The Jamestown Massacre Concert Review!!

Hey guys, here's my review of Thursday night's Jamestown Massacre! I apologize for it being so late (and for missing the Riding Shotgun show last night), but I was working on an summer geography essay for most of yesterday evening, and that took up a lot of my time. We're back on track now though, so let's discuss this concer!

First, I'll note that there was a disappointingly low turnout. I don't think there was even 20 people in the bar itself for the headliners, but I know it was nearing the holiday weekend, so it could have been worse! The opening band was local punk trio Redundant, who I hadn't seen live since the Ypres Metal Fest in April, and in the interim, they seemed to add a lot more originals into their setlist than I'd remembered. They sounded good, and if you were a fan of frontman Justin Langlois' original work with The Scary Uncles, these will be familiar and easy to get into! They also played some well received covers, including some amusing asides to Eminem & TLC material, and it showed their sense of humour well! Talentwise, Redundant gave exactly what I expect out of them, and bassist James White didn't let his birthday get in the way of playing as good as he ever does. I also liked the "R.I.P. Tony Sly" shirt that Justin wore, nice of him to honour the late No Use For A Name frontman! It was good to see Redundant live again, and hopefully it won't take 4 months for me to see them tear through some well done punk covers & originals (plus some fun on-stage banter) again!

Next up was the original crash band themselves, Sykotyk Rampage, but they looked slightly different thanks to the absence of bassist Brian Cattapan, who I believe couldn't come home for the show on Thursday. However, instead of playing without a bassist (like at the Zombie Walk afterparty), Sykotyk Rampage instead enlisted a guest bassist for their set, that being Tony Briglio, who you may recognize from the inactive "don't call them punk" trio The Fury! It was good to see him back on stage after so long, and he seemed to fit in well with Sykotyk Rampage in Brian's place! Their set was somewhat abbreviated from a usual Sykotyk Rampage concert, with only a couple of non-drinking songs (including "Acreage") and a bunch of songs to have a beer with, like "Roll A Doobie", "Drinking on the Weekend", and a well-received cover of Flogging Molly's "Fuck You, I'm Drunk" that this show's booker J.D. Pearce joined in on! For the most part, Sykotyk Rampage's improvised mix of punk, metal, alternative, and blues sounded as creative and entertaining as usual, and Paul Becker was a workhorse on drums and singing, but I did notice that guitarist Dirk Becker didn't sing a whole lot, and that includes backing vocals. Sore throat, or just not enough songs? Either way, they had fun and it was good to see them back!

Co-headlining The Jamestown Massacre was local punk/classical trio RedD Monkey, and they sounded as energetic and unique as ever. Their Canadian tour definitely didn't sap their energy, and they seemed happy to be home! Playing most of the songs from their CDs "Thought Control Tower" and "All Baroque" along with their cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" and some non-album originals, they shown the high tempo speed and punk intensity that we've come to love, and the fans that were there definitely enjoyed RedD Monkey's set! If anything, frontman Steve Mozarowski's voice did seem a bit strained at points, but that's my only major complaint. Steve's guitar work was often blisteringly fast, Joe Bumbacco's drumming kept up well and set great pacing, Pete Mozarowski still plays the cello better than anyone I've seen locally, and even when rapping about four dozen cookies, it fits with their sound! As always, I enjoyed RedD Monkey's set, and they're definitely one of my favourite active punk bands in the Soo!

And your main event on Thursday night was Calgary hard rock trio The Shotgun Dolls, and I have to give them props from the start for their cool light setup on stage that actually almost made it look like a different venue altogether! You know a band's good when even a small crowd is overly praising them & calling for an encore, and I can say the same for The Shotgun Dolls, as they delivered a high energy mix of hard rock and punk to who remained inside The Rosie on Thursday, and though the Lion Ride comparisons I'd made earlier in the week were visible, they had a bit more vocal freedom and some heavier guitar work to compliment their array of original material! Turner Midzain had solid vocal control and guitar skills throughout the night, Mike Badmington' bass playing was top notch, and though drummer Ty Gogal looked like he was melting under the lights, he kept up well on drums! The guys seemed happy to play here, and their songs definitely had a lot of aggression and attitude without getting too over the top, and I just wish they could have shown their sound off to more people. Great closing set by The Shotgun Dolls, and hopefully they're back in town soon!

