It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, as we continue our monthly spotlighting of defunct and inactive metal, hard rock, and punk bands from the Sault Ste. Marie area for current readers, all as randomly selected from our band links. This month is a double profile due to the first band having no posted material, so we added a second band with little information to round things out. Both are intriguing bands that never realized a fuller potential, so here's what you should know on each group! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nowhere Fast
Genre: Alternative/Punk Rock
Hometown:Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Members:(It is unclear whether "Kel" in the band photo on the right is Andrea's replacement or successor in Nowhere Fast, or if that was actually her nickname. Let us know if you can fill in any blanks!)
Andrea Croft, vocals
Rhiannon "Rhi" Jones, guitar/bass
Jess Walls, drums
Audio/Video: No media of Nowhere Fast ever made it's way to the band's Tripod page, but postings there note that they were planning to cover acts ranging from Rise Against & Switchfoot to Sarah MacLachlan and Peter, Paul, and Mary, and they also had plans to write original material. However, as a band without a full time bassist at last update, they may not have been ready to release any recordings when they dissolved.
Info/Analysis: Only visibly active in the spring of 2005, Nowhere Fast never advanced past their Tripod page for public updates, but they did showcase a strong sense of humour throughout, and they did seem to have plans in place to progress the band. It's a shame that Nowhere Fast never got too far off the ground, as an all-female alt-punk band would have been a stand-out attraction in the local scene in the mid-2000s. I'm not familiar with any of the girls from other local bands, but hopefully there's material out there! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mourning Glory
Audio/Video: This studio project was intended to focus on Reverbnation & iTunes distributed original material inspired by bands like King's X, Rush, and Porcupine Tree. Plans were to record with a number of guest musicians, but aside from 6 solo demo recordings by Glen on Reverbnation, nothing followed on either platform. That said, Glen did share this video of him playing the Mourning Glory original "Elastic Man" onto his YouTube channel in August 2012, so you can get a rough sense of how the band sounded!
Info/Analysis:Launched by veteran local rock drummer Glen Thomas in March 2012, The Mourning Glory saw a partial return to Glen's hard rock band work of the 1980s. Aside from adding his long-time bandmate Tony Kajnar in 2013, updates were sporadic at best, last coming in January 2016 on Glen's forum. This project is not to be confused with the classic/hard rock cover band Mourning Wood, who Glen drummed for from 2015-2017. Their rough demos showcase a promising brand of bluesy hard rock with some real creativity, but they could have used cleaner recording quality. The ambition was there, hopefully Glen revisits this material! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! This series will return on or around July 10th when we take a look at another randomly selected local band from the past, but not as far back as you may think, namely local indie/alternative quartet Bizotic! Look for that next month, and for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Before we dive into another weekend's concert previews, here's a new news post on this snowy Wednesday, so what's in store for today? Well, we have some assorted notes regarding three local acts' active statuses, lots of recent updates from a prominent hard rock band, and first, here's a surprise new band and album to take note of!
We have a new local metal solo project to add to our links, and they are Abhorrent Forest, the newest endeavour from ex-Despised Eyes/Death Rise guitarist Will Tholberg! Going by the stage name "Old Man Wyrn" or simply "Wyrn" for this project, Abhorrent Forest launched their Facebook page in October, but only commenced with major public postings this month. Musically, Abhorrent Forest are an instrumental black metal act, and in a surprise reveal just on Monday, their debut album "The End of Life" is already on sale via their Bandcamp page! You can download it free there, but it is available for purchase too via Bandcamp's "name your price" model. It's not every day that you see a new black metal album release in this area, let alone one this abrupt, but kudos to Will for putting this out! Without giving too much away, it's a huge departure from his past public band work, and should appeal to fans of underground minimalist black metal.
As this is a brand new album release available for paid sale, "The End of Life" is very possible for a CD review on the SMS this month, so keep that in mind, and you can also stream the whole album below via Old Man Wyrn's new YouTube channel, so check out Abhorrent Forest above & below!
