The Reopening Of Coch's Corner, The Fate Of 97.9 FM, And Much More!!

Let's get a new news post up on the site to cover some other recent news! I'm going out of town tomorrow afternoon, so updates may be slower over the coming week, but I fully intend to have weekend concert previews and more news on the site over the next little while, so don't miss a thing over the coming days! So for today, we have news on a local concert venue's reopening & new home, the ultimate fate of one of our former rock radio stations, some new "Woods V" reviews, and this week's classic video, so here's what you need to know!

The new Coch's Corner is officially open for business, as of yesterday! The local bar & concert spot is now operating at it's new home, at the former Foggy Notions location at 708 Queen Street East, two months after they left the old Days Inn location on Bay Street, as per a bunch of recent postings on Facebook (though note that Coch's Corner's Facebook group has yet to publically confirm the news.) From what I understand, the bar is fully operational except for the restaurant, which isn't running yet but will be implemented. I have yet to see the newly renovated location to figure out how different it looks, or if there will still be a stage for bands, but you guys know I'll have more on that as I hear of it! The re-opening ends an almost 6 month hiatus for public activity at 708 Queen, following the end of Foggy's brief successor Feedback in January and the lease transfer, and it's good to finally hear that Paul and the rest of the staff are back up & running! Coch's and Foggy's fans should definitely be amped for the re-opening, and even if it'll be different given the merger of sorts for the two bars, hopefully Coch's Corner can avoid the noise complaint concerns and other petty things that hung up the previous bars at that spot. Stay tuned for updates as I hear of them, and head to the newly open Coch's Corner's new home tonight if you can!

Next up, I wanted to fill you guys in on what happened to a local radio station that had a lot of metal and hard rock relevance during it's run. As you may remember, Classic Rock: The Bear (WIHC, 97.9 FM) served the Sault Ste. Marie/Newberry, Michigan radio market for 8 years from 2002-2010 before Northern Star Broadcasting left the Upper Peninsula and sold most of their U.P. stations to Sovereign Communications, who now own most of the non-religious stations in the area. WIHC was the only U.P. station left out of the sale to avoid going over FCC limits for regional station ownership, but Northern Star Broadcasting took 97.9 FM dark in February 2010, as the station wasn't financially viable and was operating at a loss (source here.) We got the station back (sort of) a few months later when WLJZ (94.5 FM) out of Mackinaw City switched from a country format to a Bear simulcast, returning heavier music to that frequency, which once hosted the modern rock station The Zone in the mid-2000s. Better radios here can pick up The Bear on 94.5 FM, so it's worth scoping out to see where and if you can hear it here! That said, what ever happened to WIHC out of Newberry?

Well, it's back on the air, but in a very different format than what we remember. In November, West Central Michigan Media Ministries bought WIHC from Northern Star for $150,000, and they brought it back in March as Strong Tower Radio, a religious talk station simulcasted from Cadillac, making it the fifth Christian-based FM station in the Twin Sault markets. Click here for more info. I hardly see the need for that many religious radio stations in such a small market area, but at least this one seems to be talk radio based, so it is some variance from the four Christian contemporary music stations here. I hope the new format is a success for the owners and for the more religious radio listeners around here, but it still would be nice to hear even one more rock-ish station locally. Check the above links for more on the saga of 97.9 FM over the past couple of years!

Now, here's some more reviews of Woods of Ypres' last recorded studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", which is still attracting lots of critical notices! In January, Tom Dare from the metal website Thrash Hits gave "Woods V" a score of 5 out of 6, calling the songs "bloody good", though emphasizing the difficulty it takes to listen to the material given what happened to David Gold and the lyrical content. Nice insightful review, though filled with quotes, so check it out at this location! The following month, Khalil Mikael from the blog Melodic Reviews gave "Woods V" a 98% rating, highly praising it for it's brilliant instrumentation, musical variance, and philosophical lyrics, though I don't know if I agree with the HIM comparison on "Death Is Not an Exit". Another solid review, so click here to give it a look! Finally for today, "Khelek" from the website Metal Reviews gave this album a surprisingly low rating of 30%, criticizing Woods of Ypres for playing it safe, dumbing down their existing sound (he gave "Woods IV" 60%) into what he thought was a bland & monotonous style, and only recommended "W5" to existing fans. I applaud his honesty, but I'd say that he didn't really get into the right mindset to appreciate the album's mood. Still, check out his review at this location, and if you can't see the text, press Ctrl & A on your keyboard! Stay tuned for more "Woods V" reviews in the near future!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! With a light upcoming weekend for shows that I can project, we're dipping into the general archives once again for this latest video, which is of the former local metal quintet Lion Ride! The local/Toronto standouts brought their high impact blend of punk and metal to many concerts during their 5 year run, and this video comes from an earlier show of theirs on Boxing Day 2008 at the old Coch's Corner. One video from the same filmer is already on YouTube via frontman Mikey Lion's YouTube channel, of Lion Ride playing "Lock Me In" at this concert, but the other video is new to YouTube, and it's of Lion Ride playing their song "Slapdance"! Lion Ride's 2008-2009 lineup is represented here, including Mikey on vocals, guitarists Marky & Marco Lion, then-new bassist Diamond Brent Panther, and original drummer Marc "The Italian Stallion" Muto (in what may have been his last local show with Lion Ride.) The audio quality is this video's main downfall, as it's very distorted on the verses & choruses, which almost completely drowns out Mikey's singing. That said, the video quality isn't bad, and it's shot from a decent angle, with the guys making the most of the tables at the old Coch's!

This video was shot by a concert attendee and was uploaded to Facebook two days after the show at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=54331212992. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Lion Ride, I'm just trying to share it with a wider audience! Audio issues aside, their talents are visible and their energy is top notch, so give this new old Lion Ride video a look below!



That's probably all for today, but stay tuned for news and previews in the next little while! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison) And Lots Of Assorted News!!

It's time for another news post, as we're clearing out a lot of back stories from our cache on this warmer-than-usual Tuesday afternoon! Today, we have news on an upcoming locally-relevant tribute album, the whereabouts of a local concert venue, Mike Cliffe's latest material, and how you can help Frightlight play a major concert, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will indeed be back at Bossy's Pub N' Grub on Pim Street this Saturday! This will be Tym's 12th straight Saturday set at the former Smack Daddy's, and his 11th during that span at an afternoon matinee timeslot, so if you're up for some acoustic hard rock covers in a more intimate setting during the day, you know where they'll be this weekend! Like his other Bossy's shows, he should be on at 2:00 PM on Saturday afternoon, there's no cover charge, and I assume it's all ages given the time and restaurant setting. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's nice to see Tym rocking Bossy's once again, and with this series going strong and Caveman Morrison's return imminent, things are only looking up for Tym musically this spring! Check the above links for more details, and become a fan of Bossy's Facebook page (that I only just discovered yesterday) at this location!

