Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Flint

Before I head off to The Rockstar Bar for Garden of Bedlam & Skeyes of Seven's return to the stage, here's our last feature post of the month, that being our latest Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! As always, this monthly feature looks at a metal/hard rock band from out of town that featured a past/present Sault Ste. Marie resident in any of their lineups! This month's chosen band is fitting given it's ex-Saultite member's recent local prominence, so read on below for this month's profile, and if anything's missing or incorrect, please let me know! (Updated on November 27th, 2014)
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Flint (Edmonton, Alberta)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics)

Benjamin Sept (vocals)
Connor O'Brien (guitar)
Matt McKeen (guitar)
Karlan Morrison (bass)
Jesse Silkie (drums)

Huy Do (guitar)
Frank Pirker (bass)
Jamie Vincent (bass)

Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/flintedmonton
Official Facebook group: http://facebook.com/groups/60260754223
Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/flintedmonton

Official BandCamp page: http://flint.bandcamp.com
Official YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/flinttelevision

Official Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/flintedmonton

Local Info: The only Saultite to have played with Flint is ex-bassist Jamie Vincent, who's recently been very prominent in the local scene! Originally known locally from guitar work in bands like Fuller, Jamie moved back to Sault Ste. Marie last July, and he's since resurfaced locally as a drummer with the sludge metal band AlgomA, frontman of the grunge duo Bad Back, collaborator in the local/Peterborough hardcore project Kidshit, and as a local concert promoter (specializing in all ages concerts.) Before returning home, Jamie had lived & worked in Edmonton since around 2008, during which time he played bass with Flint!

Band Bio: Evolving from the prior 2007-2009 ambient/experimental band The Newborn Ghosts, Flint are a hardcore punk/noise rock quintet that officially launched in October 2009, debuting live the following month. After completing their full lineup with singer Ben Sept's addition in mid-2010, Flint became a steady sight in the Alberta music scene, including the release of at least four EPs, tour dates throughout the western provinces, and numerous headlining and opening dates in Alberta, including opening slots for bands like Brain Fever, This City Defects, and Greys. Jamie Vincent played bass with the band from shortly after their launch through last summer, when he moved back to Sault Ste. Marie, and was replaced by Karlan Morrison. Their current lineup has stayed busy with more notable concerts, the release of their music video for "The News", and an increased online presence, so follow Flint on their online pages to see what's going down with them at present!

Flint's sound is hard to pin down into one genre, but they have a chaotic noisy sound that is sure to be instant moshpit fuel for their concerts! Picture hardcore punk, garage rock, and The Dillinger Escape Plan thrown in a blender, but even that doesn't even cover it all. Their live concerts are full of life, and Benjamin Sept's vocals are very aggressive and passioned from what I've seen, adding to their unique feel! Musically, it's hard to compare Flint to a lot of bands we touch on for the SMS, as their style is intentionally noisy and chaotic, but Connor & Matt's assaulting guitar work is a perfect fit, and both Jamie and Karlan were up to the task on bass! Jesse Silkie really shines on drums too, and while this style of music isn't my overall favourite, I appreciate it's originality and avoidance of traditional structures! I think Flint have a good thing going, and hopefully the best is yet to come!

For online media, most of Flint's pages linked above have viewable media, including three EPs on their BandCamp page, 12 videos/song postings on their YouTube channel, and a single track on MySpace, so check the above links to get your Flint fix! There's not much for decent quality live videos with Jamie on bass, but here's the first half of a 20 minute set that Flint's current lineup played last fall, featuring 4 original songs!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month in this series, we'll look at another out of town band with a recent local musician, that being Lead The Dead, the former London, Ontario death/thrash metal band featuring current Giwakwa guitarist Chris Page! Watch out for that on or around May 26th, and stay tuned TOMORROW for two posts: One full of recent news updates, and our Garden of Bedlam concert review! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Analog Deficiency & Steven Flint

Today marks our latest Defunct Local Band Profiles, but with a change for half of them. Originally, we were going to profile mid-2000s Sault Ontario death metal band Devastation of the Heavens second, but when doing their profile, I found a lot more information & media than I'd expected, and it's only fair to give them a full profile to themselves. As a result, I've bumped D.O.T.H. to the April installment of this series as the lone band, and I've randomly picked a new Sault Ontario project to join this month's already-selected Sault Michigan band, in our monthly look at defunct/inactive local metal/hard rock acts. With that said, read on below for all you need to know on this month's randomly selected bands! (Updated on August 21st)
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Analog Deficiency

Genre: Progressive Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Members: (Members not in their last lineup in italics. This information is incomplete. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you can help fill in any blanks or make any corrections!)