Next up, here's the latest from local hard rock band Skeyes of Seven, who have been busy as of late, so what's new from their camp? First off, the band has finally confirmed the quiet reveal from last fall of a new second guitarist, that being Kyle Sweet, who you may recognize from performing with frontman Cory Murchison during his solo set at March 2014's Medifest fundraiser, and previously with The Sault Ste. Marie Pipe Band. This gives Skeyes of Seven two guitarists for the first time since Alain Fletcher moved to bass in 2014, and Kyle was a good fit in last year's initial cover video with him! The band still has a drummer vacancy though, and be sure to message them above or guitarist Ron Baxter at this link if you're interested in trying out! As for Skeyes of Seven's long-awaited debut EP "Stare at the Sky', we are still awaiting a full paid release, but the whole EP is now online to stream via Skeyes of Seven's YouTube channel, so what should you know?
Confirming a 6 song run-time, "Stare at the Sky" will feature their songs "See The Truth", "Pretend", "Enough", "Fallen Faith", "Cognitive Dissonance", and as embedded below, "Crawling Back Into Reality" (yes, they did delete two of their older studio tracks and re-post them.) No word on if the night sky motif on most videos will be the album cover, or on when that will see it's paid release, but the instrumental "Crawling Back Into Reality" notably differs by having a slideshow of shots from the band's run so far. It includes pictures dating back to their first show, even including ex-members Mike Mannarino & Jonny Amendola in some shots, and closing with outtakes from their introductory video with recent drummer John Mignacca (who drums on the EP.) My biggest problem with this video is that they include never-before-seen clips of Skeyes of Seven jamming and in studio, only to dub them over with the studio track, even ones with Cory visibly singing, despite the song having no vocals.
I wouldn't want the song broken up, but I'm sure fans would want to see these clips on their own, so hopefully they make their way online at some point! Still, it's great to see things finally nearing completion and release for Skeyes of Seven's debut EP, especially given how sporadically they've played live since debuting in 2012, so check out the songs on "Stare At The Sky" above & below, and stay tuned for updates!
Finally, here's some shorter assorted news items from the last while, all via our latest scan of our active band links, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
We have moved local punk supergroup Killer to our inactive band links, as they have not made a public posting of any kind since January 6th of last year. A non-seasonal sister band to Toystock 2015 performers The Rude-Offs, Killer themselves have never played live, despite a strong lineup comprised of Destroilet, Treble Charger, and Stiffler's Mom alumni. For what it's worth, The Rude-Offs dropped out of last year's Toystock, but their lack of activity also coincided with much of Destroilet's year-long stage hiatus, so take those however you want. Hopefully we see Greg, Greig, John, Christian, Adam, and Matt back in some form!
In a post on his solo project's Facebook page in May of last year, Din frontman Mike Haggith noted that with The Din "making some pretty big waves" in recent months, his next solo album (the "Neighbourhood Watch" re-recording) isn't currently a priority, despite him teasing that album that same February. At least Mike acknowledged why his solo project hasn't been active lately, but hopefully he can complete "Neighbourhood Watch Revisited" at some point, and of course, follow The Din for his high energy current original band work! We'll leave his solo project in our active links until May, unless there's new activity beforehand.
We have also moved Mourning Wood drummer Glen Thomas' hard rock studio project The Mourning Glory (named before he joined the former) to our inactive band links, as he hasn't posted anything public on that project since his New Year's forecast post on his message board one year ago today. The Mourning Glory had promise, but don't miss Glen and Tony Kajnar in their current active projects The Peace Vibe and Flat Stanley!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!
Let's continue our clearing out of backlogged news items with our second news post of the day! Below, we have lots of assorted recent notes and LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this month (including THIS WEEKEND), so here's what you should know, and check out more new shows, concert previews, and more in the post below this one!
Charlevoix metal/hard rock trio Peril will return to the The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino for their first concerts of 2015 TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the band just announced the shows on their Facebook page this morning, and Kewadin's entertainment page hasn't been updated to reflect 2015 bookings yet. Coming just three weeks after they capped 2014 at the St. Ignace Kewadin, it's great to see Jeff & company back so soon to deliver their high impact metal covers to the E.U.P. once again, so if you're looking for some concert action across the river, TONIGHT and/or TOMORROW NIGHT's shows wouldn't be bad ideas to hit! There are no announced cover charges, 21+ age limits, and 9:00 PM start times in effect for this weekend, so for more details, visit the above links, and don't miss Peril this weekend! Here at the guys covering Ozzy Osbourne a few years back!
