Noochin' Lanterns & Them Updates, Mellow D's Next Private Concert, And More!!

On this Saturday afternoon, we have some news and updates to touch on, largely focusing on a newer local concert site and videos from bands that recently played there, but we also have some shorter assorted items to round things out. Now, here's what you should know!

Here's some new videos of bands at new local private concert venue Mellow D's Underground, which returns for it's (at least) fourth event tonight! Just in terms of that event, it'll take place tonight at 7:00 PM, have "an underground whiskey bar", and at least three bands, including newer local power punk quintet The Noochin' Lanterns. For what it's worth, a shared post notes that "The Apocalypse Afterparty invite you to come join us" tonight, implying that they'll end their 2 year concert hiatus for this event, but that hasn't been referenced elsewhere. Message promoters and the involved bands above to inquire about the address and extra details! As for the videos, The Apocalypse Afterparty shared this Noochin' Lanterns video from frontman Paul Stanghetta's personal Facebook page on Wednesday where the band (sans Amber McKay) sit around on a front step listening to the first mix of an original song of theirs, implied to be via Dustin Jones at Mission Control Studios.

There has been no public confirmation yet on if The Noochin' Lanterns are working on a debut CD (we're still waiting on "Bufflesnort" release info), but it's a nice sample, and uniquely framed, so check it out above! The remaining new videos were all filmed by Them frontman Tyler St. Amour and posted to Mellow D's Facebook page on Wednesday, though these may actually be delayed uploads from their March 1st private gig, given the lack of Amber or new guitarist Tyler Gibson. Three videos (titles unclear) were filmed from this set, linked here, here, and below, and while they were all unfortunately filmed in portrait orientiation, these capture vibrant and energetic originals that Paul, Matthew, and Amanda handle pretty well! And yes, they have their pajamas on here too! Also, the setup reminds me a tiny bit of Sykotyk Rampage's "Cave" that they hold jam sessions in, just with brighter lighting. Give these new Noochin' Lanterns videos a look!



Next up, the aforementioned Them have some new videos of their own, courtesy of their set at the Mellow D's Underground private show on February 24th (unless they played a later one without a public acknowledgement!) Posted to the grind/punk duo's Facebook page on Wednesday as well, these constitute the band's first promotion of a concert set since opening for Gorod at The Oddfellows Hall almost one year ago, so it's great to see that Tyler and Anthony are back at it, albeit at a private venue! One video can be seen at this link, while the longer clip is embedded below. Unfortunately filmed at a vertical camera angle again (though it does work better for a two man band), these capture Them at a good ferocity and energy level, but Tyler could be clearer on the mic, and announcements of song names would have helped. It's great to see Them alive and well, and hopefully they return to a public stage sooner or later, but give their Mellow D's clips a look above & below, and keep tonight's event in mind if you're curious!

 

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

• We have updated the link on the SMS for Castlegar, British Columbia internet radio station Energy Rock Radio (which broadcasted locally from 2008-2011), as their old "Radio Last Call" domain is no longer active, in favour of the more expected www.energyrockradio.com. Now that's accurately linked again, and check out Ryan and the Brew Crew's original programming and metal playlist there for an alternative radio option with local roots!
• Have you been wondering why we didn't cover Tuesday's announced lineup reveal for June 18th's Rock The Border Music Fest? Assuming there's hard rock or punk on the bill, we would have, but the lineup announcement was postponed to yesterday as promoters CSA International were "waiting on one more contract", but yesterday's new deadline has came & went too. This event still has promise, especially as what looks like a larger scope rebound from CSA's postponed Quiet Riot concert, so stay tuned to the Facebook event page for updates! For what it's worth, the lineup will reportedly have an American, Canadian, and Australian band.
• I have reluctantly removed former local recording studio Stereo Soul Studios from our "Other Local Metal Links" section due to the apparent expiry of their website's domain name, and I can't find a comparable replacement for our links. Best known for producing albums from bands like Gates of Winter and Woods of Ypres throughout the late 2000s, studio head Miguel Gauthier has since found success in photography and film in Los Angeles. Hopefully he keeps up the great work, and he's definitely been missed up here!

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

Highway 63 Concert Previews, Skeyes Of Seven Updates, And More!!

Barring any super-short notice concert previews, let's round out this weekend's previews to lead off this Friday morning post, but we're filling things out with lots of recent updates from a local hard rock band, and some assorted recent notes! Now, let's get this post rolling!

Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63 will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT for the first time this year! This talented and prolific local band will continue their busy year of Kewadin Casino gigs with their first Rapids Lounge shows in about two months, and if you know the guys' past work with bands like Jager and Power Slug, you'll know you're in for a solid time either night! However, I'll just note for clarification's sake that the band hasn't plugged this weekend's shows since originally announcing them a few weeks ago, but nothing indicates they're off. Of course, if you can't make it out to the Soo Kewadin this weekend, remember that Highway 63 will be back there for a weekend each month in 2016, plus St. Ignace in most months of the year. As usual for Highway 63's Kewadin shows, a 9:00 PM-ish start time, 21+ age limit, and no announced cover charges are in effect. For more details, visit the above links, and here's Highway 63 live at The Rapids Lounge last year!

Next up, local hard rock quartet Skeyes of Seven have finally confirmed that they are indeed recording their debut EP! After a number of posts showcasing recent recording sessions at Deluca Sound Productions, albeit without outright confirming that a debut release was in the works, the guys finally confirmed on their Facebook page on Wednesday that they have just one more track to record before sending the EP off to be mixed & mastered. Great to hear, and hopefully things work out so that Skeyes of Seven's EP is released successfully! Fans of Cory & Ron's old band Sense of Truth will relate to that regarding their unreleased CD. As well, Skeyes of Seven confirmed on Facebook that they have indeed parted ways with drummer John Mignacca, presumably due to his move to Sudbury last fall, which followed his only two shows with the band in mid-2015. John's a talented drummer (As It Stands fans can attest to that), and hopefully he's in another band down the line!

