Bear Hunters Album Updates, New Videos, And More Recent News!!

Before we tackle this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, here's some recent news and notes for your Monday afternoon, including assorted shorter notes, new video postings, and first, here's some big updated for an anticipated new CD!

We'll start with some new updates from local death metal favourites The Bear Hunters, as per guitarist Mitch Sirie on their Facebook page early this morning, so what should you know? In terms of last night's Golers show at The New American Pub (apologies for missing it, blame personal family matters), the guys debuted two new songs during their set, including a track named "The Wrath of Angmar" (which appears to reference a kingdom in The Lord of the Rings), and a black metal parody named "The Forest of Forests". Hopefully someone got video of both! Mitch also noted that the former will be on their planned second CD "The Dead Testament", which will also have a closing title track of the same name that has yet to be completed. The first three songs will, in order, be "The Void", "The Omen", and "I Fear No God", but the track listing order for the rest is to be determined. Title track included, there are just 3 songs left to be unveiled live, though it's unclear whether "The Forest of Forests" will be one of them or not.

Mitch noted that they take their time writing their songs, rather than writing a handful of singles and adding filler for the rest, and he sounds proud of the work the guys are putting in! Plans are still to begin recording sessions on "The Dead Testament" next month and release it during the winter, so check the above links for complete current details on The Bear Hunters' highly anticipated new album!

Next up, here's a newly discovered solo performance video from Pixo Control frontman Michael Mikus, courtesy of local music/culture community Ears & Eyes' YouTube channel last summer, and it's of him covering the 1960s rock classic "Twist & Shout", which is frequently seen in full Pixo Control concerts. Uniquely filmed outside, this solo cover is done in the same style that Pixo Control fans know from concerts, as it's slowed down into more of a jam style, but it's abbreviated from the lengthy version fans hear in live concerts.  Solidly done, and a bit of a window into how this would sound in an acoustic setting, so give it a look below!



Also, here's the newest released cover from new local atmospheric black metal duo Dullahan, this time a cover of Absurd's "Pesttanz"! Set to World War II video footage (don't worry, there's nothing offensive), this was uploaded to their YouTube channel last week, and can also be heard on their Bandcamp page. It's a little repetitive in this form, but Dullahan have talent and they show it on this cover, so give it a listen below and above!



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

• An upcoming episode of Local2's stripped down music performance series Bare will apparently star Inner City Surfers/Role Models bandmates Brad "Example" Lacell & Dave Bahun as featured performers, as per personal Facebook photos showing them on playing on the Bare set. Is this a sign that Brad Example & The Role Models are alive, or is this a solo or new project? Hopefully we find out more when this episode is posted in the coming weeks!
• On Saturday, Detroit punk trio Heroes of Charlotte posted this jam session video of them playing their song "Goodbye", which begins with a shoutout to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, as they can't make the Superior Festival (now on August 21st) that they were originally booked for, but hope to see us soon. I'm not sure if they meant that they couldn't make the original Saturday date or the rescheduling, but it's nice of them to acknowledge that they couldn't play, but wanted to, and hopefully they can at some point!
• Local musician Tammy Hill is looking for a drummer for her new "classic rock/punk/pop" band, who reportedly already have original material and want to do some recording and play live (no word though on if this is the same band she was looking for members for in February.) If you or someone you know are interested in trying out, message Tammy at this link or via her Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from this morning!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles next! Thanks everyone!

New Videos From The Buckcherry Concert & Woods Of Ypres!!

It's time for new videos! I won't call this a "local metal video showcase" as these are very heavily in the realm of two topics: Monday night's Buckcherry/Papa Roach concert and Woods of Ypres! I don't like loading posts too heavily, and I have some big news tomorrow, so I'll devote this mostly to some new videos, with lots more to come tomorrow! Now, to our first news!

With Monday's Buckcherry/Papa Roach concert in the books, what do we know out of it? Not a lot, local news outlets haven't given it a lot of post-show attention (even The Soo Evening News, oddly), but I can tell you guys some things! I did find out who the last minute local openers were, and as it turns out, it was Sault Michigan acoustic duo Fallen Heroes, who've been seen frequently in the area in recent months. Though not officially confirmed anywhere, pictures of Fallen Heroes performing on stage can be seen at this location. I apologize for having the opener news so late, it took some research to figure out which band it specifically was. They don't seem like the best fit to open a hard rock show like this, but they look talented, and kudos to them for seizing this opportunity! As for the reception for the main bands, I've heard mixed things towards Buckcherry's set from fans, but Papa Roach seem to have gotten a better response. When I show the first videos, you can judge for yourself!

One more thing about this concert, as a large photo album by promoters Allstar Promotions is now online featuring loads of photos from the meet & greet with the headlining bands and scattered photos from The Dreammakers Theater before and during the show! Not bad, click here to see the album!

Now to the videos! There is at least one more channel at present with footage from Monday's concert, but I'm not gonna overload this post needlessly, so I'll show you the first posted YouTube videos from Monday! YouTube user encorevids posted four videos from the show (two each of Buckcherry & Papa Roach) onto their YouTube channel yesterday, so here's what you should know! The Papa Roach videos are for their songs "Getting Away With Murder" and "Kick In The Teeth", while the Buckcherry videos are for their performances of "It's A Party" and "Dead", so click on each link to check them out! All of the videos are shot from the stage's right, though the footage is taken from around the middle of the floor area, so there's a lot of people in the way. I tend to see more stage than band even moreso than you'd think, but blame that on the seat, not the filmer. Audio quality is scratchy on both videos, though all four give the impression that unneeded static is overtop of decent quality music, if that makes sense. If you were hoping for crystal clear though, this won't have it.

If Buckcherry truly did have a disappointing set like I've heard some people say, I honestly can't tell, but it could just be the audio on the recording itself. Papa Roach sound good too, despite the audio quality and my preference for their old sound. Decent footage, all things considered, so check out Buckcherry playing "It's A Party" and Papa Roach playing "Getting Away With Murder" immediately below!





Finally for today, here's some new video footage from Woods of Ypres! This actually doesn't come from their current tour run, this is actually brand new footage from the band's show at Club Absinthe in Hamilton from May 15th, 2009, during their Eastern Canada tour that month! Odd that it took so long to make it online, but there's extra local connections in this one! Remember, this was back when Gates of Winter's own Bryan Belleau & Steve Furgiuele were still in Woods of Ypres, in what would be Steve's last tour leg with Woods of Ypres before he was replaced by Shane Madden that summer. This was uploaded by YouTube user AskeGuitar on Monday, and it's of the band's performance of "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground" from this concert! Audio's good quality, I can hear everything fairly clearly, and the video quality works also! Though it's very dark, the red/blue lighting adds an interesting ambiance. Good stuff, and it's always nice to see the band's "Gates of Ypres" lineup again, even if it's not at it's 6 member peak of late 2008! Check out this new video below!



That's all for today, but we'll have another double post day tomorrow, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, weekend concert previews, and more! Stay tuned!