Next up, Sault Michigan hard rockers Tantrym Tyme will make their first concert appearance of 2015 when they play at The Elks Lodge in the Soo on Sunday, January 25th! Surprisingly the first announced concert on their Facebook page in four months (though I believe they've played unadvertised gigs in the interim), this will apparently also be their first announced concert since parting ways with bassist Quinton Jacobson, who was quietly removed from their Facebook page's lineup late last year. A reason for his exit has not been announced. Quinton had played with the former Abstract since the spring of 2012, and it is disappointing to see him apparently leave, but hopefully he turns up in another band soon! In his place, guitarist Mike East is listed now as Tantrym Tyme's bassist (reverting the band to their 2011-2012 trio lineup), and he and Quinton had alternated roles in concert, so this isn't that big of a big jump!
To be hosted at The Elks Lodge at 1111 East Portage Avenue (though I'm unclear if the venue or Sunday placement indicates a special reason for the show), this will have an early 3:00 PM start time, no announced cover charge, and likely no age limit. For more details, visit the above links! It's great to see Tantrym Tyme staying busy, so keep this Sunday afternoon gig in mind for later this month, and follow the guys on their new Twitter page!
Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:
New Sault Ontario goregrind duo Das Skalpell Kampf revealed their three songs for the upcoming Blood Shed Productions 11-way split demo on their Facebook page on New Year's Eve, and they'll include the previously revealed "Thanks For The Ride" and new songs named "Handing Out Headshots" and "Deep Fried (Long Pig) Steak (Sandwiches)". Interesting, so we'll have to see where this leads, and stay tuned for the full track listing when posted publically!
According to the newest update on his promotional Facebook group, local concert promoter J.D. Pearce is apparently bringing Toronto metal band Exes For Eyes (featuring Endast frontman James Arsenian) to the Soo in March, though the date and venue are to be announced. That would be a great concert, so stay tuned for updates when they come in!
Local alternative hard rock quartet Haggith appear to have officially confirmed Jordan Leach as their new full time bassist (replacing James White), as he was included in their "Happy New Year" post on their Facebook page yesterday. Sounds good, he fit in well with them at The Bear Hunters' CD release, but he does need to work on his stage presence. Look for more from Haggith in 2015!
In his Christmas day post on his forum Freq's Music Planet, prolific local drummer Glen Thomas revealed that his recently dormant progressive hard rock project The Mourning Glory will be releasing new music this year. This is just their second public update since 2013, and it's nice to hear that Glen's still working on Mourning Glory material! See above for more info, and they're now back in our active band links!
Local goregrind duo Rotopsy have revealed the cover artwork, release date, and title for their upcoming full length demo on their Facebook page in recent days. To be called "Sexual Assault Rifle" (they titled it, don't shoot the messenger!), it's planned for release on April 20th, but we will not share the cover artwork here due to potentially offensive content. Give everything a look above if you want though!
Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night released a new original instrumental named "Foster's Death March" to their Soundcloud page on Sunday! Uniquely featuring more of a tribal and deliberate sound than their usual epic metal, give the song a listen above, and stay tuned for more on them and their album plans!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post TOMORROW, and more news soon! Thanks everyone!
After a longer than expected delay, here's our fourth feature to roll in defunct and inactive local punk bands into our links and coverage on the SMS! We're 100% focusing on bands with surviving primary pages on PureVolume today, mainly as Bandmine turned out to be (more or less) an automated aggregator of bands rather than a proper band page host, while MySpace (a logical spot for some surviving pages) is extremely hard to navigate for local bands now due to their layout overhauls. We'll approach MySpace soon though! Now, here's 4 of our punk band discoveries from PureVolume!
First today are two linked mid-2000s punk projects, those being 2 Minute Warning (pictured) and Starlit Sins! Their lineups both featured guitarists Wes Greco & Andrew "Pooch" Pucci (who has some solo material), bassist Dustin Supak, and original Cherry Crush drummer Justin Marandola, while Ben Tulloch was 2 Minute Warning's singer, and current K.I.C.K. frontman Simon Shearsby replaced him with Starlit Sins. Both bands had live experience, with 2.M.W. (who launched in 2004) playing shows at venues like The Canadian Nightclub, while Starlit Sins played a memorable Roberta Bondar Pavilion set in August 2006 (their only publically active year.) No surviving material of either band is online to our knowledge, though 2 Minute Warning did record a 3 song demo of some type that, though visibly available to listen to on their page, doesn't work for one reason or another. For what it's worth, Starlit Sins' more detailed bio describes a negative fan response to Ben's vocals with 2.M.W., but take that with a grain of salt until/unless media becomes available.