Overall, this was a fun concert, if under-attended, and it never hurts to a see a show with more of a punk flavour! I did get some photos, so click here to check them out or visit our Facebook page, and yes, I have a couple of videos too! Here's Sykotyk Rampage (featuring J.D. Pearce) covering "Fuck You, I'm Drunk" and The Shotgun Dolls playing their song "New Blood"!





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

Sault Ontario Weekend Concert Previews!!

For the first time this month, it's time to preview this weekend's upcoming slate of metal and hard rock concerts! Due to the amount of shows, I'm going to break up the previews by nationality, so we'll cover the Sault Michigan concerts in a post tomorrow, and just for reference, those will include at least one new concert weekend. So today, we have a bunch of notable concerts ranging from a cover concert weekend to out of town headliners to F.A.T.I.L.'s latest gathering, so here's what you need to know! (Updated at 2:55 PM)

First, we'll cover "The Jamestown Massacre", a metal/punk concert going down TONIGHT at The Roosevelt Hotel, and it's the first of two Sault Ontario shows this weekend featuring a band with "Shotgun" in their name! The headliners of this concert will be Calgary hard rock trio The Shotgun Dolls, and if you've ever wished Lion Ride could have played at The Rosie, these guys will offer up a similar sound! Nice melodic and punk tinged brand of hard rock n' roll, and they have some very catchy originals in their setlist, so definitely check them out tonight and online! Three local opening bands have been secured for this concert, including local classical/punk trio RedD Monkey (fresh off of their Canadian tour), blue Chinese metal crash punk quartet Sykotyk Rampage (in their first concert appearance since the Humane Society Battle of the Bands in April), and local punk standouts Redundant, who themselves will kick off a very busy weekend of concerts as the first band up tonight! All are known to inject some metal into their sets occasionally (especially Sykotyk Rampage), and if you've missed any of the local bands in recent months, you won't wanna miss them at tonight's concert!

Note that this is NOT a Roosevelt Hotel metal night despite flowing with the recent bi-weekly Thursday schedule for that series, as this is being promoted by Frightlight/T. Rex Manning frontman J.D. Pearce, who also put on the Die Mannequin-headlined Thursday nighter in May outside of that series, but I'll keep you posted on the metal nights' return when I hear more! There will be no cover for this 19+ show tonight, and a 10:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! The Jamestown Massacre sounds like an intriguing concert with enough heavy music to appeal to metalheads and punk fans alike, so I'll see you guys there! For a preview, here's The Shotgun Dolls' video for their song "Graveyard Girls"!



Continuing our theme of shotgun-named bands playing local concerts with Redundant opening, two touring Ontario hard rock bands will descend upon The Canadian Nightclub TOMORROW NIGHT for what should be an entertaining concert in it's own right, and this show's shotgun-named headliners are Toronto hard rock quartet Riding Shotgun! Though there's a familiarity with their sound I can't place, they have solid hard rocking grooves and great guitar riffing, and fans of a more radio friendly hard rock sound might take to Riding Shotgun over a band with harsher vocals! Opening for them will be Ottawa alternative hard rockers Project Mars, who will deliver an interesting mix of old school influences and some solid hard rocking sounds into their set tomorrow night, and you won't wanna miss them either! The local openers will once again be local punk trio Redundant, in their second of three shows this weekend, which conclude with a solo acoustic headlining set at the new Coch's Corner on Saturday night. Interesting openers choice, but their talent will speak for itself as the local openers for this concert! Admission will be $3 tomorrow night, a 9:00 PM start time is advertised, and unlike other recent Canadian Nightclub shows, this will be a 19+ event. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This should be a fun hard rock concert in it's own right, and I plan on making it out to take in all of these bands! I think I can handle two shotgun-named bands in one weekend, and hopefully some of you guys will pop up at The Canadian tomorrow! For a preview, here's Riding Shotgun's press kit video, featuring live and studio clips of them in action!