Next up, remember last month when we mentioned the planned David Gold tribute album featuring covers of Woods of Ypres songs by bands who David befriended and influenced? Well, the full track listing is now out for it, and barring band dropouts, it appears to be final, so what's in store? According to the Facebook group for the album (entitled "A Heart of Gold: A Tribute to Woods of Ypres"), it will be a double disc release with 18 covers of Woods of Ypres songs from the band's 5 numbered albums & their "Home" single. 2 or 3 are taken from each, except for Woods of Ypres' debut "Against The Seasons", which will see 4 of it's 5 tracks covered. Among the confirmed bands are Novembers Doom, Empyrean Plague, Gypsy Chief Goliath, Panzerfaust, Pagan Ritual, and Eclipse Eternal, who will all be at one or both of next month's David Gold tribute shows here & in Toronto (note that the previously listed Kittie aren't on the current track listing.) Among other notable contributions: It looks like The Governor from the popular metal podcast The Governor's Ball and "friends" will do an intro (possibly "The Looming of Dust in the Dark"?), while members of Woods of Ypres (not sure which ones) will guest with Gypsy Chief Goliath for their cover of "Shards of Love", which should be really cool!

Check the above links for complete current details, and hopefully this album is a huge success, so stay tuned for more updates as they come in! Also check out the above links for details on how you can submit Woods of Ypres covers for online posting even if they can't make the CD, or to submit photos & remembrances that could make the tribute album!

Thirdly today, prolific local solo guitarist Mike Cliffe has posted a handful of new solo songs onto his online pages! Three new solo tracks were posted over the past month onto his Reverbnation page, those being a rough jam version of a solo jazzy/rock number named "Giblets", a template idea for a new hard rock song named "What Is This", and a rockabilly-style number named "Champagne", so check the above links to hear these new tracks! I like "What Is This" the most, but all show nice creativity and diversity, especially on "Champagne", even if they still need some extra fine tuning. Also new for Mike's solo material is a strange new original song named "Triangle Sun", which was posted onto his YouTube channel on Sunday, and though it's a rare Mike solo track featuring his vocals, that makes this song very odd. He spoke and sang random words that were filtered and processed into a low almost robotic tone, and he tried to guess what he sang for comedic effect in the video below, which is amusing overtop of some well written guitar work! Maybe you guys can decipher his singing better than he can? Check out "Triangle Sun" below, and much more from Mike at the above links!



Also in today's news, local horror punk/metal quintet are giving the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands another shot in their quest to play the Vans Warped Tour! They've tried in the previous couple of years to qualify, and they're giving it another go this year, so here's what you should know! For each venue on this year's Warped Tour, the top 100 voted bands will be judged by industry professionals, with four bands selected to compete at the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands stage at their area's Warped Tour this summer, where winners could receive cash, prizes, concert appearances, and much more, so click here for full details. Frightlight are aiming to make it onto the Toronto stop on this year's Warped Tour, to be held at The Molson Ampitheatre on July 15th, and as of right now, they're in 36th place out of all bands trying out for the Toronto battle with 723 votes! That's a good sign, as they're in the range to be considered, but extra votes to propel their visibility and support their efforts are always welcome, so click here to vote for them! You'll need a free account to vote, but getting one is quick and painless. Let's help Frightlight go to Toronto in July, so vote A.S.A.P.!

And finally, I wanted to note something about the whereabouts of a local concert venue. You may have noticed that the SMS hasn't plugged anything in terms of new shows at Feedback (the former Foggy Notions) since December. I've been wanting to address it's whereabouts for a bit, but with it's Facebook page being taken down recently, I thought I might as well mention it now while I have it in mind. From what I understand, lease of the Foggy's location was transferred to new management in early January, and the new leaseholders are the guys from Coch's Corner, who are apparently doing more extensive renovations to the interior. I'm in no position to speculate on why this happened, but I don't believe it was due to any fault or error on the part of Feedback's management. It was surprising to see Feedback end so quickly after their October launch, as Rich had things in great working order last fall, but hopefully a new bar from the same management opens up down the road! As for what's going to happen to Foggy's, I don't know if Coch's Corner is fully moving there or if it's going to be a separate bar/concert venue, but I have seen external construction of some kind outside of the Coch's entrance at the Days Inn lately, for what that's worth. If I hear anything, I'll let you guys know for sure!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly, including this month's YouTube Channel Profile on Thursday and our Kiss Battle of the Bands Profile on Friday! Thanks everyone!

Details On David Gold's Funeral, New As It Stands Songs, And More!!

Hey guys, here's another news post for this Tuesday morning, and though it's a bit smaller than I'd like, I felt I had to get this out now to ensure the word spread about the top story. Today, we have assorted site link/post news, some brand new As It Stands material, and leading things off, all the latest on David Gold's final arrangements and what you need to know to pay your final respects, so read on below.

Funeral arrangements for David Gold have been announced for those interested in attending or saying goodbye to the late Woods of Ypres frontman. As seen in his obituary posted on SooToday (which is nicely written & lists much of his extended family), the funeral itself will be held tomorrow at 4:00 PM (exactly one week since the accident) at Northwood Funeral Home Cremation & Reception Centre at 942 Great Northern Road, which is not far past the new Sault Area Hospital and 3rd Line East. Reverend Jim Moffatt will officiate the ceremony, there will be visitation at Northwood at 1:00 PM for the hours before the funeral, and you can make donations towards covering David's service by contacting Northwood Funeral Home at (705) 945-7758, or presumably in person. That said, this changes the previous plans to reserve tomorrow for just a casual get-together in David's honour, but his sister Marie confirmed on his personal Facebook page yesterday that a party in his memory will take place at 6:00 PM that evening. Details and a location are forthcoming, so whether it will still be held at The Canadian Motor Hotel or not isn't known at present. However, the planned display of letters & remembrances from friends & fans hasn't changed, so remember to send them (and donation inquiries towards his final expenses) to mariechristinegold@hotmail.com.

Marie has requested as well that all remembrance letters be sent to her e-mail by 5:00 PM today to ensure they can be printed off & displayed tomorrow, so if you can't make it, get them in A.S.A.P.! It's slightly short notice to hear that the funeral is taking place tomorrow, not just the memorial get-together, but David was so well loved in local and metal circles that I'm sure a great turnout will result regardless. I probably can't make the funeral itself, but if I'm home in time for the party in his honour, I'll try and at least make an appearance. Either way, I sent a memorial letter to Marie for displaying at the service, so hopefully it helps add to what should be a great supply of letters & remembrances. That's about all new on the David Gold front that I've heard over the past while, but if anything news comes out from tomorrow's services, the accident investigation, or any future Woods of Ypres-related developments, I'll be sure to share them here! I will add that a couple of YouTube users have put their slideshow making talents to use with some nice videos for "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" tracks, notably on YouTube user chrismjsa's channel, but here's a nice video from Colton Cybulski set to Woods of Ypres' new song "Finality", so check it out below!

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Now to some extra stories from the local scene, and first, local hardcore quintet As It Stands have posted two new studio quality originals onto their Facebook page to stream! The posted songs are their originals "Conception" and "Big Problem, Little Lock City", both of which were presumably recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga in July towards their yet-unreleased third EP. These new uploads replaced "Oh Herm Herm Delish" on their BandPage Facebook application, which is where they were posted on Sunday morning, and according to recent postings, they plan to release another "tasty treat" for our ears on New Years' Day (likely implying at least one extra song they recorded.) How are the new tracks? The production's nice, and they show great aggression, but I'll hold on detailed comments until As It Stands release their new CD, whenever that is. Right now, I'm just glad to see them back in action locally after their 5 month break from the stage, and remember that they return to action on Thursday for a concert in Espanola, so keep that in mind! Check out their new songs at the above links, and stay tuned for more As It Stands news as it comes in!