With John's departure, Skeyes of Seven are looking for a new drummer, and while they haven't begun an active search yet, message the band A.S.A.P. if you or someone you know are interested in trying out! For clarification, ex-drummer Johnny Amendola isn't back, despite his kit in the recent Cherry Crush jam videos still having S.O.S. drum head artwork. As for John Mignacca's participation on the Skeyes of Seven EP, he confirmed on his personal Facebook page that he did indeed provide the studio drum tracks, and you can get a preview of his work via two videos that he posted on Facebook in July, which the band subsequently shared on their own Facebook page, so what should you know on them? The clips (one seen here) are both short, and have loud steady beeps over them (presumably to keep tempo), but you do get a glimpse of John's skill, and it'll be interesting to hear more of the final product! Just have the volume up to hear his drumming, but also remember the beeps, as they may be distracting.

It's great to see Skeyes of Seven staying busy, and while they've played just four local concerts in the past four years, their talents and past band work speak for themselves, so hopefully things continue to turn upward for Cory, Al, Ron, John, and their next drummer! Check out John drumming below, see more above, and apologies for the delay on these!



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

• Energy Rock Radio is coming home for a special event in July! The Castlegar, B.C.-based internet rock station (which broadcasted in the Soo from 2008-2011) will be holding a special local broadcast when station head Ryan Kaarlela comes home in July, with a special subscriber-only episode of The Rated Ryeman Show airing late that month. Great to see Ryan back home, and if you're a loyal Brew Crew member, click here for full details on how to get in on this N.R.G. homecoming broadcast!
• Former Havadder bassist Lucas Bugyra is looking to start a new local rock band that would play older & new rock, plus some metal. He's looking for a couple of guitarists and a drummer (no word on if he's planning to sing or not), and he is hoping to give more variety at local bars via this band. If you're interested in trying out, message Luke at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Tuesday!
• Local drummer Trey Piraino is again looking for musicians to jam with towards forming a progressive metal band. He had posted a similar search in August 2014, but hopefully this time, he gets some traction towards a prog-metal outfit, as he does sound serious about wanting to get one going! For details, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Wednesday!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Destroilet Updates, New Videos, And More Assorted News!!

We're back with more news on this Friday afternoon, so what's on deck? Today, we have a new video from a local guitarist, more archive album uploads, and much more assorted news & notes, but first, here's the latest updates from a band we haven't seen on the stage in way too long, so here's what you need to know!

Local old school hardcore quintet Destroilet are continuing their somewhat quiet activity with some encouraging new band updates, including the confirmation that they are working on a new album! Online pages are still updated only scatteredly, but drummer Matt Waples has been keeping fans up to date on his personal Facebook page to the recording plans, which will apparently lead to a 12 track full length album (including reworked versions of the songs from their 2011 EP), with a planned proper CD release concert around Christmas, which is something that last year's EP never got. Their MySpace page briefly had some unfinished demos of these tracks in recent days (including the previously previewed "Eternal Fire" and a cover of The Ducky Boys' "Cross To Bear", among others), though they've since been taken down. I'm cautiously optimistic about these Destroilet updates, and hopefully we'll finally see them fully back and active before you know it! I don't know exactly why they haven't played live in over 20 months, but if this helps speed up Destroilet's return, I'm all ears, so stay tuned for more band updates as they roll in!

Next up, local solo artist and Haggith drummer Mike Haggith posted two more of his old solo albums onto his YouTube channel yesterday to stream for free! Uploaded as single files of the whole album in one video, they're of Mike's 37th & 38th solo albums "The Curse Was The Cure" and "I Hate My Life & I Want To Die", so click the above links to check them out! Both were released through the former Rotten Records in mid-2009 before Mike moved to Sault Ste. Marie, so while they're not overly familiar to Saultites, there's still some solid stuff there! I have yet to hear either in full, but there's some varied hard rock and alternative material in both albums, as you've hopefully come to expect from his local work. I've embedded the longer of the two albums ("The Curse Was The Cure") below to check out, but visit the above links for more, buy them at this location if you like what you hear, and stay tuned hopefully for more uploads of Mike's back catalog!



Also in the realm of new videos is the latest solo guitar cover from Ashes to Dust guitarist Alex Hemy, who posted this clip of him covering Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" onto his YouTube channel yesterday! He knows the song pretty well, but his playing sounds a bit reserved compared to the original recording, and there's a lot of stretches in the original song with minimal to no guitar work, so I wouldn't say it's the best song to showcase Alex's skills with. Very good though, so give it a look below!



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

• Former Late & Loud guitarist Brendan Christie is looking for a drummer for his new local metal project, implying that Josh Hatherley is not in this new band. Having double kick experience is a must, and liking or being influenced by hair metal and bands like Iron Maiden, Dokken, and Skull Fist would help as well. If you're at all interested in trying out, message Brendan at this location or find his post from yesterday on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group!
• Don't sound the bell for Dismembertainment's death yet! Owner Rich Moreland posted on their Facebook page today to let fans know that he's working on ways to possibly put on local metal concerts in the Soo despite his move to Alberta last month, and he may also get into concert promotion out west as well. I'm curious to see how Dismembertainment could put on shows from afar like this, but if I hear anything positive or negative on their future, I'll let you guys know!
• Though not local anymore, Energy Rock Radio is back! The online hard rock/metal station (which was based out of Sault Ontario from 2008-2011) had been shut down since January, with owner Ryan Kaarlela hosting some radio shows in the interim out of his current British Columbia home base, but a new Facebook page has been launched with more updates to come, so check the above links for updates, and click here to stream the new Energy Rock Radio!

 That's all for today, but stay tuned for hopefully more news and updates this weekend, and I hope to see you guys at the Zombie Walk (or at least the afterparty!) Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Garden of Bedlam), Battle Of The Bands Updates, And Much More!!

The news keeps rolling in fast and furious, and we've got a lot of it to get to today, so here's what's on tap! We have some assorted shorter stories from the last little while, the latest updates for the upcoming Battle of the Bands (including a newly added band's change), preliminary word on an apparent major upcoming concert, and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, but first, here's news relating to some great local press on a local band and their frontman, as it links to the new show!

The Sault Star's article on Garden of Bedlam singer Erik "Buzz" Boissineau is now online on The Sault Star's website! Written by Brian Kelly and entitled "Singer finds peace in Garden of Bedlam", the article features Buzz's thoughts on the imagery and themes of the band's new album "Everything Will Die", their studio work, their victory at 2009's Kiss Battle of the Bands and the experience opening for Kiss at The Essar Center in August 2010, and Buzz's musical journey before joining Garden of Bedlam, including brief mentions of his old bands Barfly and Sourcecode. The article also mentions that Garden of Bedlam hopes to do some touring this spring in Ontario, which would be awesome if it happens on schedule! This is a nice article with some good insights on both Buzz's music and Garden of Bedlam's local rise, and aside from spelling Kiss drummer Eric Singer's first name wrong, there's no glaring errors from what I can see. Buzz definitely is a nice guy deserving of the press, but I was hoping for either some more insight into his career or some more integration of the other members of the band for the article. Still, it's some well deserved press all around, and check out the full article at the above links!