Now to the other Sault Ontario metal shows this weekend, and while there's no shotguns or redundancy left on the schedule, there's lots of entertainment left, including the latest concert weekend from Caveman Morrison TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Continuing with their busy stretch of concerts, the popular metal cover trio will return to The Roosevelt Hotel this weekend for the last of their latest batch of shows at The Rosie and The Nic, and these should be good as you'd expect! Remember that these shows were postponed from their original mid-July date for unannounced reasons, but at least they're still going on! Though who their current bassist is is still unknown to me, their hard hitting covers should entertain all at The Roosevelt Hotel this weekend, so don't miss them tomorrow or Saturday! Admission should be free with a 10:00 PM start time and 19+ start time both nights. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! These should be some solid new concerts from Caveman Morrison, and though I hope they have more on the horizon, they should knock it out of the park this weekend no matter what! For a preview of their next two shows at The Rosie, here's 2/3rds of their current lineup covering Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" in 2010!



Finally for this weekend in the Sault Ontario is the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem! After the success of Sault area death metal quartet For All That Is Lost's "gathering" at 436 Neebish Road in Laird in June, they're hosting another concert event there on Saturday night for what should be another entertaining evening of metal! However, due to noise complaint issues, things are both shorter and better organized this time around, with five bands rather than the nine who played at the gathering in June, and since we last updated you guys on the lineup, it's noticeably changed, so here's who to look out for! As expected, For All That Is Lost will headline at 10:00 PM, with local death metal bands The Valentine's Day Massacre (in one of their last pre-move concerts) and The Bear Hunters on at 9:00 PM & 8:00 PM respectively. Here's where the changes start though, as with Crimson Crusade dropping out of the 7:00 PM slot, and planned replacements Winkstinger not being able to play, that slot now belongs to new local progressive hardcore band With Blood Builds Character, who have been bumped up from 5:00 PM to fill this open slot!

W.B.B.C. will essentially look like March Into Regression if only Jeremy Hannah is on vocals, though they are separate bands. As far as I know, M.I.R. drummer Travis St. Amour will be behind the kit for their debut, but he's not staying full time (I think he goes back out of town for college next month), so while the two bands will look similar, With Blood Builds Character is a different band, and promising in their own right, so look out for them at 7:00 PM on Saturday! The 6:00 PM slot now surprisingly belongs to an out of town band, that being the Drummondville, Quebec experimental band Slaughter Slashing, who had been searching for a summer date in the area earlier in the year. Slaughter Slashing are an interesting and creative metal band, and they're slightly hard to describe, but if you like extreme metal with some avant garde flourishes, you'll enjoy their set on Saturday evening, and kudos to F.A.T.I.L. for snagging them for this concert! However, with the lineup shuffling, the 5:00 PM timeslot is currently vacant, but if it's filled, I'll let you guys know. Admission will be $10 for the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem, it is all ages, everything starts at 4:00 PM, and there will be refreshments and camping room if you're staying the night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This sounds like a very brutal and entertaining concert event, and it's definitely above and beyond any house party! I can't say whether I'll be able to go or not, but I hope I can, as there's a quality lineup of metal bands scheduled for this requiem, including an our of town band, one new local act, and much more from there! Make the trip out to Laird on Saturday if you can, and for a preview, here's For All That Is Lost playing "Graves of the Ancestors" outdoors in the Soo in May!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post later today! Thanks everyone

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Turner Up & The Shotgun Dolls), The Local Scene's Radio Spotlight, And More!!

