio versions of their originals, and you can guarantee I'll keep you posted when updates come in! I've also heard intriguing news related to the recording "situation" as it relates to other local bands and figures, but without official public word, I won't say nothing. Stay tuned, and yes, "Bloodthirst" will be in our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post!

And finally, here's the latest from local hardcore band Changing Waves! Their Facebook page has been updated with a new band logo and updated bio information, but the big news relates to new material of theirs, as they've posted new songs on their MySpace page! Though the band says 3 new songs were added, there's only 5 now on the page, and 3 were on there before, so something doesn't add up. Still, I will say that their new stuff doesn't sound bad, and the production's better than you'd think songs named "Beadsbeadsbeads" and "Jung Jung Woo" would have! "Tital Demo", which is definitely newer, has a lot of promise, and has some nice heavy riffs! The band also announced on Facebook that at their next show (I'll have more info on it as it's made public), they plan to play two new songs & hand out a demo! Whether this is handwritten blank CDs or something actually packaged remains to be seen, but either way, I'll be interested to see what's on there, especially if something not on MySpace makes the cut! Stay tuned to the SMS and the above links for more Changing Waves news, and when details on their next show come out, I'll let you all know!

One down, two to go for this Saturday, so stay tuned this afternoon for our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands profile of Gravity Crash, featuring local guitarist Paul Melanson! That, and a Half A Man preview/March Mayhem wrap-up post are all coming later today, so keep your browsers pointed to The Sault Metal Scene! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Dancing With Paris), Destroilet's New EP, And New Videos!!

It's time for some more news and videos, as we continue to give you guys more information and updates from the local metal scene! Today, we have new videos from a pair of prominent local bands, and the latest new local metal album that you can pick up, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! Here's what you need to know!

This concert isn't really a "metal" show per say, but there is one band that I'd say crosses the "hardcore" line, so we'll give it the proper attention! Three Ontario touring bands will hit Foggy Notions on May 15th for an energetic night of music, including Toronto hardcore band Dancing With Paris! With a creative mix of metalcore, Southern rock, and some poppier choruses, they'll be sure to make their mark on the Sault Ontario crowd at this show! Aside from them, the lineup includes Waterloo screamo band Gracefield as headliners, Cambridge alternative rockers Something You Whisper as the last out of town band, and as local openers, classical punk trio RedD Monkey, adding to their busy upcoming concert schedule! If you're into screamo and punk music, you'll definitely wanna check out the above bands, even if their metal content is lesser than Dancing With Paris', so check the above links to hear what they've got! This show will have a $5 cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and doors open at 8:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Diverse musical lineup here, should be a good show musically, though this will likely attract more of a punk crowd. Check the above links for more details!

Next up, we have another new local metal album officially out for purchase! On Friday afternoon, Destroilet announced on their Facebook page that their debut EP was now on sale for just $5! Drummer Matt Waples e-mailed fans to let them know that if you want to pick up a copy, just e-mail any member of the band on Facebook, and they would hook you up. I have my copy already, huge thanks to Matt for dropping it off! The artwork is no different from what we previously saw, save for a typo correction, though the title's sort of ambiguous. Is it self-titled or called "EP"? I'll figure it out! The CDs are hand-burned, but I give all the credit in the world for what they burned them on, and if you love vinyl records, you'll really get a kick out of these! Matt told me that the band was hoping to have a formal CD release show eventually, though nothing's concrete at the moment, so feel free to get them now if you want! How does it sound? Better than the samples on their MySpace page for quality, as they're now mastered, but what are my thoughts on the songs themselves? Wait til next week, as I'd like to formally announce that Destroilet's debut EP will be our CD review for May 2011!

Clownsack's new album is reserved for later this week already, so I'll absolutely get the Destroilet review done next week! Stay tuned for that, and of course, check the above links for all the Destroilet EP news! It's only $5, so get buying for some old school hardcore goodness!

We'll close with new videos, and first, here's the latest live concert video from Brimley hard rockers Half A Man! Yesterday, the band uploaded a video from their April 16th concert at The Merchant's Bar onto their YouTube channel, and it's of their performance of a new song named "Don't Blame Me"! The video's angle is really close, but too close, as Erik Rintamaki is badly cut off on the left, and he's usually blocking the view of Doug Reed. I'd have positioned the camera more center and to the left, but aside from that, it's a nice video! Song's catchy too, I like their mix of heavy riffs and accessible melodies, they have all the promise in the world! Check out the video for more, and check them out next month at The Bird!



And finally, here's some new As It Stands videos! These also come from the April 9th Sewer Swampstravaganja concert at The Oddfellows Hall, adding to the footage that we've previously seen from this show taken by Chantal Hopper. These videos are from a different person, YouTube user vegetarian4life19, who uploaded two As It Stands videos onto their YouTube channel on Thursday. One is a video centered on the moshpit during one of As It Stands' originals, but the audio's too scratchy to make out which one. As the dimensions would imply, it's a cell phone video, but the video quality itself isn't bad! The audio just hampers it. The other video is of their cover of Blink-182's "Stay Together For The Kids", which is basically the same in audio quality, and shorter on the whole, but I'll embed it here because you see more of the band's actual performance. The other one is mostly of the moshers. Good video, bad audio, but worth a look, especially if you like As It Stands, so here's their Blink-182 cover, and check the above links for more!



That's all for now, but stay tuned this week for another Woods of Ypres-centric post, our Clownsack EP review, and much more news! Thanks everyone!