And finally, here's three assorted site updates for our links and features, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or venue name:

• I've finally added a Facebook link & updated phone number ((705) 575-7222) for Sault Ontario bar/concert venue Feedback to our Sault Ontario concert venue listings on your right. I'm surprised it took this long to link Feedback there! We haven't heard much from the former Foggy's in over a week, but stay tuned for more Feedback updates!
• I've updated our GarageBand Profile on Gates of Winter to reflect the fact that keyboardist Brian Holmes left the band last month, and to better date their lineup to reflect who was in the band when GarageBand closed. That's about all, hopefully things are accurate now!
• In the next while, but not immediately, I'll likely be moving Woods of Ypres to our inactive band links. Posthumous CD releases aside, I see no realistic way that the band can survive without David Gold, who essentially was Woods of Ypres. Plus, sites like Encylopedia Metallum already consider the band split-up, for what that's worth. I hope guitarist Joel Violette gets back in the swing of things soon though, as his talents should take him very far (his Woods of Ypres output sure proved that over the past two years!)

That's all for today, but remember to enjoy TONIGHT'S Bret Michaels show and Green Christmas Bash, and if I don't see you guys tomorrow, I hope David's funeral and memorial party go well. It's a shame that we have to say goodbye to him so young, but hopefully all of his fans and friends have a chance to pay their respects tomorrow. If I can't be there, I'll be there in spirit, and stay tuned for more news and notes over the coming days, along with our review of Garden of Bedlam's new CD! Thanks everyone!

Green Christmas Party Updates, A New Woods Of Ypres Song, And Much More!!

It's time for some more news and notes, so here's what you should know in the local metal scene today! We've got major updates to an upcoming local concert, changes to an upcoming local hard rock album, a brand new song from a prominent local band, and our latest Christmas surprise as we get closer to the 25th, so let's dive right in, and also check out this month's YouTube Channel Profiles in the post below this one!

The Green Christmas Bash scheduled for Saturday night at Feedback has been postponed, moved, and halved, so here's what you should know concerning changes to this concert. The original Facebook event page for it (itself the second for this concert) was deleted & replaced with this new event page confirming a number of changes, most notably that this show has been moved from Feedback on Saturday night to Coch's Corner on Tuesday night. No reason was publically announced for the date or venue changes, though despite the post-Christmas timeframe it now falls in, the show is still hyped as the Green Christmas Bash. I'll say that the date change makes sense, as I'm sure more people will be available to go when the show isn't on an actual holiday, but I wonder what prompted the move to Coch's Corner? Hopefully it's as simple as a date conflict or holiday commitments, but I don't know for sure. That said, the lineup for this concert has been cut in half with the changes, as local death metal quartet View To A Kill and the folk/alternative outfit Ye Olde Mold Pickers have both been removed from the show's lineup. Again, I don't know why either band dropped out, but it's disappointing to see them not on this show, and hopefully it's as simple as a schedule conflict for both.

That said, this show is still going on with local punk trio RedD Monkey and local crash quartet Sykotyk Rampage bringing some entertaining hard edged music to Coch's Corner on Tuesday, so take note of that for your post-Christmas musical entertainment! There shouldn't be a cover charge here either, there's a 10:00 PM start time listed, and you must be 19 to attend. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned likely this weekend for more on this show as part of our next batch of concert previews!!

Next up, this is a complete surprise to me to see this, but a new song from local doom metal standouts Woods of Ypres has been posted online! Entitled "Travelling Alone", it's another slower and melodic doom metal number from next month's "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", and though band pages have yet to formally post or acknowledge the song, the German branch of Metal Hammer Magazine has uploaded the song for fans to check out at this location (note that you'll need a translator to read the text there.) According to this post on Metal Assault, frontman David Gold confirmed that "Travelling Alone" is about travelling to foreign lands, experiencing different cultures, and interrogative discussions about existence and God, and he added a lot of personal experience-tinged thoughts about the song's meaning there. The song sounds good, but I'll hold detailed thoughts until we review "Woods V" early next year. If you wanna check it out, follow the above links, or check out this YouTube upload below from YouTube user Khalil Mikael! Kudos to him, despite the outdated band photo!



Thirdly today, here's some updates from local hard rock solo artist Mike Haggith, specifically concerning his upcoming 45th studio album! On Monday, Mike announced that next month's scheduled new release "410 To Scotland" has been renamed "Neighbourhood Watch" after an impromptu photo shoot for the album, and a new album cover (on your right) and slightly altered track listing is now out for the album as well. More specifically, the opening track "Who Owns Space 82?" has been "indefinitely scrapped" in lieu of a new song named "Stalking Booze & The Raptor", while a title track for the album has been added at the end, and an instrumental named "Room 822" is a possible inclusion as well. The album on the whole is the same though, including the January 25th release date, so the experience of "Neighbourhood Watch" should be about the same as it would have been before! For more, click here for to stream promising instrumental mixes of two songs, and click here for Mike's updated discography entry on this album. This is definitely shaping up to be another quality album from Mike Haggith, and hopefully it gets a good response when it comes out next month! Stay tuned for more on Mike's solo project as I hear it!

And finally, here's our latest Christmas surprise, and it's a full demo release by a local band, that being Sault Ontario hardcore quartet Changing Waves! We haven't heard much from them in almost 4 months, but since their debut last year, they've quickly became a talented sight at local metal concerts. Select fans were lucky enough to get clearer versions of some of their originals on May 19th when the band distributed free copies of a demo called "Demolisten" to attendees of their show that night at The Roosevelt Hotel, and I was a recipient of one of the demos! I don't believe that Changing Waves had copies of "Demolisten" at any other concerts they've had this year, so I'd assume that this demo isn't in print anymore, but for the holiday season, I thought I'd post the songs from their demo onto our YouTube channel! The demo (which featured hand burned & written CDs & jewel cases with differing designs) featured 6 songs with a total length of around 19 minutes, including their songs "Tital", "What's It Supposed To Do?", "Jung Jung", "Jenny", "Lockdown", and "Away", and you can click each link to hear the recordings that Changing Waves made for each song on the demos, which all show promise and some good diversity to their hardcore sound!

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for these songs goes to Changing Waves, I'm just sharing them with a wider audience like they deserve! Note as well that all 6 songs from this demo are featured on the band's MySpace page (along with an unused song named "Beadsbeadsbeads"), but some YouTube exposure for these songs is always welcome! Check out the opening track from "Demolisten" below, and stay tuned for more from Changing Waves as it comes in!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for post-Christmas concert previews, more news and Christmas surprises, our next Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Repetitions, and much more over the next few days! Thanks everyone!

More New Videos, Including Some Christmas Surprises!!

With less than one week until Christmas, I've got lots of presents lined up for the week leading up to Santa's arrival, mostly in the vein of new song postings onto our YouTube channel, and each new post over the next week or so will have at least one new song to share with the world. And yes, news and updates as usual are planned as well, which will start today's post, including some more interesting classic concert videos & this week's classic video, so let's kick things off!