Nathan Switzer (Sir Charge, RamWagon), guitar
Cody Tidwell (Traces), guitar
Cody Reed (RamWagon, The Eleventh Hour, Hoist The Sails), guitar
Joe Niemi (Hoist The Sails), bass
Marcel Grengs (RamWagon, The Highest of Fives, Hoist The Sails), drums

Brian Decker, guitar
T.J. ????? (Deprecor), bass

Info/Analysis: Analog Deficiency were a short lived Sault Michigan alternative metal project that existed from July 2009 through the fall of 2010. Formed by members of a prior cover band, Analog Deficiency had plans to write and record an album during their short run, but I don't believe they ever played live (or even secured a permanent singer.) Public band news slowed to a stop by September 2010, with members focusing on newer band projects in recent years, including most of their last lineup joining both Hoist the Sails and RamWagon. I wish Analog Deficiency had lasted longer than they did, as their posted instrumental demos were very promising! As shown on their two surviving 2010 audio tracks "We're Dealing With A Samsquanch, Boys" & "Lamps Falling From The Sky", the members shown solid skills at technical metal with a clear influence from Meshuggah & similar industrial/djent bands, even throwing some KoRn-esque riffs in for good measure! If anything, these songs are unfinished and can be a bit repetitive (vocals & solos would help), but it's a shame that Analog Deficiency never took off, as the guys had something very good going. Check out "Lamps Falling From The Sky" below, and more at the above links!


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Steven Flint

Genre: Metal/Classic Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Performers: (E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

Steven Flint (The Suicide Kings, Wishbone, Limelight), all instruments
Chris Stainthorpe (Silver Dream), guitar
Mike LaRue (Limelight, Silver Dream), bass 

Info/Analysis: Over a year after the credited performers' previous band Silver Dream crashed & burned, that project's drummer Steven Flint launched a short lived solo project in July 2011 featuring him on more instruments, along with input & performances from the other non-vocal members of that band. Steven's solo work only produced one (now deleted) song entitled "Run To You", which was heavier than the performers' 2010 output while still retaining a classic edge, and Steven's vocal range shared deeper & grittier qualities like those of fellow local musician Mike Haggith. Steven's solo work quietly went inactive early the next year, with him & bassist/producer Mike LaRue joining the (also short lived) local cover band Limelight in the spring of 2012. I liked where Steven's solo material was going, but it's great to see him hit even bigger heights with his more recent bands, and even if he doesn't do any imminent new solo work, I'd like to hear "Run To You" again in some form, possibly by The Suicide Kings?

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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month, as promised at the beginning, we WILL be profiling the mid-2000s Sault Ontario death metal band Devastation of the Heavens on or around April 10th! After finding more information than I'd originally estimated, it's only fair, so watch out for that next month, and for more news this week! Thanks everyone!

A Likely Inactive Local Band, New Videos, And Sebastian Bach In Sault Ontario?!

With weekend concert previews out of the way, we've got a new news post for you guys on this Saturday morning (beats the lack of good cartoons anymore), so here's what's on tap! Today, we have a new video from a newer Sault Ontario trio, some old 1990s videos from a band who played in the Sault Michigan area on tour way back when, and a note on a likely inactive local metal band, but first, here's some really intriguing news that connects metal with the recent growth of movie productions in Sault Ste. Marie!

Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach was in Sault Ontario yesterday... but not for a concert. As it turns out, he has a role of some type in the movie "Swearnet" that's being filmed here, which you guys will probably better recognize as the new movie from Trailer Park Boys stars Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, and Mike Smith (a.k.a. Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles!) Trailer Park Boys fans will be sure to understand the connection with Sebastian Bach, as he guest starred on the show's final season, where we saw his affinity for model train sets (the central one of which inspired the name of defunct Sault Michigan hard rockers Swayze Train), so if this connection seems random, watch season 7. My source for this info is Sebastian's Facebook page, where the photo on your left came from. I have no idea how big of a role Sebastian has in "Swearnet", or if he's even still in town, but from what I understand, the movie either is based on or will help launch an internet-based television channel full of uncensored vignettes & sketches, so Sebastian may only feature in one part of the film. It'd be awesome to see him book a concert here (I enjoy his solo stuff way more than new Skid Row material), but this is cool in & of itself, so check the above links for more, and I can't wait to see the completed film!

