It's now time for our first Defunct Local Band Profile of 2015, but with a slight change. As has recurred too often in the past year, we misjudged the amount of info on one of this month's randomly selected bands (namely, the first band had more to write about than I predicted), so I've opted to give them a solo profile for January. The planned second act (The Joe Falco Experience) will now lead off next month's 2 band profile, so don't worry, their profile is coming in February! Now, this is our monthly look at a defunct or inactive local metal, hard rock, or punk band, in order to spotlight them and their run, and this month's band got a fair amount accomplished in their run, so read on below for this month's profile!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intrepid
Audio/Video: The only known public media from Intrepid's local run was via guitarist Donnie Hank's YouTube channel, but it was quietly deleted from YouTube last year for unknown reasons. 9 videos from two Intrepid concerts were posted there, but to give this profile some media content, here's the since deleted video of Intrepid covering System of a Down's "Lonely Day" in mid-2008 at The Soo Theater! Accumulating over 10,000 views before being deleted, this is played faster than the original, but captures a promising young band, so give it a look below!
Info/Analysis:An all-cover hard rock band that formed through the Guitar Studio rock camp in the summer of 2008, Intrepid quickly expanded beyond the rock camp's confines, playing at bars like The Satisfied Frog, community events like Oktoberfest, and school talent shows alike, even finishing first in at least one! Notable for being one of the few recent Sault Michigan hard rock bands to cross the border & play in Sault Ontario (at the International Family Fun Night on New Year's Eve 2008 at The Essar Centre), their lineup was fairly stable throughout their run, aside from a guest appearance by ex-Beyond The Surface singer Danielle Petingalo in October 2010 in Trout Lake. Intrepid played fairly regularly through the end of 2010, last promoting a talent show that December where they finished in second place, before falling inactive in early 2011. Intrepid had a good thing going, and lasted a surprisingly long time given their rock camp beginnings, but given their ages, they definitely had room to grow for talent & stage presence. However, be sure to follow Mitch Goetz's later bands though for similar material!
I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! As for next month in this series, we'll be looking at a double profile for sure, which will be led off by The Joe Falco Experience (the solo project led by the former No Arrow drummer), but which randomly selected band will join them? Another Sault Ontario band's next in the rotation, and they will be Kidshit, the studio-only hardcore punk project featuring AlgomA and Lion Ride alumni! Watch for all of that on or around February 10th, and stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!
In our second post of the day, we have this month's YouTube Channel Profile to check out, but see this morning's post for a late notice show announcement, a recent older band discovery, and more! As usual, this monthly feature series looks at 1-3 YouTube channels featuring a 50% concentration of local metal/hard rock videos, in order to profile their content, videos, and featured artists, and encourage you guys to check them out! This month's randomly selected channel has some varied Sault Michigan-native performances from the late 2000s, mainly from one band in particular, so read on below for this month's profile! (Updated on October 15th, 2013)
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Channel Timeline: Launched on April 11th, 2008; Videos posted from October of that year through January 2009
Channel Summary: Ostensibly a personal use channel, Sault Michigan guitarist Donnie Hank largely devoted his YouTube channel to videos from two concerts he played with his now-defunct local hard rock band Intrepid in mid-late 2008. Those are the focus of 9 of his 11 videos, though his channel is rounded out by a solo guitar cover and a low quality rendition of the Christmas standard "Sleigh Ride" from a 2008 performance by the Sault Area High School band (though I can't 100% verify if Donnie was in the band at this time, or just filmed the video.)
Why Should You Watch: It's mainly worth watching for fans of Intrepid and younger (at the time) local metal talent, though people curious to see remotely recent video footage of a Sault Michigan metal band playing live in Sault Ontario may wanna take an extra look! They were a talented band for their age, and Donnie has guitar talent, so don't bypass these videos before checking them out! However, note that Donnie has not used his channel in over four years, though he is featured in some recent acoustic cover videos uploaded by former Hoist The Sails frontman Travis Theel.