Half A Man drummer Mikey Bishop has a long history from his various bands in both the Sault Michigan area and in the Lower Peninsula, and more proof of that comes courtesy of a new video that he posted onto his YouTube channel. This is of one of his old local metal bands named Dry Rott, who I don't know much about on their own, except that Mikey drummed for them, they were active in the late 1990s, and they opened for Alice Cooper at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino for his shows there in August 1998! How's that for a huge opportunity? The video that Mikey posted on Saturday was of Dry Rott covering Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" at one of the Alice Cooper shows, and all things considered, the video quality isn't bad! The stage angle and zoom is good, the band sound nice and heavy, and they put a darker spin on this Sabbath classic! Good stuff overall, and kudos to Mikey for posting this! Check out Dry Rott at Kewadin Casino below, and I wonder if he has any more material from the archives to show us?



Keeping in the vein of old school video uploads, BeeFMoutH/Nullified Youth alum Kevin Campbell has posted some interesting videos from an early 2000s concert at Foggy Notions (now Feedback) onto his YouTube channel yesterday of a defunct local band named Barred 4 Life. I'm not familiar with them either (curse my young age), but this comes from a concert that they played between 2000 and 2003, and they were joined on guest vocals by Dave Stokes at this concert. The posted videos include Barred 4 Life covering The Dwarves' "Backseat of My Car" and (most metal of all) "Evil God Hater" by an earlier local band named Fistmagnet. Nowadays, you may know "Evil God Hater" as a frequent setlist addition by local old school hardcore quintet Destroilet, and judging by both band's covers of it, I wouldn't be surprised if both bands shared at least one member, but I can't tell off hand if that is indeed the case. The quality is decent for the video itself, but the intensity and reaction ensure it's a nice sample of the local scene from a decade or so ago, so definitely give Kevin's uploads of Barred 4 Life in action a look above & below!



Now to some Christmas surprises for you guys, and first, here's this week's classic video! The penultimate weekly upload of this weekly series for 2011, I wanted to tie in this week's video more with the holiday season than a specific band, and I've found a nice combination of metal and a festive ambiance in the form of this Winkstinger video from last year! Not long after their live debut, Winkstinger opened for Garden of Bedlam at the former Foggy Notions on December 18th, 2010 as part of the party in honour of Foggy's one year anniversary since their re-opening. The Christmas ties come from the very visible Christmas lights and the bright and colourful lighting on the stage, but as for the music, it's sheer brutality, as they played their original song "From Bullshit To Buzz (Lies=Weed)" in this video! The title may be incorrect, I'm just going by what it's credited as on this audio upload of the same track. The visibility isn't great (very smoky & there's fans in the way), but the audio quality makes up for it, and even in their first months of concerts, they sound devastating in a good way! This video was uploaded by drummer Jonas Gasperas onto Facebook a few days after the concert, and you can see the original video at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1749216698162.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Winkstinger & the original filmer, I'm just sharing this video with a wider audience like it deserves! It's nice to finally feature Winkstinger in this weekly series on the SMS, and it's a solid video with a seasonal flair, so definitely check it out below, and stay tuned early next week for our last classic video of the year! Which band will it be of? Well, who's playing locally on the 26th?



And finally, here's our first Christmas song upload of the season, and it's sort of reluctantly that I put this up, as I would rather post it paired with four other tracks. If you're a fan of local hardcore quintet As It Stands, you'll know that they've released two EPs in the past, those being 2006's "The Re-Occuring Nightmare" and 2007's "Kill The Music, Save The Children". Both EPs are long since out of print, and material from them is no longer part of their live setlists, but I've been hunting for both for review/archival purposes for a while now, to no avail. While their first EP is from their emo days and not as essential to find for SMS purposes (though I'd still like to track it down), their second EP in particular has been hard to even find songs from. All I've found is the opening track, "Bush Raids", which was posted onto As It Stands' Reverbnation page that year, presumably as a preview track. Now, while I still would rather post this with the other songs from "KTMSTC", and their newest songs are arguably much better and more proficient than their 2006-2008 material, I though I'd upload "Bush Raids" for old AIS fans, for archival purposes (until I get my hands on the rest of their early material), and as a little Christmas present for you SMS readers! It's a solid and underrated hardcore song that shows real promise, even if their current work outshines it!

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this song goes to As It Stands and the former Lucky Limb Studios, I'm just sharing it with a wider audience like it deserves! The EP's out of print and extremely hard to find anyway, I mean no harm! Check out "Bush Raids" below, and if anyone has or know someone who definitively has either of As It Stands' EPs or the mp3s from them, please let me know!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news, Christmas surprises, concert previews, and our next YouTube Channel Profiles this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Caveman Morrison, Swayze Train, Trail's End, And Peril) Plus Weekend Concert Previews!!

We've got lots of new concerts to get to in tonight's post, adding up to ELEVEN LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS in total, but first though, I'll note that the previously advertised concerts from Sault Michigan hard rockers Monkey's Uncle at The Rapids Lounge this weekend were moved to the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace earlier this year for unannounced reasons, with rock n' roll cover band Crossroads replacing them at the Sault Kewadin. Disappointing, but Crossroads have talent, and St. Ignace isn't light years away if you wanna rock out with Monkey's Uncle one more time this year! That said, we have just one metal/hard rock show to note this weekend for previews (to my knowledge), so we'll start with that, and it's new as well! Here's what you need to know!

Fresh off their successful return to the stage this past weekend, local metal cover trio Caveman Morrison will hit Feedback on Saturday night for their third show with their new lineup! Apologies for the shorter notice, I've been dealing with exams over the last little while. This concert will be the band's first show at the former Foggy Notions in over a year, so this is a long time coming for them to hit the popular Queen Street bar, even with their return fresh in our minds! That said, the Saturday placement of it implies that frontman Tym Morrison won't be at The Service Grill on Saturday night, but I'll keep you guys posted if any new dates there pop up in the coming weeks. So if you wanna rock out with Caveman Morrison on Saturday night, be there at 10:00 PM, there's no announced cover charge (bring cash just in case though), and you must be 19 to attend. And remember, they are ONLY playing at Feedback on Saturday night, with tomorrow is reserved for a house music night with live DJs (click here for details), so keep that in mind. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Caveman Morrison keeping busy after their return, and if I can swing it, hopefully I can make it to Feedback on the weekend for the show! Hopefully you guys keep this show in mind for the weekend, and for a preview, here's Caveman Morrison's new lineup covering Judas Priest's "The Ripper" at The Rosie this past weekend!



Now to the remainder of the new shows, and they come courtesy of The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino in Sault Michigan, as they've updated their entertainment page to reflect scheduled bands at Kewadin's bar through March! Luckily, 10 of the confirmed dates through the first quarter of 2012 involve some form of hard rock, but if you check out the concert listings, you'll also notice scheduled dates from the aforementioned Crossroads and local country singer Paul Perry. There are also some notable absences from the early 2012 Kewadin schedule, such as Monkey's Uncle and Powerslug, who were both frequent sights at The Rapids Lounge last year. I wonder if that means anything towards either band's status? With no actively updated pages, this could be hard to prove, but I'll keep an eye out for news on their next steps! Now to the newly announced metal & hard rock concerts at The Rapids Lounge in 2012, so here's what you need to know!