Next up, I've regrettably decided to move Sault Ontario metal quartet Borderline Divine to our inactive band links. Normally, I wouldn't act so fast after a band declares a hiatus (as they did on July 3rd via their Facebook page), but an immediate future for the former Stillbroke is looking unlikely following frontman & founding member Jesse Frigault's move to Alberta earlier this month, where he's already found a new job. He is in many ways Borderline Divine's driving force, so that (plus guitarist Mitch Sirie's ongoing primary work in The Bear Hunters) leads me to think that if we ever see them back, it won't be for a long while. Maybe the hiatus declaration was more to leave a bit of hope rather than abruptly shut the door? If they're for sure functionally inactive now, it ends a successful (albeit scattered) 4 year run that saw the band's many incarnations reach a number of heights, including opening for bands like Helix, West of Hell, and Columbia, their 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands victory, and of course, releasing Stillbroke's 2009 EP "Never Enough". Though their success arguably peaked in 2009, fans will be sure to have some solid memories from their shows before and after that year, and their brief mid-2012 activity as Borderline Divine left a lot of heavier promise that honestly topped Stillbroke to me in many ways!

I know the guys have put in tons of work from their inception to their last show in June to make it locally, and in some ways, they did, if not as long as was hoped. Hopefully this isn't the last we'll ever hear from Borderline Divine, but for now, best of luck to Jesse, Mitch, Justin, and Sam (and the array of former members) in the future, and when I hear about the members' next moves in the local scene, I'll be sure to have them here!

Thirdly today, I was alerted to some old school concert videos from a show at the old Tumble Inn in nearby Eckerman, Michigan yesterday, and these definitely belong on the SMS! Life's Eclipse frontman Jason Mills sent me the links to these videos as part of some assistance for a reader in finding videos from one of his old Northern Michigan bands at their local stops in the 1990s, and while this isn't either band in question, they're definitely heavy & could use an SMS spotlight! They were a 1990s Michigan metal band named Collision, and while I don't think they're from the Soo originally, they did play at The Tumble Inn at least once in the mid-1990s. The videos from said show include covers of Alice In Chains' "It Ain't Like That" & "Would?" and (as embedded below) Dio's "Don't Talk To Strangers", so check them out if you wanna! Uploaded in late 2008 by YouTube user budachiba (who may be bassist Jeremy DeLawrence), Collision had a solid groove and a versatility that allowed them to handle grunge and more traditional metal really well, and I'd like to find out more about them! Decent video quality too given the age and format this concert was filmed on. Check the above links for more, thanks to Jason for sending me the links, and if I find any more old school Tumble Inn footage, I'll have it here, but for now, here's Collision's local Dio cover!



Finally for today, here's some more news from Sault Ontario grunge band Haggith! Bad news first, as the band has announced that Wishbone bassist Steven Flint is not joining their lineup as was previously announced. A reason for the backtrack wasn't announced, just that it came after "some discussion" and there appear to be no bad feelings with Steven, who the band complimented the talent of on their Facebook page on Wednesday. As a result, frontman Curtis McKenzie is trading his guitar for a bass and Haggith are remaining a trio going forward. Hopefully this is the best move for the guys, and Curtis does have bass skill, but we'll have to see how they sound in their next gigs! On a more positive note, YouTube user paperclipprojectX uploaded a new video on Monday of 2/3rds of the band (minus drummer Mike Haggith) playing an unplugged version of their original song "I Am", and it sounds pretty good! The lighting is effective (if still dark) and Curt & Daniel add some nice grit to this acoustic rendering, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more Haggith news in the coming weeks!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly, including this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

Anvil Concert Videos, The Return Of Case's Music, And More!!

Here's one more news post for this Saturday night, and if you missed it, check out our all-Rotaryfest video post from this morning below this one! Tonight, we've got some assorted shorter stories, news on the return of a local music store and what's going on there now, and kicking things off, new videos from a major recent metal concert, so read on below for all the details!