That's not all from the article of note from Garden of Bedlam, as it also revealed their next concerts at the end, so here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!! According to the above article, Garden of Bedlam will bring their metal onslaught back to The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, March 10th for a headlining concert there! This will be their first local concert of 2012, their first since their CD release show on Boxing Day, and their first show at The Rockstar Bar in nine months, but at least this isn't as huge of a wait for their next show as some of them have been! Garden of Bedlam haven't confirmed this concert on their pages yet, but if The Sault Star's mentioning it, then it can't be too inaccurate. Admission will be $5, an 11:00 PM start time is listed, and I imagine this is a 19+ event, but other details (like potential openers) haven't been made public yet. Check the above links for more details! It's nice to see Garden of Bedlam back for another headlining concert, and you know it'll be a big show no matter what, so stay tuned to the SMS for more details as they come in!

The other new show mentioned in the Sault Star is not completely confirmed yet, so I won't call it yet until official word comes out, but Garden of Bedlam are also listed for a David Gold memorial show at a to-be-announced local venue on April 7th! This appears to confirm that a local tribute concert in memory of the late Woods of Ypres frontman is in the works, and I have heard rumours relating to it and possible bands to perform on it, but until something completely official is released by promoters or band-linked sources, I won't officially go into any detail. Stay tuned though, because I have a feeling this will be a can't miss event!

Next up, here's the latest updates on the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th at The Grand Theater! Two more bands have been confirmed for the lineup of this long awaited battle, including local deathcore quartet The Valentine's Day Massacre.... wait, who are they? They're actually the band formerly known as View To A Kill, who announced that they changed their name yesterday. A full reason for the name change wasn't announced, but the band said that the View To A Kill name "served them well". Maybe there was a conflict with a similarly named other band, maybe it's to better suit their material, who knows. Personally, I find that the name's a downgrade and doesn't really match their sound, but their music is still brutal, so stay tuned for more from The Valentine's Day Massacre as it comes in, including their next show next month when details come out! The other newly confirmed band is local rock quartet Wishbone (featuring local metal band alumni Glen Thomas & Steven Flint), who'll play their first local battle of the bands since the Kiss Battle finals in 2009! Not too heavy, but they're a very talented band, and they should do real well in April!

Notably, Late & Loud have yet to be confirmed for the battle despite the Facebook posts mentioning their involvement, but stay tuned if I hear anything for or against them playing. Veteran local bassist Nathan Bouliane's new band The Moves have also submitted an entry, but they've yet to be added to the lineup either as of this writing. This is shaping up to be a very cool battle of the bands, and hopefully everyone turns out to support their favourite bands and rock out! There's still openings for new bands, so click here to register to try and play at this battle, and stay tuned for more updates!

And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or station name:

• Formerly-local internet radio station Energy Rock Radio has shut down, and has been replaced by "The Energy Rock Radio Show" on the New York internet station Hard Rock Radio Live as of January 17th, running Saturdays at 12:00 PM. A reason wasn't announced, beyond owner Ryan Kaarlela saying it was "time to move on." It sucks to see ERR as we knew it end, but hopefully Ryan makes the new show a success, and hopefully you guys continue to tune in! As a result, I've replaced it's now show-centric link on the SMS with the old ERR Facebook group, but do check out the new show!
• Local grimecore trio Shit Liver are among numerous bands playing at this year's Touch Of Death Metal & Punk Festival in Cochrane, Ontario (6 hours north of Sudbury) from June 29th to July 1st, joining notable bands like Hallows Die, Empyrean Plague, and Thekillingfield on the massive lineup. Click here for more details! This should be a great festival for Northern Ontario metal, as always, so keep an eye on it!
• According to their Facebook page, local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage recorded material towards a new album called "Jonathan, Your Music Sucks" at River Front Recreation Studios on Friday! I'll note that they still have their two "Genius Mushrooms" albums to release (the first one is online but not on sale), but no matter what the future release schedule looks like, stay tuned for updates!
  

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our last feature post of January (our review of Foothill Road's second EP) tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Frightlight), A New Local Band, And Lots More!!

Ah, what the hell, here's one more post to close out March with, ending our busiest month ever with 38 posts! Today, we have the latest from Energy Rock Radio, the last third of the Woods of Ypres local tour vlog, the newest addition to End of Existence, and a new local band, but the new band won't be leading off the post. Why? I'm tying in a story today with that band, and I don't wanna push the new concert too far back. So I'll lead off with the LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, and then, we'll get into the linked stories! Here's what you need to know!

Frightlight are returning to the stage on April 27th for a punk show at Coch's Corner! In what will be their first publically announced 19+ show as a quintet (this month's "secret" show notwithstanding), they'll be one of two support bands for Southern Ontario hardcore punk quintet The Endprogram, in their first local concert stop since hitting The Grand Theater on May 5th, 2009 in support of Canadian punk legends SNFU! Sort of skirting the metal/punk boundaries, their hard hitting punk aggression will be a welcome sight after an almost two year absence! Also playing support are local trio Motion Carried, which means that Rick White will play double duty at this show as their drummer and as Frightlight's guitarist! I still don't know how Motion Carried sound, or even if they're even all that heavy, but hopefully we'll find out soon! My hunch is a slightly heavier version of The Scary Uncles, but I can't say for certain just yet. There is no cover for this show, you must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at 10:00 PM that night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a solid concert, maybe I'll check it out! And of course, kudos to new Frightlight guitarist Kevin Powe for the poster, it's great seeing his graphic design work again! Stay tuned for more!