First up, local hard rock quintet Swayze Train have two more concert weekends lined up for 2012, including new concerts on January 7th & 8th (one weekend after their Rapids Lounge debut over New Years' Weekend) and on February 24th & 25th! We haven't heard a whole lot from Swayze Train over the fall, and they have yet to publically confirm any Kewadin Casino appearances on their Facebook page, but you know that this talented quintet featuring Clownsack, Electric Motor Fish, Slackjawed Rats, and Insipid Brutality alumni will be sure to deliver the goods at their upcoming dates! I imagine all four of their new 2012 concerts will have 10:00 PM-ish start times, no cover charge, and 21+ age limits. Check the above links for more details! It sounds like Swayze Train have some great concerts lined up for 2012, and hopefully as more details come out, the anticipation will grow for this very promising local band! Before all that though, keep their shows at the end of the month in mind, and as more news from Swazye Train comes in, I'll be sure to have it here!

Also next year at The Rapids Lounge is the local debut of new hard rock trio Trail's End! The new band from Splitshot & ex-Nixxon Dixxon bandmates Chris Hubbard, Kyle Beaumont, and Jake LaLonde will make their live debut (barring another show announcement) on the weekend of January 20th and 21st, followed by another weekend at Kewadin Casino on February 17th & 18th. Like with Swayze Train, Trail's End have not officially announced these shows yet, but Kewadin Casino itself is a good source, and I imagine that once Splitshot part ways at the end of the year, they'll devote more time into Trail's End updates. The same 10:00 PM start time, no cover charge, and 21+ age limit should be expected at these new concerts, so check the above links for more details on these shows! It's great to see Trail's End getting off to a quick start next year, and hopefully Chris, Kyle, and Jake continue their high promise for years to come in Trail's End, so help get them started on the right foot on January 20th and onward! Stay tuned for more Trail's End news as it all comes in!

Finally for the new hard rock shows at Kewadin next year is the return of Cheboygan classic metal trio Peril to The Rapids Lounge! Last seen in the area in September, the band featuring former Bad Side drummer Brooks Elliott are lined up for just one weekend at our local Kewadin Casino so far in 2012, that being on March 30th and 31st, but it will be nice to see them back in town after 6 months away! Once again, Peril haven't publically confirmed these shows yet, but a 2012 concert schedule of some type should be coming onto their online pages, so it's only a matter of time! Again, I'd assume that both of Peril's shows in March will have 21+ age limits, 10:00 PM start times, and no cover charges, as is standard at The Rapids Lounge. Check the above links for more details! It's been too long to see Peril and their classic metal onslaught locally, but hopefully they'll remind Saultites how much they rock when they come back to the area in the spring! Get more on these and all other upcoming announced Rapids Lounge concerts at the above links!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more by the weekend, including new videos and much more! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Bear Hunters & Turner Up), A New Local Band, And New Videos!!

Let's get back to some big news today, and we're loaded with some cool stories tonight, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next few days, including the continuation of a local concert series and another band's rise from the ashes, plus some new videos, details on a new local band, and more, so here's what you need to know!

There will indeed be a Roosevelt Hotel metal night THIS THURSDAY, continuing the bi-weekly schedule under new promoter Stephane Vincent, making this the 40th Rosie metal night overall and third under it's current form! Three local bands are signed for this week, including metal night mainstays The Bear Hunters & Shit Liver in their 10th appearance together at a Thursday metal concert at The Roosevelt Hotel! It's always good to see them share the stage again, and you know their proficient yet different takes on the genre of death metal will always be welcome to mosh to, so don't miss them! However, the opening band is a debuting local metal trio of sorts (the first band to debut at a Rosie metal night since Bring The Misery), and they're named General Striker, but what should you know about them? From what I understand, they're essentially Late & Loud minus singer/guitarist Brendan Christie (I take it he's unavailable on Thursday), so the other three members have formed this potentially one-off band to play this week. They have no band pages yet, so thanks to guitarist Jonathan Tiberi for the General Striker details! Will they have different material or a different sound than Late & Loud? There's only one way to find out, and that's to head to The Rosie in two nights! There's no cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at around 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Sounds like a solid night of metal as we've come to expect from the Rosie metal nights, so for some melodic & grimy death metal, plus your first (and only?) glimpse of General Striker, be at The Rosie THIS THURSDAY! Also for motivation to go: This is apparently the last Rosie metal night until 2012, as indicated on the Facebook event page linked above, meaning that the next Thursday of the bi-weekly schedule (December 22nd) is off. A reason for that isn't known, but I assume it's related to holiday commitments of some type, though I'll note that Christmas week is usually quite busy for concerts, so it strikes me as sort of odd. Stay tuned for more on this Thursday's metal night when we preview this weekend's metal/hard rock concerts!

Also for new concerts, it's the rebirth of Turner Up, whose new formation will debut THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at Feedback! As you may remember, the original Turner Up morphed into what is now Full Circle in March, officially changing their name in May, but longtime members Robert Brown & Scott McLurg have relaunched a new version of Turner Up with a much heavier sound than Full Circle currently employ, and they'll make their debut/return after seven months on Saturday night! Along with Robert on guitar and Scott on drums, the new Turner Up will see the return of frontwoman Krista Marshall (who last sang with the old Turner Up in February), along with new additions Jason Roy (Havadder) on second guitar and Travis Sharpe (Carbon Black) on bass, which should make for a very talented new lineup! A 9:00 PM start time is listed for their return (they'll likely start later than that though), you must be 19 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page, and thanks to Scott for details on the new lineup!

It's great to finally see Turner Up back on an event marquee for a concert, and I know fans of their 2009-2011 run will be happy to see a return to heavier fare, so get ready to "turn 'er up" on Saturday night at Feedback! If I hear of any changes or updates, I'll let you guys know when we preview this weekend's metal and hard rock concerts on Thursday!

Next up, here's another new video of Sault Ontario deathcore band View To A Kill from bassist Adam Veale's dad John, who posted this video onto his YouTube channel yesterday. Also filmed at their headlining show at Feedback this past Saturday, it's of View To A Kill covering the Lamb of God song "Black Label", and they sound fairly good here, just like on the video of their Parkway Drive cover, but the lighting still seems off. Not a whole lot to add different, it's a solid cover and I prefer Lamb of God, so I approve! Check out the new video below, and stay tuned for more from View To A Kill as it all comes in!



And finally, here's this week's classic video! This week's notable for a lot of beginnings & ends in the local scene (the debuts of the new Turner Up & General Striker, and the final local shows from Splitshot, for example), but also new this weekend is the debut of Caveman Morrison's new lineup after a five month hiatus! I decided to focus this week's classic video on them this week, more specifically on new members, Redundant bandmates, and brothers James & Rick White. Before James re-entered the local music scene last year, he & Rick (along with his former Disciples of Rock bandmate Jamie Labreche) took part in a jam at a birthday party at The Sinton Tavern in Thessalon circa June 2009. The song they're jamming here was later named "Thin Air", as that's where the song came from that night, but it has a nice groove and great bass work from James! Rick's guitar playing flows nicely too, and Jamie shows his drum chops well, so it's a solid jam that would be interesting to see morphed into a fuller song! This video was uploaded onto Facebook by Jamie Labreche on June 22nd, 2009, and you can view the original video at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=136058755760, though I did make some minor colour saturation edits after uploading the video to YouTube.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to the White brothers and Jamie Labreche, as they did all the work with this video, I'm just sharing it with a wider audience like it deserves! It's a solid performance, so definitely give it a look below, and stay tuned for more on the return of Caveman Morrison this weekend!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on Thursday, our next Defunct Local Band Profiles on Saturday, and much more news and notes to come! Thanks everyone!