It'd be interesting to find some working media of either 2 Minute Warning or Starlit Sins, especially to see what kind of talents the guys had, of whom largely are not currently active in local bands (Simon being the biggest exception.) If we ever come across music or videos of either, we'll let you guys know, but read their biographies and check out concert photos from both projects at the above links! Next to add is Oceania, another punk band from around the same time period, roughly running from 2004-2005. Their lineup featured a singer & guitarist named Lawrence (unsure if that was his first or last name, but he was nicknamed "LaR") alongside bassist Nick "Dilbert" DiLabio and Northern Rocks Magazine/Laris Records founder Chris Rancourt on drums. Basically successors to Lawrence and Chris' 2003 project Slow Motion Theatre, the members of what became Oceania formed the band after joking about playing a Green Day tribute show, and got their first bookings on that basis, but soon added original material. Oceania (whose name came from the book "1984") played at least two shows at The Oddfellows Hall in 2005, including a set opening for Take One For The Team that July, though aside from efforts to win the Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands, no public updates are known to have followed. Like 2 Minute Warning above, Oceania's three songs on their PureVolume page don't work, but there is still a song of theirs around to give a listen to!
As uploaded to their BandSpace page, a live acoustic version of their song "Picture, No Sound" is streamable there, and while it's not indicative of the full band's sound, Lawrence has a nice sound and tone, though his clean vocals often sound a bit too reserved. At least we have a taste of how Oceania sounded, but hopefully more media from their run turns up at some point, so be sure to check them out as well above!
Finally for today's defunct punk feature is Portable Glory, whose page doesn't tell us much, but were recently brought to fans attention when current punk trio The Northern Tragedy revealed on their Facebook page
on May 8th that two members of their lineup were in that band! I'm
thinking the two common members are singer/drummer Terrence Gomes and
guitarist Mike Ivany based on the similar vocals and lack of audible
bass, but if I'm wrong, I'll correct this for sure! I'm unsure when
exactly Portable Glory were together, but they weren't around very long,
and I assume they predated Terrence's larger work with bands like Good
Morning Gorilla and Changing Waves, so I'd guess the mid-late 2000s.
Four working demos (intended for an album named "Sock Puppets &
Knuckle Heads") can be heard on their PureVolume page, and while the
recording quality isn't great, and their lineup definitely needed to be
filled out, I wouldn't hold it against fans to think these were Northern
Tragedy demos, as they have similar sounds and melodies! Unrefined, but
give Portable Glory a listen above!
I hope you guys liked this newest punk band feature, and I hope our next one (which will cover remaining PureVolume punk bands like Fuller, and perhaps more) will be up later this week! That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's CD review and more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
For this news post, we have a lot of shorter recent items to clear out of our news cache, along with some new video postings that might be of note, so read on below to get caught up! We start with a new video from 2/3rds of Toronto metal legends Anvil, who issued this video greeting to local fans yesterday in advance of NEXT WEEK'S headlining show at The Canadian Nightclub! Just 15 seconds long, it's basically a brief show plug from frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow" and drummer Robb Reiner, and while nothing new is stated, it's great to get some direct advertising from Anvil themselves! Remember, they rock The Canadian this coming Saturday with fellow Toronto metallers Caym and local opening bands Jack Spades, The Suicide Kings, and Project 421, and tickets remain on sale for this 19+ concert for $20 (or $25 at the door), so get yours A.S.A.P. at The Rad Zone, The Canadian, or from local band members while they last, and check out the new video below!
Next up, Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy's newest solo cover is now up via his YouTube channel, this time a cover of Green Day's "21 Guns"! Uploaded last night, it continues his recent multi-instruments trend with vocals, and while I'm honestly not a fan of this song at all, he does handle it as well as I'd expect! I'd be curious to hear how Alex does on older Green Day songs too, but for now, check out his newest solo video below!
Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter stories from the last few days, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or company name:
In their first public update in 5 months, long gestating Sault Ontario hard rock band Acention updated their Facebook page
on January 10th, where (I believe) frontman Dalton Boissineau blamed
the lack of activity on personal issues & internal drama.
However, he did promise that music will be up as soon as possible, and
when things come together, the band will talk about potentially writing
an EP. Fingers crossed things work out, because progress has been way
too slow from their camp!
Local concert promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment are looking for metal bands that might be interested in playing a concert of theirs in almost two weeks on Friday, March 21st. No word on the venue or already enlisted bands yet, but this might be the same show that the on-hiatus Crimson Crusade turned down an offer to play at last month. Stay tuned for updates, and if you're interested in playing, message promoters at this link!
Barring a re-emergence of activity by then, we'll likely be moving local progressive hard rock project The Mourning Glory
to our inactive Sault Ontario band links on Tuesday due to a year's
inactivity. Despite teases for material and such this year, the band has
made no public updates since this post on drummer Glen Thomas' forum Freq's Music Planet last March. Hopefully the band turns up again, but either way, follow Glen and Tony's main band Flat Stanley for their current work!
I have deleted former Sault Michigan record store New Moon Records from our Other Sault Michigan Links section, as their old website's domain name is now held by a California independent label of the same name, after previously expiring by the end of last year. New Moon Records (which was in the current Dotgames location) closed long before we were aware of the site, so this isn't a big loss, but I just wanted to let you guys know!
London/Thessalon metal quintet Papa Fogals Chair (featuring a number of current Saultites) will hold a one-off reunion on May 3rd at The Moose Lodge as part of the entertainment for bassist Mike Bird's stag & doe! The event will also feature drummer Derek Turner's current band Garden of Bedlam (in their first announced set of the year) and acts to be announced. Given the personal nature of stag & does, we don't call them as full public "concerts", but click here for more information!
Local goregrind duo Rotopsy are the fourth confirmed act on this year's Sewer Swampstravaganza on Saturday, May 3rd, in the first appearance at this yearly Oddfellows Hall all ages event by a Blood Shed Productions band. Should be interesting, and stay tuned for further lineup confirmations as they come in!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon, as well as this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles on Monday! Thanks everyone!
Hey guys, this might be our last full news post of 2012, and while I had intended for it to be half focused on New Year's Eve metal/hard rock concert previews, one of the announced shows has been cancelled, that being Turner Up's planned return gig at Gusto's Bar & Grill tomorrow night. A reason was not announced, beyond the band saying "Cancelled sorry." on the Facebook event page, but no matter why, it's disappointing all around! It'd have been a pricier gig, but Turner Up have been missed in recent months, and hopefully they and Gusto's will be back next year! That said, we have one other heavier New Year's show to preview, plus news on a potentially intriguing new Bon Soo event, a new video, and more news, so read on below for what you need to know!
In what's likely the last hard rock concert of 2012 in the Sault Ste. Marie area, Kinross hard rockers Banned will return to Todd's Tavern in nearby Moran, Michigan TOMORROW NIGHT to end the year on a high note and ring in 2013! This marks the second straight year that they've played a New Year's Eve gig in the area, and Todd's Tavern has been a decently active venue for them in 2012, so hopefully they rock the house with their covers & originals! Note that guitarist Alex Schrovenwever is home for the holidays, but I have not definitively heard one way or the other on if he'll be back with Banned tomorrow (I'll let you know if I find out!) Aside from the New Year's setting and likely partying associated with it, everything seems fairly normal for this show, with Banned on at around 8:00 PM tomorrow, a 21+ age limit, and no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the band's Facebook page!
If you're looking for a hard rocking way to end 2012, head down to Moran (50 minutes from the Soo, 15 minutes from St. Ignace) to enjoy the Traynors and company as they deliver some diverse and entertaining live music! For a preview, here's Banned covering The Rockets' "Oh Well" this summer!