Next up, here's the linked stories, starting with a brand new addition to a local band! Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids epic metal band End of Existence have announced the addition of keyboardist Craig "Tubesock" Harrison to the band, giving them four members (though still no bassist.) This officially reunites Craig with his old bandmates Bob Helsten, Steve Giles, and Greg Giles from such bands as Dust N' Bones and (of course) Integrated System of Machines, which is really cool! Though End of Existence and I.S.O.M. share many similarities, this isn't an I.S.O.M. return. Craig has joined End of Existence, who are their own animal, and it'll be interesting to see how his keyboard work fits with their original material! Further details as to his role in the band (i.e. when we'll see EoE material he plays on, etc.) aren't known yet. My source for the above information is their official Facebook page! It's nice to see Craig back in a band like this, and he should add a welcome dimension to End of Existence! He's always been kind to me and my work on the SMS too dating back to the later I.S.O.M. days, and I can't wait to hear what he has in store this time around!

Speaking of bands involving Craig Harrison, here's that new band! I'm connecting it with the above story because I only found out about this band because of End of Existence's announcements of him joining earlier today. As it turns out, Craig has done recent work with the Giles brothers with a classical metal project named Theatre of Night, and they're on Reverbnation! A collaborative effort to make classical/metal hybrid music, the posted songs range from keyboard-only classical pieces to full band instrumentals, including a good helping of Christmas material! Songs like "Demonslayer", "The Eleventh Hour", and "Carol of the Bells" (previously posted on End of Existence's page at Christmas time) show some nice orchestral sounding metal, while Craig goes solo on some purely classical material like "Seven's Sorrow" and "Twilight In Valhalla" for material that would not be out of place in some epic black metal songs! Also of note: They have an album for sale! For $9.99 ($5.99 for the mp3s), you can buy Theatre of Night's debut album "Christmas Night", featuring their classical metal renditions of 10 Christmas carols! To pick it up (as well as a long sleeved t-shirt), visit this location! This makes perfect sense for a CD review on the SMS, but not now. Does it make any sense for a Christmas review in the spring? I say wait til November or December, I have a hunch we'll be reviewing this then!

Theatre of Night are a really cool sounding band, especially if you enjoy classical music and orchestral metal. Give them a look at the above links, you might be surprised! Stay tuned for more on End of Existence and Theatre of Night as news comes in, and click here to check them out!

Now, to the last third of Woods of Ypres' tour vlog! This concludes the concert clips from the past thirds of the vlog that frontman David Gold has been posting on his YouTube channel, but also includes some post-concert antics, so here's what you should know! The first 5 and a half minutes are comprised of the remainder of the included concert footage that I shot, so if you enjoyed the performance clips from the last two, there's more of it here! After that, there's clips of Woods of Ypres mingling post-show, driving footage of the Sault that night, the band's excursion to Metro to buy frozen pizzas, what happens when David tries a Michelina's frozen dinner, and final footage of the band on Trunk Road as they leave Sault Ste. Marie for their next tour stop! Entertaining stuff, and it's nice to know that they seemed to have a good time back in our burial ground! Stay tuned for more from Woods of Ypres' East Coast tour as it comes in, check the above links for the rest of the vlog and some re-uploaded portions of the vlog that deserve individual attention (boot dancing & swinging beards, anyone?), and here's part 3 of the Sault Ste. Marie tour vlog!



And finally, here's the latest from local internet radio station Energy Rock Radio! Ever the chameleon-like station, Energy Rock Radio's official website has ANOTHER new logo and design, which isn't entirely finished yet, but it looks good! Still, I wonder why they continue to edit and change their look? They also quietly launched a new Facebook page early last month featuring some basic programming information and links to some new merchandise, so become a fan today! Looks like their music selection is bigger than ever, with the 24/7 stream still active, and apparently, DJ Ryan Kaarlela interviewed 3/5ths of As It Stands on air earlier today! Hopefully that gets posted somewhere so we can hear it! Although they don't appear to have much luck in deciding a permanent look, Ryan and the brew crew at Energy Rock Radio are putting in tons of work on the station, and it continues to show! Check the above links for much more, and stay tuned for updates as they come in on the Sault's only internet rock radio station!

That's all for tonight, and for our busiest month ever, and I have more news to share through the weekend, including (yes) my review of TONIGHT'S Rosie metal night! Stay tuned!

News From Lion Ride, Tym Morrison, Energy Rock Radio, And More!!

Now to clear out most of my remaining news stories as we continue with this busy January! If you want to escape the northern cold, then bundle up for some notable news today from the local metal scene, including a number of concert date changes, a new audio interview from a local band, the latest updates from Energy Rock Radio, and more, but we'll start today with some new videos!

YouTube user schramalama has uploaded two brand new videos of local metal quintet Lion Ride onto their official YouTube channel yesterday! The videos are live performances of the songs "Cocaine Crazy" and "Stick It In" from their concert this past Saturday at The Circus Room in Kitchener! The audio quality is really good, and the video is as well, but it's a bit dark. The angle's something we don't see much out of concert videos, almost from below and slightly on an angle too. Mikey Lion's vocals sound a bit strained at points, but the band are on form otherwise, and it's always nice to see new Lion Ride footage! Check out schramalama's channel linked above for more Southern Ontario concert videos, including a few of The Saigon Hookers featuring Lion Ride bassist Carmine "Cobra Carmander" Romano from last year, and of course, check out the Lion Ride videos too! I'll link one here, so here's Lion Ride playing their song "Cocaine Crazy" from this Saturday in Kitchener!



Next up, a number of upcoming concerts from a local musician have been moved up a day. Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's weekly arrangement at Foggy Notions has been adjusted, with the weekly concerts now being moved up a day from every Sunday to every Monday. His concert schedule hasn't been updated yet to reflect this, but the Facebook event page for what is now TONIGHT'S solo acoustic concert says that Foggy's owner Taryn Bugyra talked to Tym and wanted the shows moved up a day. Why? I don't know, but maybe this is due to a new Sunday weekly feature or an attempt to attract Monday business. Oh, and Tym confirmed this with me via e-mail, so this is well sourced. So Tym's now at Foggy's on Mondays every week through February, with more dates likely to come, so make sure you guys know about the change! Our concert listings have been edited to reflect this, and remember, Tym's playing at Foggy's TONIGHT, so make it out if you can!