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Anyone want some more videos? The month of December has been good for them so far, and I've got a bunch to share today, so here's what's on tap! Today, we've got tons of videos from a pair of concerts this past weekend, new jam videos from a notable band from across the river, and a new solo cover from a notable local hard rock guitarist, so here's what you need to know!

Did you miss the Helix concert at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday night? If so, then good news, as 9 videos from the concert are now on YouTube! They were uploaded last night by YouTube user dtwalker79, and they amount to about 25 minutes of the Kitchener metal legends' headlining set over the weekend. The videos include Helix playing "Wild In The Streets", "Heavy Metal Love", a solo from bassist Daryl Gray, guitarist Kaleb Duck's solo (in two parts; click here & here to see them), "Good To The Last Drop", a solo from drummer Greg "Fritz" Hinz, "Rock You", and "Dream On", so click on each video link above to see the footage! Things sound pretty good, though Brian Vollmer's singing doesn't come off very loudly on the videos, and the band seems to have a good sound and chemistry as I'd expect from most of their classic lineup! There's also a lot of people in the way on the earlier videos, but dtwalker79 did get closer to the stage by the end of the cycle. Solid stuff, and kudos to him for getting all of these videos from the show! I bet it was huge, but if you missed it, this is the next best thing! Check the above links for more, and here's Helix playing "Wild In The Streets" at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday!



Also for videos from concerts this past weekend is some new video footage of local deathcore quartet View To A Kill from their headlining slot at Feedback on Saturday night! Also uploaded onto YouTube yesterday, this is the first posted video of V2AK from John Veale, who frequently films videos of his son Adam's other band Sativa Rose. In this case, he shot View To A Kill covering the Parkway Drive song "Carrion", and the guys sound good here (Steve Rhodes sounds particularly brutal), though the lighting doesn't seem as active as it was at the Shit Liver show last weekend. Still, it's a solid performance, and hopefully John has some more videos in store for fans of Adam's local bands! Check out their cover of "Carrion" below!



Next up, here's even more new videos from Brimley hard rockers Half A Man, who have uploaded three new jam session videos onto their YouTube channel! All uploaded last night, two of the new videos are in the "drum cam" position, so we only see drummer Mikey Bishop in frame, but they give us glimpses of an untitled new song (that sounds very heavy) and a new track named "Goodbye" that was written in memoriam of the late Michael Lemma, the beloved Dondee Lanes employee who suddenly passed away last summer & later saw LemmaFest launched in his honour. Great cause for a song, it's a fitting tribute, though the lyrics have repetitive moments. Mikey's drumming is as solid as ever too, so definitely check the above videos out, but I'm gonna embed the third new video here, which is of the three active members of Half A Man (Denny Breslin's still absent) playing "Goodbye" on a camera with everyone in view! Audio's slightly scratchy on this camera, but you can see Erik Rintamaki trying a guitar solo, lyrics and captions, and more, so give Half A Man's new videos a look above and below, and stay tuned for more news on them as it comes in!



And finally, Sneaky Pete guitarist Mario Carlucci uploaded a new solo guitar cover video onto his YouTube channel on Thursday, where he covered the intro of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"! I'm admittedly not a huge Pink Floyd fan, but the intro is well played here, though it sounds very quiet compared to other videos I've been listening to lately, so have the volume dial on hand. Nice work overall, so give Mario's rendition of "Wish You Were Here" a look below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (View To A Kill), New Videos, And More!!

I wasn't preparing to have a new post today, but with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to share for TONIGHT, I had to get something up, so today, we also have new videos from a pair of notable local bands and some more assorted news updates, so here's all that you need to know! (EDITED: 9:26 PM)

Remember on Thursday when I alluded to a likely cancelled concert at Feedback for TONIGHT featuring Espanola metal band Fifth Column and locals View To A Kill? Well, the show's still on, and the reason the old event page was deleted is likely because Fifth Column couldn't make it tonight (not sure why), but View To A Kill are still on for tonight for a set of brutal deathcore in their Feedback debut! That said, they'll now be joined by local death metal trio Shit Liver, replacing Fifth Column's original replacements Winkstinger on the lineup, as they had something come up. A lot of shuffling, but Shit Liver are a quality replacement, and kudos to them for stepping in! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only officially confirmed by promoters last night. No matter which second band is announced, this should be a solid lineup of metal, I just hope that a good crowd shows up, as the Helix show might steal some fans. However, there is NO COVER tonight at Feedback, but you must be 19 to attend, and a 10:00 PM start time looks likely. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This should be another great metal concert at Feedback, and hopefully Rich has some more great Dismembertainment shows in the works for the bar! Shit Liver and View To A Kill should have lots of great metal in store, so hopefully you guys can make it out! For a preview, here's View To A Kill covering Throwdown's "Venom & Tears" at The Roosevelt Hotel last month!



Now to some new videos, and first, wanna hear a sample of a new Gates of Winter song? Frontman Lee Maines posted a 52 second video of him playing the guitar riff of a new song tentatively named "Wormhole Mechanics" onto his YouTube channel on Thursday, and I tell you what, it sounds very cool! Progressive and very technical, it sounds like it will be a great piece to one of the songs on next year's "Perihelion" CD! Not a whole lot else to say yet, but give Lee's new sample video a look below!



Also for new videos, another video of the new look Sativa Rose's set at The Roosevelt Hotel on Tuesday is now online! Also filmed by bassist Adam Veale's dad John, he uploaded this to his YouTube channel yesterday, and it's of Sativa Rose covering Van Halen's "Panama"! As someone who prefers DLR to Sammy (I await your letters), I approve of the song choice, but how did they sound? Music's good, and Marisa's voice fits for intensity, but she doesn't hit the higher notes too much. Good stuff all around though, especially with Andrew Angelic's guitar work, and you know they'll only get better from here! Check out the full video of Sativa Rose covering "Panama" below, and I'll let you guys know if any more Sativa Rose videos from Tuesday show up online!



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

• Local hard rockers Borderline Divine (formerly Stillbroke) have added bassist Jake Hache to their lineup, replacing now-guitarist Mitch Sirie. Jake, who was quietly added to their Facebook page's lineup recently, is the band's fifth bassist (that I know of) since their launch in the spring of 2008. I'm not familiar with him musically, but the guys in Borderline Divine have a history of snagging talented musicians for their lineups, so hopefully he works out for the long term! Stay tuned for updates!
• Feedback (the former Foggy Notions) is now booking bands for January 2012, so click here or message Rich Moreland on Facebook for details! Jump on this if you're in a band, cause Feedback is definitely a bar that supports local music and talent of all walks, not just metal!
• On Thursday, Late & Loud guitarist Jonathan Tiberi posted on the SMS' Facebook page asking if any local bands were interested in playing a Christmas themed metal show in town, which would include playing Christmas songs (likely in a metal fashion.) Intriguing idea, but if you want it to go down, contact Jon at this location for details!
  