First up today, here's one of the brand new videos from Wednesday night's Anvil concert at The Canadian Nightclub! BeeFMouTH alum Kevin Campbell (who was on hand doing film work with 62nd Chamber Productions during Frightlight's set) got some footage from the Toronto metal legends' headlining set as well for his YouTube channel, including two of their earlier songs that night, those being "School Love" and "Winged Assasins" (and yes, he filmed Lips' Ranger Lake Road story as well!) Complete with on screen titles, this is a nice video with solid audio quality, but the video quality is hit & miss. Some type of filter was on the camera which gave everything a more fluid dreamlike motion, which looks cool sometimes and too blurry at other times. That, and attendees heads & devil horns do get in the way, but Kevin did a good job shooting and compiling this video, and kudos for the footage for sure! Check out this new Anvil concert video below, and stay tuned for more from 62nd Chamber Productions' filming that night as it comes in!



Also new from said concert are two more videos of new local hard rock quintet Skeyes of Seven's set, including their original "Destination Unknown" (not pluralized as I had earlier) and, as embedded below, their cover of Stone Sour's "Come What(Ever) May"! Uploaded to the band's brand new YouTube channel earlier today, these were likely filmed on a stationary camera that the band had set up on the floor during their set, but as tall as it was, fans heads are still in the way on the original, as there was more people on the floor by then. The videos have an old look to them by the quality, but the audio's nice and it's nice to hear the vocals a bit louder than I remember at the show! Nice work, but I wonder if we'll see the Breaking Benjamin & Avenged Sevenfold covers from that night too on Skeyes of Seven's new channel? As we haven't shared this song on here before, and you can see the band better, here's Skeyes of Seven's cover of "Come What(Ever) May"!



Thirdly today, in case you haven't heard, Case's Music is officially back open in it's new home! After leaving their old Spring Street location on June 22nd, the popular local music store re-opened in the old Frame Center building at 636 Queen Street East on July 16th, and though they're still partially under construction, I've heard great things about the new larger location! Regular hours are now 11:00 AM-5:00 PM daily except Wednesdays, when they're open until 7:00 PM, and they're even planning to host weekly acoustic performers outside of the building on Saturday nights, adding to a very musical stretch of Queen that already includes The Grand Theater, LopLops Lounge, and the new Coch's Corner within walking distance. As well, Case's Music have opened up the floodgates for local bands/musicians to sell their albums and merchandise there, and though no metal artists have took them up on this yet, they're eager to support local talent and have the store as a saleground for local music, so if you're interested, message them at their Facebook page or drop in with some stock to sell! It's great to see Case's Music off to a great start at their new home, so check the above links for more on their on-sale items, instrument lessons, and much more!

And finally for tonight, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Already no stranger to the Sault area, Poison frontman Bret Michaels made a special video greeting for local Catholic summer school students on Thursday, in congratulations for those students for raising money for the Canadian Diabetes Association via a Celebrity Apprentice-themed fundraiser (Bret won that show's third season.) That's an awesome gesture, and thanks to Bret for filming that for some local kids! Click here for The Sault Star's coverage of this story from last week!
• Local solo guitarist Shane "The Shaner" Solomon has posted two newer songs onto his Reverbnation page, including a solid hard rocking instrumental named "Righteous Own" and a cover of the Storm Eagle theme from the video game Mega Man X. The latter's a well done faithful cover, but the former is heavier and has a nice groove, if it's a bit repetitive, so check the above links to hear these and much more from Shane's solo work!
• I've moved ex-Silver Dream drummer Steven Flint's solo project to our inactive band links due to a year's inactivity. He hasn't posted any real updates since late last July, and he's since deleted his only song "Run To You" for unknown reasons (it was good though, he should bring it back!) Disappointing, but I imagine Steven's keeping busy with his new classic rock cover band Limelight, and if I hear of anything of theirs that might fit on the SMS, I will let you guys know!

That's all for tonight, but stay tuned for some more news and videos tomorrow! 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 CONCERT ALERTS (Shit Liver & Tym Morrison) And Two New Local Hard Rock Acts!

Hey guys, here's another news post for your Tuesday, including two newly discovered hard rock acts from Sault Ontario and two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one of which is extremely short notice), so here's what you need to know!