Thirdly, here's the latest news from Sault Ontario's own online rock radio station, Energy Rock Radio! They've been working on lots of updates there, including some cool local metal news and notes! The station will soon be offering a Frightlight prize package including a bunch of band swag, and an interview with Sense of Truth frontman Cory Murchison is expected for next month as well. Good to hear, maybe we'll find out more on what's been keeping the new album from coming out, and maybe when we'll see them on stage next! The new site design (yes, another one) isn't complete yet, with some dead links here and there, but things are looking up, and there's even an automatic music player on the main page that streams Energy Rock Radio right from there, no need for an external program if you don't want it! Ryan Kaarlela and the guys at ERR continue to put in a lot of hard work to make this station rock, so definitely give it a listen at their official website today! When I hear more interesting news, I'll have it here, and thanks for the awesome plug too!

I wanted to include a Woods of Ypres interview I just heard about, but the links expired, so I'll finish with three shorter news stories in order by band name. If I find the Woods interview elsewhere, I'll have it in a future post, but for now, here's three quick stories!

• Sault Michigan death metal trio End of Existence have relaunched their official website with a new design! Looks nice, and it includes some interesting news and updates, including talk of looking for a full time bassist! Click here to check it all out!
• According to their official Facebook page, local metal quartet Late & Loud are planning to begin work on a demo this weekend, and will start playing some shows real soon as a result! Not much else is there yet, but that sounds promising! Click here for more!
• Mike Haggith's new album "Suspended Animation" is now available on CD for those of you who want a physical copy! It's pretty good, and if you wanna pick it up, it's $7.50 at his official store! Click here for more details!

That's all for today, but I'll have more local metal news very soon! Thanks everyone!

Assorted News From Sativa Rose, Mike Haggith, Grady, and Energy Rock Radio!!

Well guys, we have a busy patch of posts coming up this weekend, including our next Defunct Local Band Profile, our next poll, and previews of this weekend's concerts, but first, here are some more assorted news stories from the last little while! There's some big stuff to share today, so let's get right to it with a new local concert video!

Firstly today is the newest concert footage of local metal cover trio Sativa Rose! This comes from their September 18th concert at GLOW Nightclub (which has news on it's apparent demise I wanna share in the next little while), and it's a video of their cover of the Dokken song "Dream Warriors"! Horror fans may recognize that song from the third Nightmare on Elm Street movie, and it's cool to see a local band giving Dokken some love! This was filmed by bassist Adam Veale's dad John, who now has seven live videos of Sativa Rose in action on his YouTube channel! Good quality video and audio here, and the band sound tight and proficient as ever! Andrew Angelic's guitar work especially stands out, but like with past Sativa Rose videos I've came across featuring no guests, the vocals need work. Adam's tone's alright, but I don't think the range is all there. Still, this is another promising glimpse of Sativa Rose in action, and you can check it out immediately below, or at the above links!



Next up, here's some more news from local solo artist Mike Haggith! Fresh off the surprise release of "Laps In A Lake Of Fire", there's more news to get to from his solo project, so here's what you need to know! Firstly, Mike announced the release of his first ever live album, "Live At The Outback" (artwork pictured), on his Facebook discography on Friday. It features all four tracks from his 13 minute set at the Sault College bar/concert spot on December 1st during their weekly open mic night. Mike says the set was well recieved, and it's nice to see it get recorded, but as of today, I haven't seen any noticeable trace of the recordings online for streaming or purchase. When they do get posted on any of his pages, I'll let you know, but keep this in mind if you're following his recent local work! The other new update is that he has posted a preview video for his 44th album, "The Blue Album" onto Facebook as well! It features the instrumental take of his new song "Hot Summer Sun", which will be featured with vocals on the new album slated for an April release. Not too heavy, but it has a nice consistent groove! Time will tell how it will sound in full, but look out for more coverage on "The Blue Album" as I hear it! For now though, click here for the "Hot Summer Sun" video, and look out on Tuesday, when we profile Mike's Windsor metal band S.C.A.R. in our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile Series!

Thirdly, here is the latest news from local internet rock radio station Energy Rock Radio! After a period of not a lot of news from the crew at ERR, founder Ryan Kaarlela (a.k.a. Ryan McQueen or DJ Ryeman) filled me in recently on some of the new updates with thr only local internet radio station for us metalheads! The 24/7 server for the station is back online after a bit of a break, and you can tune in any time of the day once again at their official website or at this location to tune in through your favourite media players! Note that the site has yet another new logo, interesting to see the chameleon-like nature of their designs! With member totals growing, Ryan's hoping to throw a major all-day party soon through the server, website, and possibly through live chat to celebrate hitting 1,000 members, hopefully by the end of 2010! Sounds good to me! With a diverse and always listenable selection of metal and hard rock tunes on 24/7 rotation, Energy Rock Radio is not to be missed if you desire internet radio, with an extra local kick! Keep an eye on Energy Rock Radio through 2011, for what will hopefully be their biggest year ever! Check the above links to hear what's going on!

And finally, remember how on November 19th, a photograph of Grady frontman Gordie Johnson with double guitar in hand was SooToday's "Friday Hot Shot" that week? Well, aside from that, we hadn't seen any pictures of the Austin, Texas country metal trio in action from their November 16th show at The Grand Theater elsewhere... until Monday! That's when SooToday's own Donna Hopper finally posted her pictures from this concert onto her photography Facebook page! Note that no pictures of openers The Motorleague are included, though I believe I remember seeing Donna get pictures of their set. As usual, Donna's professionalism shows with these high quality shots, which are as good as any we see from her attended concerts! There are some interesting closeups of drummer Nina Singh's face in strange positions too, but other than that, it's just high quality concert pictures that are well worth giving a look! We may not have gotten a SooToday review of the show, but we'll take what we can get! Click here to view all of Donna's posted pictures from this concert, and keep an eye out for her at future local concerts!

That's all for now, but stay tuned TONIGHT for previews of this weekend's scheduled local metal and hard rock concerts! That and much more are on the imminent horizon, so be on the lookout! Thanks everyone!

Garden Of Bedlam, Woods Of Ypres, And Energy Rock Radio Updates, And New Videos!!

I'm close to clearing out old news stories, I can feel it! I only have a handful left after this post, thankfully, so we can focus more attention on the GarageBand Profile Mini-Series, and of course, our 3rd Anniversary which is on SUNDAY!! I have three things to unveil, so you'll wanna be around for that, I'll bet! But for today, let's get to five local metal stories/videos that you guys should be aware of!