Next up, here's some information on a potentially intriguing new event that could have some metal/hard rock representation! As announced on SooToday two weeks ago, the annual Bon Soo Winter Carnival in Sault Ontario has joined forces with The Public Relations & Event Management Program to create a new performance area for this year's 50th anniversary, and it's entitled The Marquee. It's planned to be a platform for locals in the arts, culture, and performance communities to perform live in Bellevue Park during this year's carnival. Partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Bon Soo's currently looking for local artists, performers, and entertainers to perform at The Marquee this year between February 2nd and 10th, and with no announced restrictions on who could perform, this could open the door for metal and hard rock bands to at least apply! If you're interested in applying to perform at Bon Soo's Marquee this year (or in volunteering), e-mail snow@bonsoo.on.ca and visit the above links for more information!
This has a lot of potential, especially to further integrate local artistic and musical talent into the festival! Since the yearly battles of the bands dried up, there has been a need for more local music, and maybe this will be a way back in for many of the area's talent in that field, metal or not! I'd recommend looking in to applying to play at The Marquee in February, as you never know what could happen!
Thirdly today, here's the latest video from the hard rock cover trio from Superior Heights Collegiate performances that we featured a lot of on the site earlier this year! Featuring guitarists/bassists Liam Seymour (Sailor's Tongue) & Adam Gualtieri alongside a still unknown drummer, this is this band's first posted video since April, and it's a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" as filmed on Halloween (hence the Hulk Hogan & hippie costumes.) Though the video is in black & white for some reason, it's well edited, and despite not being a heavy song, the guys show good talent, with Liam's vocal range up to the task compared to the original! Check out their newest video below, and see more of Adam & Liam's covers at this location!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:
In my e-mail conversation with 415E/Highest of Fives drummer Devin Anderson last week, he mentioned that Free Refill might come back in the summer for some shows. The band initially went inactive in the spring following half the band's move from the area for college, but according to a tweet on The Highest of Fives' Twitter page, Free Refill may have played at a school assembly on May 18th (though I can't 100% confirm that.) Fingers crossed that we haven't seen the last of them though!
Also in Highest of Fives-related updates, they have revealed on their Twitter page that their home recording studio is called The Beat Lab Studio, while there have been tweets there as well alluding to their "summer tour". It'd be awesome to see them, Free Refill, AND 415E gigging this summer, as the Sault Michigan scene could use the extra bands, but I'll keep you posted if we hear anything definite!
According to a Musicians Wanted Facebook group posting on December 17th, veteran local drummer Glen Thomas has added Wishbone/Flat Stanley bandmate/guitarist Tony Kajnar to his Mourning Glory project, and they're looking at playing live cover-centric shows in 2013, with covered bands including Porcupine Tree & Friction Plane. This could potentially shift the project from it's heavier leaning originals, but anything different and talented would be an asset locally, so message Glen at this location, and keep an eye out!
That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for our look back at an up and down year in the local scene, so what happened in 2012? Our year in review post will be up tomorrow, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone!
News has admittedly been kinda sporadic lately, which is half my fault due to personal commitments, but I've got a lot of stuff for today's news post, including battle of the bands updates, lots of videos from a prominent Sault Michigan band, and lots of assorted news stories, but let's start with a new local band, and also check out this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile in the post below this one!
Yes, there's a new local band to touch on today, and it's The Mourning Glory, a new solo project from veteran local drummer Glen Thomas! This is a new experimental/progressive hard rock project that is different from his Flat Stanley & Wishbone fare, and though it's not a reversion to his 1980s and 1990s metal output, it's likely similar to his work in Route 69. It looks like Glen's using The Mourning Glory to experiment with an all-online distribution and promotion method, and songs may feature guest musicians if needed or asked. Influences for the project range from King's X and Rush to Porcupine Tree and Captain Beyond, and you can sample those influence via three incomplete rough demos posted on The Mourning Glory's Reverbnation page! "Dirt Cycle" is the heaviest of the three, and it has a nice slower groove, while "Traumatic Tire" has more blues influences, and "Fusion Core" is more experimental and progressive. Interesting stuff so far, but hopefully Glen posts longer and cleaner versions of these demos soon, as there's definitely something there! Stay tuned for more on The Mourning Glory as news comes in, and they're now in our Sault Ontario active band links on your left!