Our Recommended Videos To Check Out: Lonely Day Cover (Full Song):
Donnie's first uploads come from a show that Intrepid played at The Soo Theater in the summer of 2008, presumably during a Guitar Studio rock camp concert, which featured their original lineup, including singer/bassist Mitch Goetz (now of The Highest of Fives), Donnie and Nick Pavlat on guitar, and Kenny Schirer on drums. The featured songs are covers of Metallica's "Enter Sandman", Thin Lizzy's "Whiskey In The Jar", and (as embedded below) System of a Down's "Lonely Day", which has over 10,000 views, by far the most on the channel. These songs are generally very well played, though Mitch's higher vocals aren't perfect fits, and they definitely played "Lonely Day" faster than it probably should have been. The video quality's mixed too, but their work in the rock camp really did hone their skills!
Before I Forget cover by donmancrude: Donnie's only solo video on his channel is this December 2008 cover of Slipknot's "Before I Forget", which seems to be well played, but the audio quality really suffers, and it's hard to hear his guitar work distinctively from the original song. I'd also like to see the camera zoomed out a bit to get a better look at both of his hands, but you can see that he knows the song and is (I assume) doing it justice!
Bark At the Moon cover live by Intrepid: Cross-border performances by local bands (metal or not) are rare in recent years, but Intrepid are one of the lucky few to buck the trend, as they were one of two regional youth bands that played at the International Family Fun Night on New Year's Eve 2008 at The Essar Centre in Sault Ontario! The subject of this channel's last uploads, six videos were uploaded by Donnie from their set that night, including covers of "Lonely Day" again, Autograph's "Turn Up The Radio", Velvet Revolver's "Slither", Papa Roach's "Scars", Alter Bridge's "The End Is Here", and (as embedded below) Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark At The Moon". The quality of these videos is very mixed, with staticy audio, but the different angles are handy, and it's interesting to see a unique performance like this all the same!
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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, through completely random selection, I've chosen late Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold's YouTube channel for what should be a very interesting profile! With 129 videos featured there, it will be very hard to pare it down and pick only a few recommendations, or to even sum this one up, but I'll try my best, and how fitting that we randomly chose this channel the month that we're reviewing the Woods of Ypres tribute album? Stay tuned for this profile on or around July 22nd, and stay tuned for more news tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Anyone in the mood for some more local metal news and notes? Well, this post should cover that! Today, we've got new video footage from one local band's return and another video from another band's most recent show, plus details on a band with a local connection looking to play here, and much more, so here's what you need to know!
The first video footage of Caveman Morrison's new lineup is now online, courtesy of frontman Tym Morrison's YouTube channel! An attendee at their concert on Saturday night at The Roosevelt Hotel shot at least six videos of the current Caveman Morrison lineup (including bassist James White and the returning Rick White on drums), and Tym posted them onto his YouTube channel over the past few hours. The videos are of Caveman Morrison covering Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride & Joy", Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World", Judas Priest's "The Ripper", Foreigner's "Blue Morning, Blue Day", a cut off portion of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall", and (as embedded below) Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", so visit the above links to see the new lineup in action! The video quality isn't spectacular, and the lighting in The Rosie still needs to be boosted, but the audio quality works, and Tym & company sound good for their first weekend! Rick's drumming flows well and James is definitely a great fit on bass, so there's nothing to fear from the new members! Nice to get lots of new footage, though the crowd doesn't seem too large from what I heard at the end of the videos. Solid stuff, so check the above links for more from Caveman Morrison's shows last weekend, and here's their "Crazy Train" cover!
Also in new videos, here's some newly posted video footage of local hardcore quintet As It Stands, who are returning to activity at the end of the month for a concert at The Elks Hall in Espanola on the 29th, so click here for details on their return after 5 months away from the stage! The new video is actually also from an out of town gig that As It Stands played this year, and their most recent to date, that being their set at the Rocking on the River festival in Blind River on July 30th, and it's of As It Stands covering Blink-182's "Stay Together For The Kids"! Uploaded by YouTube user dacelk yesterday, the angle is sort of far from the stage, but the band are in solid form as you'd expect, and this Blink-182 song is always nicely metallified by this talented local metalcore band! If only more people were there to see it. Kudos to dacelk for uploading this, and fingers crossed that we see As It Stands back on a local stage shortly, we've missed them over the fall! Check out their cover of "Stay Together For The Kids" in Blind River below!