Local death metal/punk trio Shit Liver will be playing at The Roosevelt Hotel TONIGHT! The rising trio have been named as the openers for this short notice concert which is being headlined by Yellowknife punk quartet Booze Cruise, who are touring Canada in support of their new LP "Moose Stuff"! They're not really a metal band, but they have a nice high energy punk sound with some faster ripping sounds here and there, so they're well worth seeing tonight, despite the late notice! And with Shit Liver opening, you know there'll be some hard hitting crust to kick things off, so if you're free, head to The Rosie TONIGHT! Plus, it's bassist Mike Kyle's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than at a punk/metal show? Remember, this show is TONIGHT at 10:00 PM, you must be 19 to attend, and there's no cover. For more details, visit the above links and the Facebook event page! Should be a fun time, hopefully a good sized crowd turns out despite the late word! For a preview, here's Shit Liver playing their song "Fabricated Nonsense" at The Rosie in June!



Also on the docket for new shows is another solo acoustic show from Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison! He's back out for another concert on Saturday, this time at The Zone Roadhouse on Highway 17 North in Goulais River, for his first solo show there in three months! Note that this is the second Saturday in three weeks that he hasn't played at Service Grill Pizza, so either he's now playing there bi-weekly, or his gigs there aren't as rigidly scheduled as they were in the summer. I'll keep you guys posted on any possible Service Grill shows he may have coming up! So if you want to head to Goulais River for some acoustic hard rock hits, The Zone Roadhouse is the place to be on Saturday night! Tym will take the stage at 8:00 PM, there is no announced cover charge, and I'd assume there's a 19+ age limit. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Should be a good concert, Tym's solo acoustic show always impresses, and hopefully lots of people turn out! Stay tuned for more on this show later in the week!

Now, we have two newly discovered local hard rock acts to mention on here, so here's all that you need to know! Firstly, we have a local electronic instrumental hard rock project from Sault Ontario named Candle Hour. Led by local musician Hugh Stephens, Candle Hour launched last October, quickly releasing a debut album named "Airplane" on numerous online stores, along with launching band pages on most popular internet music sites (examples: MySpace, Facebook, Reverbnation, YouTube, Soundclick, and many more.) Though a solo project with a mostly unrevealed background, Candle Hour are currently working on a second album, and have released four music videos. I probably missed Candle Hour for SMS coverage for so long because I assumed they were strictly a techno project, but there's a lot of hard rock here! Hugh lists Nine Inch Nails as one of Candle Hour's influences, and on songs like "Astral Transmission" and "Without A Parachute", there's definitely a hard rock sound to be enjoyed! The closest local band I can think of to Candle Hour in terms of sound would be the defunct solo project Divinity Collapsed, though I don't believe there's a link between the two bands.

Candle Hour is an interesting project, and Hugh definitely shows some talent and creativity with this material! The techno and electronic elements are well constructed, and the heavier hard rock sounds are integrated well, though I'd be interested to see him expand on some of the songs, as the songs I've heard can be slightly repetitive. Overall though, I am impressed with Candle Hour, so definitely check them out for a solid blend of electronic and synthesized sounds with hard rock, they work well together! I'll embed one of their videos here, so here's one of Candle Hour's heavier songs "March To The End", as accompanied by old military footage! Good stuff!



Lastly, the other new act finally connects some of the pieces left following a local band's abrupt disappearance last summer. Remember Silver Dream, the local glam rock quartet that crashed and burned last July? Well, at the time, departed frontman Matthew Silver said that the rest of the band would remain together, but we never heard anything else come from that... until now! Drummer Steven Flint launched a solo MySpace page in July, and he credits Silver Dream bandmates Mike LaRue & Chris Stainthorpe for backing instruments and production on his solo material! Specifically, Mike plays bass and handled the technical recording, while Chris played guitar, and Steven handled drums, vocals, and additional guitar & bass. I wouldn't say that Steven's solo project is one and the same as Silver Dream, but it's nice to see the old members sticking together! One song is posted, entitled "Run To You", and it's not bad! Definitely heavier than most of the Silver Dream samples we heard. Has a bit of a classic rock vibe while still being heavy, and Steven's vocals are deeper and grittier than you may expect, reminding me a bit of Mike Haggith vocally.

"Run To You" needs to be filled out more, but the guitar work is promising, the production isn't bad, and with some more work, this could get some deserved local attention! Check out more on Steven's solo project at the above links, and both he and Candle Hour are now in our active Sault Ontario band links!

That's all for today, but GO SEE SHIT LIVER & BOOZE CRUISE TONIGHT! Short notice or not, it'll be worth your time! Thanks everyone, and stay tuned for much more in the next few days!