Firstly, let's discuss Rotaryfest Second Stage headliners Garden of Bedlam, who are still in studio recording their first full length album! In the last few days of backlogged news, I haven't been keeping you guys up to date on how the recording's going, so here's lots of updates on that front! Producer Miguel Gauthier has been keeping everyone up to date from the sessions at Stereo Soul Studios on his Facebook page, and here's some highlights! The guitar recordings with Josh Belleau were nearing completion as of Wednesday, and were apparently so heavy that the high distortion was making the speakers chirp like birds! On June 21st, Miguel was comparing Josh's guitar tones to a "chainsaw ripping through your dental work." Good sign! And, Miguel gave Garden of Bedlam credit for starting that earthquake that we felt locally too! Once guitars are finished (if they're not already), Buzz hits the studio to lay down vocals, and I promise to keep on top of that for updates on the SMS now that I'm not so piled with news! Remember, follow Miguel on Facebook for studio updates as they come in!

Next up, as Woods of Ypres continue their North American tour, a couple of reviews from one of their shows out west have started to pop up online! Two separate reviews from Woods of Ypres' show at The Biltmore in Vancouver are now online on a pair of metal websites, and here's what you should know! Hellbound.ca's Kyle Harcott glowingly praised Woods of Ypres, despite a relatively short set, even saying that it was the "best show of the year"! The photos aren't of great quality, but he details the experience of the show well, and even notes that the band played a NEW SONG as their encore! Apparently, it was an instrumental, but I'd love to hear it! Click here for Kyle's complete review! Also at the show for review purposes was Mule Hughes from Difficult Music, who evened out his review to talk a bit more about the openers than Kyle did and spent a bit less time on Woods. He enjoyed the concert though, and I found it amusing that David Gold admitted on stage that they were the least heavy band of the night! Also a good read, click here to check it out! Stay tuned for more updates from Woods of Ypres' current tour!

Thirdly today, some updates to local internet radio station Energy Rock Radio! Ryan McQueen and company have been making more changes lately, including a brand new page design (again) and the addition of new genre streams for classic rock and urban music, so now, if you don't want wall to wall metal, you have options! However, the thing that caught my attention the most was a post on Energy Rock Radio's Twitter page from June 28th, which says, and I quote, "We have made the final decision of 2010. In that being strictly "Creative Commons" tunes(unsigned) on our server, as well as talk radio. bCm". Posts on Ryan's personal Facebook page indicate that this is a "new direction" and was plugging that we should tune in to "support unsigned bands and material from all around our world." There's no official word beyond that, but it's interesting that Energy Rock Radio is going this route. Was there outside pressure to not play material from signed bands, is this the safe route in case that happens, or is Energy Rock Radio just championing unsigned bands more out of good will? No matter what, it's still a great station, and it will give you an excuse to discover new bands by listening! Click here for more on this station, I'll have more updates as I hear them!

Closing this post are two new local metal-relevant videos! And first, we have a new performance clip from Nixxon Dixxon frontman Brandon Carr. Just Brandon alone in this one, and I'll explain why. YouTube user rubbs001 uploaded a video onto their channel of Brandon covering Shinedown's version of the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Simple Man" at The International Idol Vocal Competition Series that was held on June 6th at The Soo Theater in Sault Michigan! Presumably, he entered in the 14-and-over class of this competition to find talented local singers. A local musician named Kellan Perron won for that class, taking home $600, studio time, and opportunities to perform live in concert and stage productions! Nice work, congratulations to Kellan! It'd have been cool to see Brandon win though, I've always liked his singing, and he compensated for his range by adding grit and heaviness to "Simple Man" that didn't ruin the song at all! Check out the 89 second clip below, and more Nixxon Dixxon/Brandon Carr videos at this location, including one of Brandon as the dentist in a live production of Little Shop of Horrors!



Finally, I'd like to share a video I uploaded the other day. Remember The Sexual Vigilantes, the Toronto-based comedy metal band featuring locals Curtis Faux and Brenton Ellis from Detroit? Well, I noticed the other day that their lone video on YouTube, and many classic Lion Ride videos from their "glam" days, were suddenly made private for unexplained reasons by the uploader. I'm not gonna throw that person under the bus by singling them out, there must have been some reason for making them private, but it left the general audience without any Sexual Vigilantes videos! The video in question was a live performance by the band (with Mikey Hawdon and Mark Rand as guests) playing "Motorbike The Song" at Foggy Notions in December 2007, and to at least partially make up for it's unavailability to the general YouTube user, I've uploaded the studio version of that song to The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! Catchy goofy little hard rock number, it shows their sense of humour and talents in equal amounts! Check it out below, and here's hoping Curt and Brent bring the band home for a show some day!



That's actually probably all for today! My news cache is almost cleared out, so unless some huge story comes out later, I don't think I'll have a new news post until tomorrow! But before that, stay tuned around midnight for my next installment of our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series, where we take a look at Lee Maines' solo projects! Stay tuned for that, my Phatstick concert review (I'll see you at Foggy's tonight or tomorrow!) and much more real soon!

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!

It's that time again, where I have so many new local metal related videos to share that I have to group them all into one post! Three concert videos, a local radio station update video, and a commercial for an upcoming concert, so get yourselves ready for another local metal video showcase!

The first new video I have to share today is a new live video of Lion Ride from their concert on Thursday at Toronto's Bovine Sex Club! It's a live performance of their song "Sneak Attack", and it was uploaded to frontman Mikey Lion's YouTube channel yesterday! It's a good performance of a great song, it's filmed from a nice angle, and the sound is good too! However, Iron Mike Bison's drums seem to overpower the vocals at parts, and I'm not sure what that thing is that obstructs the lower right area of the video...is that a chair? Well, at least it doesn't block anyone or anything important! Great video, hopefully there's more Lion Ride videos to come! Check it out below!



Next up is a new video of local hard rockers Half Past! Though we haven't seen them live in two months, if you're missing them at all, this might help! Drummer Chris Thompson has uploaded two new live clips from the band's April supporting performance for Garden of Bedlam at The Canadian Nightclub onto his YouTube channel! One is another live video of their original "War Inside My Head", and the other one which I'm showing you all here is a video of their newest original "One More Day"! Really nice quality, the sound is clear and the video's filmed at a good angle with nice use of the zoom lens! Great song too, very catchy, I can't wait to hear more from Half Past! Check out the "One More Day" video below, and lots more videos from Half Past at this location!