Back to some news in this packed news post this morning, so today, we have updates on what music we can expect at a recently re-opened concert venue, Rotaryfest fallout, and some awesome press on the local metal scene on a prominent internet radio station, but leading off today, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for shows over the next two weeks!

Local classic hard rock quintet Turner Up are making their return to the live stage THIS FRIDAY, and at a new venue for them! After an almost two month break, the guys (and girl) will rock The Speak Easy on Friday night in what I believe is the first ever concert from either Turner Up incarnation at Algoma University's on-campus pub. It's also the first heavier concert (that's been announced, at least) to go down at The Speak Easy in over 4 months, and I welcome more shows there for sure, especially from this talented local band! Though we didn't get a chance to see them at Rotaryfest, their hard hitting classic covers will be sure to entertain on Friday night at The Speak Easy, so keep this show in mind! Admission should be free, a 10:30 PM start time has been announced, and though I expect this is a 19+ event, some type of all ages availability might be there for existing Algoma students, which isn't unheard of for this venue. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's always good to see Turner Up back on stage, and hopefully they pull in a sizeable crowd on Friday, so consider a trip to The Speak Easy this weekend on your local concert calendars!

Also in new shows is a punk concert with some metal flourishes on August 2nd at The Roosevelt Hotel, to be headlined by Calgary heavy rock n' roll trio The Shotgun Dolls! Likely stemming from inquiries into local bookings earlier this year, this band (who remind me of Lion Ride at times) bring a lot of styles and influences into their catchy punk-inspired hard rock sound, and they'll fit well for a local concert next week on their From The Roots 2012 Canadian Tour! Three local bands have been signed to open things, including one heavier act, that being the returning Sykotyk Rampage, who will bring their "blue Chinese metal crash punk" back to the local stage for the first time in over 3 months next Thursday as well! With 6 albums still awaiting an impending release, this unique quartet will be sure to entertain with some creative improvised originals and drinking songs at this show, so don't miss them! They're sandwiched between two local punk openers, including co-headlining classical punk trio RedD Monkey (fresh off their Canadian tour run) and first up at this event, local punk rockers Redundant, and it's good to see them back at a show like this, as they always entertain! Admission will be free, a 10:00 PM start time has been announced on the Facebook event page, and unless I hear otherwise, this is probably a 19+ event. Check the above links for more details!

Note however that this is not the 48th Rosie metal night (that I can tell), as despite the Thursday timing & the flow with the recent bi-weekly schedule, this is being booked by Frightlight/T. Rex Manning frontman J.D. Pearce, similarly to the Die Mannequin show he booked on a Thursday in May, so I think it's just convenient timing (but if I hear of an official return for Rosie metal nights, I'll let you guys know!) Either way, this sounds like an entertaining concert with some quality punk-tinged bands, and definitely keep it in mind for next Thursday! I hope to be there!

Next up, in case you guys didn't get the Facebook memo last night, the local metal scene got an awesome spotlight on a Toronto internet radio station yesterday! Sault native Andrew Keachie anchored a special Sault Ste. Marie metal scene-based episode of the radio show St. David's Ward on the internet radio station Radio Regent last night at 9:00 PM, and for the full hour, he touched on the local scene (especially concerning bands at the 3 Inches of Blood show at The Rosie earlier this month, which he was in attendance for), and it was a fun listen! The hour long show included interview segments with members of The Bear Hunters & Winkstinger, 3 Inches of Blood bassist Byron Stroud, 3IOB show promoter J.D. Pearce, and myself, alongside playing the 3IOB song "Metal Woman", two live tracks from the local openers of that show, part of Gates of Winter's "Winter Flight", and a rare 1968 track by the old local band (Those) Rogues, who you could say were a proto-metal influence locally. There's some great insights into the benefits the scene has over a larger city, and Andrew definitely seems to appreciate what's grown back home, and it was a great listen! That said, what if you missed the broadcast of St. David's Ward on Radio Regent last night?