Next up, here's the latest updates on the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th! Tickets for the event are now on sale at some extra locations, as local music stores Case's Music, Music Depot, and Northland Music, and The Rad Zone at The Wellington Square Mall have joined the Humane Society location itself and battle venue The Grand Theater as ticket junctions. Pick them up A.S.A.P. for $20 at any of the above locations! My source for the above information is the Facebook event page ran by Sykotyk Rampage, who have since confirmed that they're opening this battle only, and not closing it too. Note that their poster also includes Rock 101's logo, though whether this implies some official connection with our local rock radio station or not is currently unclear. Also newly confirmed: The battle will run from 5:00 PM to 1:00 AM on April 20th, and I have heard from Sykotyk Rampage frontman Dirk Becker (who is helping in the battle organizing) that bands will have 15 minute time limits for their set, and the band order looks to be randomly determined. Stay tuned for more information and details as they come in, as this will be a huge event, and I know I'll see you guys there next month! Check the above links for more on the event and the competing bands!
Also today is an awesome new source of videos of a prominent local band, that being Sault Michigan funk/hard rock quintet Clownsack! Activity from them has been sparse since the release of their "Funny Farm" EP last spring, but no less than 17 older videos of them in action have been posted onto YouTube in the past three weeks! These are courtesy of the YouTube channel of Broken Phonograph Media, a publishing company ran by local musician Fran Blackwood. You may recognize him from his musical talents in the local bands Electric Motor Fish and Kilgore's Army, along with work as the producer on Clownsack's latest EP and for video projects that the band has (and is) working on. His channel, which was launched last fall, is split in two directions, with half of the videos devoted to Kilgore's Army and his short film "Code Brown", and half devoted to Clownsack videos, mostly from live concerts in the mid-2000s with older lineups. These include videos from their 2005 debut concert, their sets opening for Ted Nugent in 2006 and Kiss in 2007 (both at Kewadin Casino), and videos everywhere from The Satisfied Frog across the river to Harpo's Concert Theater in Detroit! Most are of full songs, though assorted solo portions and amusing moments from some early shows also got uploads over the past few weeks.
It's great to see so many nice quality Clownsack videos posted online, as their videos were previously fairly scarce! Kudos to Fran for uploading these, though I'll note that a couple song titles are incorrect compared to what's listed on "Rotten Candy". I would like to see some post-2007 videos too, but for now, this works really well! All of these videos are worth checking out (including an early performance of "I Live In A Drawer" & a higher quality version of their "Clown Sauce" music video), so check the above links to watch all of these newly posted videos, but to share here, I've embedded one of only two live performances of their song "Sack O' Clown" from a 2006 show at The Frog, so give it a look below!
And finally for today, here's five assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, as a lot of shorter items have hit the news desk lately! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:
Local hard rock quartet Borderline Divine (formerly Stillbroke) are planning to unveil a new original song named "Vampire In The Night" shortly, along with a new official YouTube channel to host videos of them in action. My source is the band's Facebook page. Good to hear, so stay tuned for more updates as they come in!
New Sault Michigan hard rockers Elements of Madness have already parted ways with drummer Landon Mattson, just weeks after they added him to their lineup last month. A reason for his departure wasn't announced, but if you're interested in trying out to drum for Elements of Madness, contact the band at this location!
A local concert weekend featuring Detroit hard rockers Fifth Way (with former Saultite Zak Stelmaszek on guitar) and Brimley metal quartet Half A Man (in their first concerts in a year) is tentatively lined up for April 27th & 28th, with one hang-up: They need a venue for the April 27th show. Message Half A Man at this location if you can help, and stay tuned for more on these potential local concerts as I hear it!
Blue Chinese metal crash punk quartet Sykotyk Rampage are the third local band confirmed for the Touch of Death Metal & Punk Festival in Cochrane, Ontario (6 hours north of Sudbury) from June 30th-July 2nd, joining fellow locals Shit Liver & RedD Monkey on this massive festival. Nice to see them play a rare out of town gig, and they should fit in well among all the chaos this summer, so keep them in mind if you're going!
Woods of Ypres got some press in the latest episode of Extreme Metal Television, featuring brief plugs of "Woods V" and the Ypres Metal Fest on April 7th, clips of the David Gold tribute concert in Calgary last month (including Gales of Avalon's cover of "Wet Leather"), and some interview segments with performers at the event. Nice press, if brief, and I hope we see more from the Calgary tribute! Give this video a look at the above link!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news shortly, along with our Algoma University Battle profile and our "Woods V" review! Thanks everyone!
The Mourning Glory
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