That's all for now, but in case I can't make it out tonight, best of luck to Helix, the bands at Feedback, Tym Morrison, and Powerslug for some great times and songs at their respective shows! I'll be back with more news over the next few days, so keep an eye out! Thanks everyone!

Assorted News And Updates!!

Here's one more post for the opening day of December before we have two posts tomorrow (One being our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post, the other with weekend concert previews), but first, I want to note that if you saw an event page for a concert on Saturday night at Feedback featuring Espanola metal band Fifth Column and locals View To A Kill, don't get your hopes up. The event page for the show was deleted yesterday, so it appears to be off now, but if I hear anything to the contrary, I'll let you guys know! Now, to the news and assorted videos of the day, starting with some updates to a concert later this month!

There's been a few changes to the Green Christmas Bash at Feedback near the end of the month, as confirmed at this new Facebook event page (the old one was deleted), starting with a date change, as the show will now take place on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas itself. A reason for the date change was not announced, but December 24th does fall on a Saturday this year, so that could be related. That said, the lineup for the concert has been confirmed, though not without a band change, as local metal quintet Sativa Rose have dropped out of this show. According to promoters, they're off because frontwoman Marisa Valois will be out of town with family when this show takes place. Disappointing, but hey, family calls! Replacing them on the bill is a new folk/acoustic trio named Ye Olde Mold Pickers, who I believe share at least one member with the local band The Night Owl Meme Makers. They're actually the listed headliners for this concert, with local classical/punk trio RedD Monkey, local metal quartet View To A Kill (yes, they were Andrew Angelic's new band from the original event page), and "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage opening the festivities in that order. Admission remains $2, it's still 19+, and it all starts at 10:00 PM on Christmas Eve. Check the above links for more details!

Sounds like an entertaining and diverse night of music, and hopefully the promoters will be sure to bring more Green Christmas shows to Feedback in future years! If you wanna enjoy some live music over Christmas weekend, this show could very well do the trick! Stay tuned for updates!

Next up, if you're still uncertain on whether to buy Theatre of Night's remastered "Christmas Night" album (that we just reviewed yesterday), then this could be some incentive, as the band has uploaded their version of the Christmas classic "Carol of the Bells" onto their new YouTube channel! They launched the channel on Tuesday, but this song was only just posted yesterday. The video features various shots of the album artwork, band members, and other monochromed Christmas-relevant photos, with only minimal colour use. Decent effects, and they fit with the mood of the song, so if you want to get into the Christmas spirit and preview the full "Christmas Night" album, check out Theatre of Night's rendition of "Carol of the Bells" below!



Now, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band or artist name:

• Apparently, Wishbone bassist (and former Silver Dream drummer) Steven Flint filled in on drums for Sativa Rose at their concert on Tuesday when they opened for The Unbelievers, as Alex Palmer was absent. Hopefully things went well, Steven should have been a solid fill-in! If I hear anything new on Sativa Rose's new lineup, I'll have it here!
  
• I updated our GarageBand Profile of defunct local hard rock trio Sin Stereo to update the video references, specifically because the video of their successors Stiffler's Mom covering "Enjoy The Show" is now on YouTube. Not a huge change, but I thought I'd mention it!
• Russell Garwood of Zero Tolerance Magazine posted this Woods of Ypres article last month which features exclusive comments from frontman David Gold about the upcoming "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", including comments alluding to what this album would mean to the band's legacy if it ended up being their last album. I sure hope it's not, but it's an interesting read nonetheless, so click here to see what David has to say!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! With a relatively thin weekend for metal concerts (despite the return of Helix), I won't tie in this week's video with a performing band, so we'll dip into the archives for this week, and I've chosen a video from the recently-inactive local grunge trio No Arrow! We haven't heard much from them since their one-off show at what is now Feedback in February, but there's plenty of old videos and music of theirs online, including this video of them playing their original song "Delayed Reaction" when they opened for Montreal punk legends The Ripcordz at The Speak Easy on August 5th, 2007! At this performance, frontman Dann Pichette and drummer Joe Falco were joined by guest bassist Dean Scheepmaker (now of the Manitoba band The Aral Sea), and they definitely rocked on one of their heaviest songs here, though the audio quality is kinda scratchy and the first minute of the song wasn't captured. Dann's got some great screaming here too, helps make me miss No Arrow all the more!

This video was uploaded onto Facebook by Dann a couple days after this concert, and you can view the original video at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=4026989126. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to No Arrow, they did all the work here, I'm just sharing this video with a larger audience like it deserves! With that said, give No Arrow's 2007 performance of "Delayed Reaction" a look below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post at midnight sharp! And also, on a sort of personal note, tune into Rock 101 (at this location or at 101.3 FM in the Twin Saults area) tomorrow morning at 8:10 AM during "Scott & Brian In The Morning", as I'm gonna be interviewed on air about the SMS! I don't know how I'll do, but be kind if I slip up, as I've never been part of a live interview like this before. Check it out if you're up, and stay tuned for more news over the next while! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Happy December, everyone! Let's kick off the final month of 2011 in style with a local metal video showcase, as we've got lots of videos to share today, including two cool full concert videos I recently came across, some now-on-YouTube videos from Half A Man, and a brand new track from a highly anticipated new album! Firstly though, I do want to apologize for missing a concert, as apparently, Sault Michigan hard rockers Powerslug played a concert at Golanka's Bar (The Bird) the day before Thanksgiving, along with at least two out of town gigs in Manistique. The band doesn't update pages anymore, and The Bird's pages never confirmed who was playing that Wednesday, so I couldn't reliably cover it (or the Manistique shows.) I'm sorry, I'll make it up! Now though, let's get this all video post going!

A brand new Woods of Ypres song from the upcoming "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" is now online! The second full track to be posted from the album, it's entitled "Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)", and it was uploaded onto their label Earache Records' YouTube channel on Tuesday. How is it? I won't give my full thoughts yet, but it's a slower doom ballad of sorts with some orchestral touches, and it contains perhaps the lowest clean vocals that David Gold has ever sung on a Woods of Ypres track. Stay tuned to the SMS and band pages for sure over the next two months for more details on "W5", which is scheduled for release through Earache on January 30th (with our review pencilled in for early March!) Also in band news, Woods of Ypres have apparently found a new drummer to replace the departed Evan Madden (as alluded to on their Facebook page), but his identity has not been revealed yet. The hunt's still on for a bassist, so check the above link for details, and when I hear more on any new members, I'll be sure to let you guys know! With that all said, check out the brand new Woods of Ypres song "Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)" below!