Well, you guys may be in luck, as I recorded the vast majority of the show using my audio recording program, and if I get the all clear, I may post it online soon for you guys to check out! That said, my program hit it's maximum recording time during The Bear Hunters' song, so I don't have their interview recorded or the tail end of the episode, but hopefully Andrew or someone out there can hook me up (if I get the end, I'm more likely to share the episode online.) It's an awesome listen, but there's so much left unsaid, and hopefully Andrew does a part 2 down the road! Hope you guys checked it out, but if not, stay tuned, as I may have the full thing ready to share in the near future!

Also today, here's some fallout from Rotaryfest's stages in the local news media! SooToday's Donna Hopper was present at our local summer festival this past weekend, and she posted a recap at this location, which features more high quality photos! These largely consist of activity on and around the Tenaris Second Stage on Queen Street East, and amongst her photos are a few of heavier local participants Garden of Bedlam (who she called "explosive") and Sailor's Tongue, though like many of her other concert photography albums, the photos are not in a discernible order. That said, if you wanna go straight to the photos of the heavier bands, Garden of Bedlam's are numbers 6, 7, 16, 21, 30, 38, and 44, while Sailor's Tongue's are 14, 25, 36, 39, and 42. As well, the fallout on the Local2 side of things is so far very minimal on the music side of things, as all I've seen so far is this article summing up the event, which includes a video of assorted events and elements (including some main stage bands, but the audio is replaced with a backing track.) Last year, they filmed portions of most main stage bands, but did they do the same this year, or is this all we're getting? Either way, at least Local2 did some coverage. If I hear of any more Rotaryfest fallout, you know I'll have it here!

And finally for today, here's a note on the current state of live music at a local concert venue. Well over a month after Coch's Corner re-opened at it's new home at the old Foggy Notions location at 708 Queen Street East, they're slowly getting back into the groove of things as a live concert venue, but compared to the old Coch's/Foggy's incarnations, things sound like they're a bit softer. Employee/local concert promoter J.D. Pearce revealed on one of the bar's Facebook groups on Sunday that Coch's Corner is "fast becoming THE SPOT for live local acoustic performances", including posting a schedule of weekly entertainment & bands to watch out for. I've never heard such an emphasis on unplugged acts at either venue in the past, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a way to avoid future noise complaint calls, which dogged that location when it was Foggy's & Feedback. That said, I don't know for sure if that's the reason or if something else is at play here (I haven't been there since last year), but if it's now permanently an acoustic-only venue, hopefully they bring in some metal bands for some special unplugged sets! Remember how well Gates of Winter's was at Loplops way back when? Redundant are playing an acoustic set at the new Coch's soon as well, so this could be an interesting change if they attract a wide spectrum of bands!

As updates roll in for any possible heavier bands at Coch's Corner, I'll have them here, but hopefully the over 6 month drought for metal at 708 Queen will end sooner or later, plugged in or not! That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Anvil preview and more in our next news post! Thanks everyone!

New Videos, A Band Re-Breakup, And A Band Looking To Play Here!!

We've got a lot of news waiting to be posted on the SMS, so this is going up nice and early as an autopost so we can get another news post up tonight without downplaying anything. So let's start this busy news day with some new live concert videos, the latest video remembrances for the late David Gold, a band looking to play here, and leading things off, an apparent band breakup, so here's what you need to know!

It looks like Sault Ontario death metal quintet State of Misery have disbanded again. An official statement hasn't been made to that effect, but their Facebook page was recently deleted, which adds to other telling signs to their status, like the lack of official band updates since October, and band members' Steve Rhodes & Ray Cowan's recent work in View To A Kill & Social Suicide respectively. Plus, drummer Nick Kainula said in a photo comment on his personal Facebook page on Wednesday that "an actual reunion" may be in order for the future. This appears to end a brief & uneventful return for the rising young deathcore outfit, after coming back in August following a three month disbandment that started in May. I was hoping that their return would turn out to be a success on par with their fast rise in the local scene in early 2011, but who knows what happened internally late last year. Hopefully they do come back down the road, but I do wish Steve, Ray, Kevin, Devon, and Nick all the best in whatever comes next for them musically! They had loads of promise, so hopefully they find success in the local scene soon!