Next up, I've recently heard about an out of town band looking for a local booking, and if you follow our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile Series, these guys might be familiar! The band in question is Victoria, British Columbia sleaze rock quintet The Lust Boys (featuring former Glass Statues guitarist Ben "Benny Blitz" Kemp-Reynolds), and I've heard from both frontman Jayme Daniel Black & band manager Joe Sunstrum in the past week for inquiries about local bookings here for the spring. The Lust Boys are touring Canada in a few months, and they're scheduled to roll through Sault Ste. Marie on March 30th, so the band are hoping to get a booking lined up for that day in town. I sent Jayme some booker contact info and directed Joe the same way, but in the event that doesn't work out, I'll send the word out to the public to help The Lust Boys Soo concert quest, so if you are interested in booking, hosting, or helping The Lust Boys play a local show on March 30th, e-mail lustboys.management@gmail.com A.S.A.P.! It'd be awesome to have The Lust Boys' glam and punk influenced sound here, and seeing Ben live on stage in town again would be cool for sure!
Fingers crossed something works out for a Lust Boys show here in the spring, so check the above links for more, and click here to check out our Out of Town profile on The Lust Boys from October! Let's close today's news post with three assorted shorter stories from the last while, and as usual, they're in alphabetical order by band or artist name:
I'll likely be moving Sault Michigan metal quartet Intrepid to our inactive band links on Saturday due to inactivity, barring a new sign of life. The Guitar Studio products (featuring Mitch Goetz of Hoist The Sails) were last visibly active on December 17th of last year when they updated fans on their Facebook page as to how they did at a battle of the bands. Disappointing, as they had promise, but hopefully the members keep active locally!
Local solo artist Mike Cliffe is looking for local bands to submit original material to be featured on his upcoming AudioFumes podcasts, which do get airplay and notice from non-local sources, so this could be some good exposure if you jump on board! Mike's reach extends far with his musical projects, and Sykotyk Rampage were featured this past Thursday, so e-mail audiofumes@gmail.com for details!
Sault Michigan classical metal trio Theatre of Night's remastered debut album "Christmas Night" is now available to purchase on iTunes! It goes for $9.99 there or for 99¢ a song, and plans are in place to release the album onto Amazon and eMusic as well. Pick it up today if you haven't already for some great seasonal metal and classical music!
That's all for today in all likelihood, but stay tuned for lots more news and notes in the coming week, plus weekend concert previews and more! Thanks everyone!
This is our 25th post of the month already, and at this rate, we could approach last month's post record at this rate! Today's post is largely comprised of older stories that got pushed aside in recent weeks, but is well worth discussing! This includes a cool SMS concept logo, the latest from Lion Ride & Beyond The Surface, some new pages, and kicking things off, a new video! Here's what you need to know!
Veteran local musician Phil Temperao has uploaded a solo song onto his YouTube channel! Unlike the older jam session videos that usually featured him and Dennis Porter, this is a solo song that bears little resemblance to the older Meatplow (or whatever they'll be called next) videos. This is just a song named "Rain" under the project name "Sebastien 6". It features Phil on all instruments save for the lead guitar, which is actually provided by his brother Jose (a.k.a. Jose Wailz), who you may recall as Phil's old Amethyst bandmate! Compared to the more aggressive and industrial tinged songs from the full band, "Rain" is a lighter track that is still hard rocking, and shows off Phil's singing range. The guitar work's solid, but the song can be a bit repetitive, and if you prefer the material from the live videos with Dennis contributing, "Rain" may be slightly underwhelming in tone. It's a solid track though, and it's accompanied with some good shots of Phil and outdoor nature pictures. Recorded at Greentown Digital Studios this year, there's apparently more coming from this solo project, so keep an eye out! Check the above links for more, and here's "Rain"!
Next up, here's some long overdue news on young Pickford hard rockers Beyond The Surface. Firstly, they've announced that lead guitarist Eli Reilly is now be their full time singer going forward in addition to playing guitar, replacing Danielle Petingalo in the band's vocalist position. No reasons have been posted for Danielle's departure, but in all fairness, she hasn't been a credited member of the band since before I heard about them, so it just took a while for official confirmation. I don't know how Eli sounds vocally, but he can't sound too bad! With that said, the band have announced their next live gig, which will be part of a "spring concert" at Pickford High School on May 17th with the school band. I don't know enough about it to call it on the SMS yet as a "public concert", but keep it in mind, especially if you live in Pickford or attend Pickford High! They're a promising young band, and I am curious to hear how they sound in their current incarnation! Stay tuned for more updates at their Facebook page, and I'll try to stay more on top of them in the future!