Thirdly is a new video from Nixxon Dixxon's May 23rd show at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino! We previously saw clips from this show of the band covering "And The Cradle Will Rock..." and "No More Tears", but now, YouTube user myangels1266 has uploaded another performance from that show, of Nixxon Dixxon covering the "Would?" by Alice In Chains! Nice cover, I like how the dual vocal harmonies on this version, and Chris Hubbard continues to impress on lead guitar here too! Really good cover, these guys have a very bright future! Check the performance out below, and more vidoes from Nixxon Dixxon by clicking here!



Now onto a new update video from Energy Rock Radio, where DJ Ryan McQueen tells us what we should be "in the know" about with the station! This video was uploaded to Energy Rock Radio's YouTube channel on Wednesday. Ryan covers a lot of ground in just under 4 and a half minutes, so here's what you should know! The station are starting a homegrown talent segment where a local band will be profiled each month! ERR will feature Sense of Truth this month and Garden of Bedlam next month to start! Good sign, I wish more local stations aired more local talent! Among other highlights: The station are now taking in listener-submitted segments, Ryan hyped ERR sponsors (nice of him to plug the SMS again, thanks Ryan!), plus lots of reminders about daily show times, the "metal face" contest, the Friday karaoke nights, and more! Great way to get the scoop on all you need to know from Energy Rock Radio, though of course, everything you must know is at their newly re-updated website! Listen to Energy Rock Radio today, and check out the video below!



Finally for today is a new commercial for the Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival, which takes place July 22-24th outdoors at Kewadin Casino! Actually, there's three new commercials for it, all of which are uploaded on Kewadin Casino's YouTube channel. Two are actually airing on television right now, including this one airing on MCTV (with an attached contest plug to win tickets), and this one airing on the local CBS feed in Sault Michigan! You can really tell that Kewadin's pulling out all the stops to make this a success, TV commercials can't hurt it! The one I'm embedding below is a one minute commercial that doesn't appear to be channel-specific, so I'm thinking this is for online distribution only. It gets across all major points, and does a good job of hyping the event, which will undoubtedly be huge! Remember, for full details on the festival, including how to buy tickets, click here! And for you metalheads, Bret Michaels and Vince Neil are still on for July 22nd, with more metal bands likely to come! Check out the new commercial below, and more at the above links!



That's all for today, my next post will undoubtedly feature some new news updates, I have stuff on the Kewadin festival, a recent Barking Eye article, Out Of The Mouth of Babes, Woods of Ypres, and more to come, so stay tuned!

Kiss & Energy Rock Radio Updates, A New Detroit Video, And The Big Four In The Soo?!

I just knew I had to get a second post in today, I don't generally like doing that, but considering that tomorrow's post will likely solely deal with weekend concert previews, I thought I should at least space out this post from my last one. But just in case you didn't read the post from earlier, check it out below this one, it has news on Turner Up's show THIS WEEKEND, new videos from Stillbroke, Silver Dream, and Nixxon Dixxon, and pics from one of Rush's shows here in the 1970s! So, let's get into some more news!

And what better way to start with more news that's sure to produce a reaction from certain skeptics. We have more confirmation that Kiss are still planning to come to Sault Ste. Marie! SooToday's David Helwig posted an article exploring the topic, which includes reassurances from Essar Centre events manager Trevor Zachary that discussions are "absolutely" going on to bring Kiss here, and a date in September is being held for them just in case! David points out in the article that there is that long break between the September 5th and 9th shows in St. Paul, Minnesota and Toronto that could hold a Sault Ste. Marie show. Craig Huckerby from SooNews has also jumped on this story for an article there about the Kiss situation, which says stuff we've mostly already heard, but it does contradict the SooToday article by saying that the arena is holding TWO potential dates for the Kiss show. Either way, this show is far from being cancelled and proving skeptics right, so we'll have to wait and see!

Closing today's Kiss show updates, SooToday has a poll up on the front page with this question: Has your opinion of the band KISS changed over the past year?" Three choices are given to vote on: "No, my opinion hasn't changed", " Yes, it has changed for the better", and "Yes, it has changed for the worse". Click the above link to vote if you want to, and how do the current results look? 59.84% of the 1,016 votes cast picked "Yes, it has changed for the worse", with in second with 36.32% and "Yes, it has changed for the better" in third with 3.84%. This is about what I expected, though I figure that once Kiss does in fact play here, general opinions on them will climb back up!

Next up, we have updates from your favourite internet radio station (and our only Sault Ontario-based rock radio station), Energy Rock Radio! Ryan McQueen and the guys over at ERR have been keeping busy with the station in recent weeks, here's some of the recent updates! I didn't cover this on here (wasn't locally based), but they ran a contest where the winner got tickets to go see Drowning Pool, Seether, Hellyeah, and Five Finger Death Punch live in Detroit! The winner, Sault Ontario's own Dustin Grimard, also won backstage passes and got to meet Drowning Pool, which must have been awesome! Ryan McQueen also was there, and there's lots of photos from the show and backstage experience at ERR's website, including getting a video message with Drowning Pool drummer Mike Luce! Also, Ryan's definitely been loading up on Sense of Truth at the station, adding songs from their forthcoming E.P. to the playlist rotation! Nice snag there, I have to say! So make sure to listen to Energy Rock Radio for your potential first glimpse at their new album! Also, remember to read Energy Rock Radio's current playlist to see what all they currently have to play on the station! Lots of great songs there, and don't be concerned with the non-metal stuff, that's only for special occasions!

...but that's not all Energy Rock Radio related today! Starting next Friday, the station is holding live karaoke nights from 8:00-10:00 PM, click here for details! Any metalheads out there wanna show off their singing voice? Or how about your best metal face, cause that contest is ongoing until September! And, Energy Rock Radio now has a YouTube channel! It features a contest promo video for the Drowning Pool contest, a live clip of Ryan McQueen at The Fillmore Theater in Detroit for the show, an initial greetings video, and a live Sense of Truth video from their show with Lion Ride on Saturday! I've embedded the Sense of Truth video below, it's actually of the same song I filmed, "Land of Greed"! He got closer to the action than I did, not bad work! Of course, click here to listen in live to Energy Rock Radio and enjoy, it's a great station that needs more listeners! And, of course, huge thanks to Ryan for recording a promo commercial for The Sault Metal Scene, which you can check out by clicking here! That's awfully nice of him!