Next up, did you miss the Shit Liver/Winkstinger concert at Feedback on Saturday night? Well, this might make up for it, as Shit Liver's entire set was filmed by YouTube user and local filmmaker Boyd Rendell! He posted this on Sunday right after the concert, and it includes all 15 songs that Shit Liver played in their 40 minute set. Inin order (and hopefully correctly labelled), their setlist included their cover of OBCD's "You Speak of Weak & We Don't Care", followed by their originals "Shit Liver", "You're Scared", and "Fabricated Nonsense", their new tracks "Shit Will Prevail" & "Helen Keller", their older originals "Survival of the Shittest", "Shift Liver", "Friendly Old (Uncle Joe)", "Contribute or Perish", "Hateroleum", their anti-breakdown song (didn't catch the title), "Drowning In Shit", and "Sewer Livin'", capped off by an encore cover of Macabre's "The Unabomber"! Nice quality video at a good angle to capture the band (though not much of the crowd), and kudos to Boyd for filming their set! I wonder if he got any footage of Winkstinger? Check out Shit Liver's full set from this past Saturday night below!



Boyd has other videos on his YouTube channel too, including some of his old band work from groups like Nullfied Youth & BeeFMoutH, and last week, he posted three songs from BeeFMoutH's second concert onto his YouTube channel as well! This took place at the old Koolie's & Cues (now Breakaway Bar & Grill, I think) in the winter of 1999, and though the video quality isn't great (mainly due to washed out colour), it's a nice look back at late 1990s hardcore punk! The video featueres BeeFMoutH playing the songs "I Guess I'm...", "Three(Five)", and "Ewe-Buh-Buh-Bah-Buh-Buh" with some nice intensity & unique vocals, and this was part of a full 50 minute-plus video that Boyd uploaded this portion from. Solid stuff, so take a trip back 12 years to see BeeFMoutH live below!



Finally for today, we've already touched on these videos on here before, but they're brand new to YouTube, so I thought I'd make sure they got some real attention on the site. Brimley hard rockers Half A Man posted some new videos on their Facebook page last month, but they were deleted and later posted onto their YouTube channel on Friday. I won't go into a lot of detail again (I talked about these videos already on the 23rd), but they're solid instrumental samples of new songs, so definitely give them a look! Here's the longer of the new clips, but click here for their other new rehearsal video!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post over the next little while! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The DGB), A Concert Preview, The End Of Sense Of Truth, And More!!

Let's keep the news coming on this Monday morning, as I've got a lot of stuff to get to today! While there's some disappointing news involving a prominent local band's breakup, we also have some assorted news relating to band statuses, a preview for a show taking place TOMORROW NIGHT, and leading things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this week, so here's what you need to know!

Here's a short notice announcement for a touring rock band's stop in Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday, as Toronto hard rock trio The DGB are stopping in town! Influenced by grunge & stoner hard rock bands, this will be a special acoustic concert at Feedback on Wednesday night, in what's a last minute stop on their return from a cross-Canada tour, so we're getting a unique look at this talented Southern Ontario outfit! If you like stoner rock or early 1990s alternative hard rock, The DGB will be right up your alley, and with it being an acoustic set, there's no chance that the police will be called on them, so that's a plus! No opening bands have been announced, and I'll of course let you guys know if any are named before Wednesday. There is no cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and a 9:00 PM start time is listed. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an interesting concert, and hopefully a good crowd turns out despite the late notice & mid-week setting! The DGB are talented and have that grungy sound I like, so hopefully they have a great show on Wednesday night! For a preview, here's The DGB playing "Insert Your City" at a Halifax acoustic gig, but check the above links to hear more of their unplugged and electric material!



Now, while we're in the concert previewing mood, there's also a show with some metal representation taking place at The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT, so here's what you need to know! It's primarily a punk concert, to be headlined by Toronto pop punk trio The Unbelievers, and they've got an entertaining & energetic style of female-charged punk rock, so they're definitely worth seeing! However, metalheads might also be interested to note that one of the opening bands is classic metal quintet Sativa Rose, who are finally returning to the stage after a four month hiatus tomorrow night! This will be their first concert since adding singer Marisa Valois to their lineup this summer, and how will she sound in her live debut? Well, there's only one way to find out, by going to The Rosie tomorrow! The other opening bands will include the debuting T. Rex Manning (the new band from Frightlight's J.D. Pearce & Skull Fist concert booker Tiffany Stocco) and frequently seen local punk trio Redundant, so there's a lot of metal potential on the undercard of this concert! Admission will be just $3 (which is more than worth it), it is a 19+ show, and doors open at 10:00 PM. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Sounds like a stacked night of hard hitting music, so if you love punk (and metal), head to The Rosie tomorrow night if you can! How will Sativa Rose's new lineup sound? What do T. Rex Manning play exactly? All will be answered at what should be a great show tomorrow night, and kudos to J.D. for bringing The Unbelievers here after they shared the stage with Frightlight in Toronto last month! Check the above links for more details, and for a preview, here's Sativa Rose playing their original song "Fall From Grace" earlier this year!



Now, here's some disappointing news, as noted local hard rockers Sense of Truth have broken up. An official statement has not been made by the band, but band members confirmed on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group over the weekend that Sense of Truth split up a few months ago. A reason hasn't been announced for their breakup, but I'll note that they haven't played live since May of last year, and a proper update hasn't came onto their Facebook group in almost 8 months, so things haven't been looking up for a while. That said, members Cory Murchison & Ron Baxter are forming a new local hard rock band, and you can get more details on the Musicians Wanted group linked above if you're interested in joining on bass or drums. This surprising news comes after a successful 3+ year run for Sense of Truth, who memorably launched in April 2008 by winning the Skid Row Battle of the Bands, and later opened for notable groups like Econoline Crush, State of Shock, and Ultraviolence, made the finals of the Kiss Battle of the Bands in 2009, and headlined the re-opening of Foggy Notions that year. Though Sense of Truth recorded songs towards a self-titled EP in February of last year, a formal release for it never came, and it's looking unlikely now that we'll ever see it come out.

It's a real shame to know that Sense of Truth have ended, as they were one of the most prominent & fastest rising local hard rock bands of the late 2000s. I know that personal commitments and such slowed band activity a lot over the past year & a half, but I'm not alone in saying that I hoped things would clear up and Sense of Truth would return to the stage at some point. If I hear anything more on the next steps of the members or their breakup, I'll be sure to let you guys know, but best of luck to Cory, Steve, Ron, Curtis, and Ryan in their future musical endeavours, and if you're interested in trying out for Cory & Ron's new band, click here!

And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, all relating to band statuses, and as always, they're in alphabetical order by band or musician name:

• Sativa Rose guitarist Anthony Orazietti is apparently looking to start a new melodic metal band influenced by everyone from All That Remains to Iron Maiden, and is looking for musicians for the project. No, I don't think he left Sativa Rose, this appears to be a separate band. If you're interested, click here and scroll to his post on November 23rd!
  
• Sault Michigan metal quartet Great Bodily Harm have also broken up. The reason is due to personal issues involving a band member, but without an official statement, I won't elaborate, and with no official band pages, public word might not come. Disappointing news, but I heard that most of the members are forming a similar new band, so keep an eye out for updates!
• Skull After Betrayl frontman Mike Vincent is also looking for musicians towards a local metal project, specifically a drummer who can double kick and a singer with screaming ability. Whether this is related to Skull After Betrayl or not, I don't know, but if you're interested in trying out for this band, click here and find Mike's post from November 21st!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of Theatre of Night's "Christmas Night" album on Wednesday, and more news over the coming week! Thanks everyone!