Thirdly, here's a pair of new Facebook pages from some local metal bands! One isn't really "new", but I only discovered it a few weeks ago, so I gotta mention it. Sault Michigan hard rockers Intrepid (one of the many Guitar Studio rock camp bands) have had a Facebook page since August of 2009, and believe it or not, we've never mentioned it here! The page tells us some interesting details on the band from late 2009-2010, including a number of very brief and often ill-detailed statuses about their next shows, which ranged from local bars to talent shows to the Kewadin Festival! I'd have covered these for sure if I knew about them, but many were ambiguous and only hinted towards potential shows or gigs with no listed venue or date. The page also includes a bunch of live photos, though sadly, no concert video footage. Intrepid haven't updated this page since after a December talent show performance, but if you wanna get caught up on Intrepid, click here! The other news is that Sault Michigan classical metal project Theatre of Night have a Facebook page of their own, and though it only features synched news from their primary Reverbnation page, do check it out, as you'll still find out about their latest news!
Fourthly, do you want some new photos? How's about some new Lion Ride photos? Some professional quality photographs from around the time of their local show earlier this month at The Rockstar Bar are now online, including an extensive slideshow from photographer Jesse Nelson on his blog Family Tree Land! Loads of photos from before and after their concert, including the show itself, are included there, which are great quality but sadly unavailable in high resolution on the page itself. To view in larger and better resolution, click here to go straight to the original Flickr feed, you'll thank me later! Look out for cameos by members of some prominent local bands and a band member's mother in the front row, for example! The other photos will be coming soon from prominent local photographer Curt O'Neil, who's done some outstanding past work with Lion Ride concert pictures! This time around, he just did a formal photo shoot with the band, I think their first of this type with the current lineup. Though the fruits of this labour aren't visible yet, Curt did post one preview picture, and it's on your left, but click here for full resolution! Nice work, I can't wait to see more, so stay tuned for when they come online!
Finally, here's a cool little custom item I've been holding onto for a while! If you know me well, you'll know that I enjoy the art of logos, be they for sports, companies, or whatever, and I try to utilize appropriate designs in SMS artwork, logos, and page layouts. I'm not a professional, but I do what I can. That said, Destroilet drummer Matt Waples, who is a VERY talented graphic designer with Sonigraphix Design Solutions, sent me a concept for a new SMS logo last month based around the one we debuted in December. I thought now was a good time to share his work with you guys, as he deserves all the credit in the world for the work he does! I'm a fan of logo concepts on sites like Icethetics, so why not inject some of that here? If I remember correctly, I told Matt that this looked great, but it felt more like a Japanese action movie logo than a metal website logo, not that that's a bad thing. I find the M a bit fat and the flipped second S makes it look like "SMZ", but that aside, it's a damn good concept, and I appreciate Matt going out of his way to make this on his own free will! What do you guys think of it? Feedback is welcome, especially with the work Matt puts in! Check out his portfolio too at this location, outstanding work on logos and posters, and I added Sonigraphix to our Other Local Metal Links too!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon! Thanks everyone!
Intrepid
Info/Analysis: An all-cover hard rock band that formed through the Guitar Studio rock camp in the summer of 2008, Intrepid quickly expanded beyond the rock camp's confines, playing at bars like The Satisfied Frog, community events like Oktoberfest, and school talent shows alike, even finishing first in at least one! Notable for being one of the few recent Sault Michigan hard rock bands to cross the border & play in Sault Ontario (at the International Family Fun Night on New Year's Eve 2008 at The Essar Centre), their lineup was fairly stable throughout their run, aside from a guest appearance by ex-Beyond The Surface singer Danielle Petingalo in October 2010 in Trout Lake. Intrepid played fairly regularly through the end of 2010, last promoting a talent show that December where they finished in second place, before falling inactive in early 2011. Intrepid had a good thing going, and lasted a surprisingly long time given their rock camp beginnings, but given their ages, they definitely had room to grow for talent & stage presence. However, be sure to follow Mitch Goetz's later bands though for similar material!