Next, another new video from a local band, and this time, it comes courtesy of local hardcore band Detroit! This comes from a show at The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto on January 19th of Detroit playing what I think (I stress "I think") is an unreleased original called "Crowned By Giants"! This comes from the Youtube channel of a user named dnahahaha, who has uploaded 16 other live Detroit clips from shows at The Bovine Sex Club since January of last year, click here and search for "Detroit" to check them all out! The video and sound quality is really good, though I don't know if having a stationary camera is best, it doesn't capture angles that'd be worth seeing, and you can barely see Mikey Hawdon behind the drumkit. Good video even still, hopefully we'll see more from Detroit sooner or later, I miss seeing Brenton on stage!



And finally, here's a little query for you thrash metal lovers. We've seen Megadeth here, right? (March 2007 with Heaven and Hell.) Well, how would you like to see Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, AND Anthrax LIVE in Sault Ste. Marie?! Well, our chance is coming....sorta. As first alerted to us in a SooToday article entitled "Hey metal heads! You really wanna click here", it has been announced that on June 22nd, Galaxy Cinemas at The Station Mall will be showing The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax live as it happens via satellite from night one of The Sonisphere Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, along with over 65 other Cineplex theaters across Canada! This will be the very first time EVER that the Big Four thrash bands will share the same stage on the same night, and knowing that this is a historic occasion, I bet there's a bunch of you intrigued by this! If you want to attend, tickets are $18 and go on sale online and at the box office at Galaxy downtown on FRIDAY. The concert streams live at the theater on Tuesday, June 22nd, so make sure you get your tickets early, who knows what kind of turnout this will get! Click here for online purchasing details, and make sure you consider a ticket, cause this could be a once in a lifetime event! I might just stop by Galaxy and pick one up on Friday!

That's all for tonight, tomorrow's post will have previews of this weekend's metal concerts, and maybe some extra news stories for good measure, we'll have to see! Stay tuned for much more, and remember, I'll see you guys at The Oddfellows Hall AND Foggy Notions on Friday!

Things I've Missed, Some New Stuff, And A New SMS Page Update!

Hey everyone, time to get you all updated on some more local metal-related news!

I'll post this first simply because I can't believe I've missed so much on this band. Local hard rock cover band Turner Up have been way busier than I've noticed in recent weeks! For one, they played two shows this past weekend at The Nicolet Tavern as part of Bon Soo festivities, and I completely missed them to report. My complete apologies, I can't believe I didn't hear about those shows! Well, for those of you who went, hopefully they were awesome, sorry again! Also, the band has went through some lineup changes too, including the exit of drummer Steve Brogno (replaced by Scott McClurg) and the addition of bassist Len Ward, who you'll likely recognize from The Rad Zone! And finally, though this is not a "concert" per say, you'll wanna hear about this: Turner Up are the house band and host of the jam nights taking place every Wednesday at Foggy Notions! Yes, every Wednesday at 9:30, bring your instruments and maybe your best singing voice and jam with a great cover band, have a beer or two, all that fun stuff! Jam nights are always awesome, though Wednesdays may be hard to get to during the work week. But hey, the more hard rock, the better! I'll have to check them out one week! To confirm your attendance for Turner Up jam nights at Foggy's through May, click here! Check out more from Turner Up at this location, and I'll try my hardest not to forget news about them in the future!

Speaking of weekly events at Foggy Notions, Energy Rock Radio are also making their presence felt there! Monday nights are now Manic Mondays at Foggy's! DJ Ryan McQueen is broadcasting there LIVE Monday nights, parting, playing great music, and giving away ERR swag every Monday night! Sure, it's also a late weekday, but it's still great stuff! Energy Rock Radio's an awesome station, Ryan's put tons of work into it in the last few years, and who doesn't love free stuff either? Always a great way to spend your Monday night, I'd say! The first Manic Monday was last night, and it looks like they'll be live at Foggy's for the forseeable future, so head down there if you get a chance! And if not, you can always stream it live by clicking here, cause it broadcasts 24/7!)

Alright, now remember when I first reported on the full lineups for THIS WEEKEND'S Algoma Hope4Haiti benefit concert event? Well even after I updated the lineups, one venue stood out with no confirmed bands, and it was Coch's Corner. J.D. Pearce from Coch's Corner told me that if there's any bands out there who are willing to rock for the cause, to call him at 946-2867! Hint hint people, do you (or your band) wanna support Haiti and play a benefit show at Coch's Corner this weekend? Give J.D. a call, or e-mail cochscorner@hotmail.com to show your interest (also e-mail there if you wanna play a normal show there on an upcoming weekend, there's lots of bookings!) Sure, I'd love to see a metal band get on the bill, but genre differences aside for a second, this is a charity event, ANY band would be welcome! Hopefully a band shows interest, maybe it'll be YOUR band? Full details on Hope4Haiti, including participating venues/bands and ticket info, at this location! And remember metalheads, Bring The Fallen and Out Of The Mouth of Babes rock Nite-Life on Saturday!

Next up, remember when I was posting those remastered Sykotyk Rampage videos from their podium finish at the Sault College Battle of the Bands? Well, Dirk Becker did something I wasn't expecting: He took MY video that I shot, added new effects, transitions, and stuff, and has posted it on YouTube for the world to see! Now that's cool, I never thought anything I'd shoot would get a post-production treatment! And even if I wouldn't have filmed it, I'd still have mentioned it, so no saying I'm self-serving. Check out the video below, and thanks Dirk for the credit in the description! For more videos from Sykotyk Rampage, click here!



And finally, were you wondering why Garden of Bedlam's Buzz and Josh Belleau were in the banner image at the top of the page? (And no, they haven't bribed me.) I'm trying something, having different banners every day, and I picked that one to be first cause I liked how it turned out! I have a couple dozen made up to rotate, mostly with band members, but there's a few that are more unique and "artsy", if that makes sense. Some allude to the old "Sault Music Scene", others will just look really cool, you'll see! I was hoping for them to randomly rotate on new page visits, but HTML is not my friend for that, so I'm not gonna risk screwing up the SMS itself. Stay tuned for more banners, I've got some cool ones, it'll make the SMS a bit fresher and more fun to look at, I'd say! I'll show you guys another one of them, but we'll let the rest be a secret:

I have more news coming tomorrow, but I'm spreading out things to not make this post too long, things would get lost in the shuffle that way. But I do have news on Woods of Ypres and more coming, so keep on the lookout! Thanks everyone!