Next up, here's some new interview footage featuring late Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold! In August, you may remember when the Calgary webseries Extreme Metal Television featured live clips and an interview with David from Woods of Ypres' show there in May in the fourth episode of EMTV, which you can watch at this link. Well, in the wake of David's untimely passing last month, a tribute to David ends this latest episode of EMTV (as posted at this location on Wednesday), but the video's also worth checking out for pieces on Between The Buried And Me, Reverend Kill, and Kriticos. The David/Woods portion begins at around 12:17 in the video, where cohost King talks about his memories of David, including about his character, kind nature, and eagerness to see his music spread among fans. He also revealed plans for a tribute show to David in Calgary on February 24th, but details weren't elaborated on in the episode. Then, a video package rolls featuring some unaired live clips from that show and unreleased interview footage, where David talked about advice he'd give to up & coming bands, how times have changed for launching bands, and his own experiences promoting and getting the word out for Woods of Ypres.

The video closes with some amusing outtakes from when David did a plug for EMTV as well, so don't miss a second of the 8 minutes devoted to him and Woods of Ypres! It's a nice tribute featuring a great answer from David to the advice he'd give to up & coming bands, and it's clearly a well thought out response from someone who lived it and knew the realities of being in the music community, so definitely check out this new tribute video below, and stay tuned for more Woods of Ypres and David Gold stories as they roll in!



Thirdly today, another out of town metal band is looking to play a concert here in Sault Ontario! Yesterday, I recieved an e-mail from a member of the Calgary heavy rock n' roll trio The Shotgun Dolls, and apparently, they're looking to play in Sault Ste. Marie on their next tour run, although a timeframe for that tour wasn't given in the e-mail I recieved (if I hear anything further, I'll try and update this post.) Specifically, I was asked to recommend some venues they might be able to play at, and I've shot them back an e-mail, but as always, I'm opening up the floodgates for anyone out there who might be interested in hosting, booking, or helping The Shotgun Dolls in their local gig quest for this year! They're inspired by everyone from Led Zeppelin to Alexisonfire and have sort of a heavier classic rock inspired sound with some good catchy elements, and they'd be cool to have here in some fashion this year! If you like what you hear at the above link (featuring lots of audio and video clips), send The Shotgun Dolls a message at shotgundolls@gmail.com and if I hear more, I'll let you guys know!

Finally for today, here's some new YouTube video uploads from Brimley hard rock quartet Half A Man, who as you may remember, will return to the stage in time for this year's LemmaFest in June! Yesterday, the band uploaded two new videos onto their official YouTube channel from their April 16th concert at The Merchant's Bar, which was one of their last concerts before their lengthy break from the stage began. Featuring their early 2011 lineup, including guitarist Erik Rintamaki on lead vocals and ex-guitarist Denny Breslin, these videos are of Half A Man playing their original songs "Goodbye" (which is in memory of LemmaFest namesake Michael Lemma), and, as embedded below, "Freedom Ride"! These videos appear to be from the same camera as the previously uploaded videos of Half A Man playing "Don't Blame Me" and "Cripple" at this concert, so the same faults with the angle apply here, as it's centered on no band members, with Erik badly cut off on the left when singing. That aside, the quality's nice, and these are good performances! I think the addition of Dillion Semasky on vocals will open new doors for Half A Man, but I hope Erik's distinctively gruff singing still has a presence at future gigs. These are solid videos, so check them out at the above links, and here's "Freedom Ride"!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for another news post later tonight, along with concert reviews and our next YouTube Channel Profiles this weekend! Thanks everyone!