Let's tackle most of our backlogged news on the site today, including some assorted recent notes, bug updates and news from prominent bands on each side of the border, and first, some extra fallout from a recent local concert festival, so here's what you should know!
Here's some more notes relating to last weekend's second annual
Emergency Festival, including the anticipated new episode of
Local2's music webseries
Tuned with Donna Hopper!
In this episode, Donna (who also MCed the festival) talks with festival
founder/LopLops owner Stephen Alexander after the conclusion of the
festival about how the festival went overall, how Stephen decided on the
lineup, and what plans they're looking at for 2016's installment. He
didn't address the Downtown Association issues and related move to Rocky
DiPietro Field in the interview other than to say that this was the
first year that they ticketed the event, but he expressed hope that the
festival will get more local sponsor support next year and allow them to
get even bigger acts from out of town (no word though on if it will
move back downtown next year.) I did find it interesting that Stephen
noted that the local bands were partly chosen as they hadn't had a
chance to play the festival last year, even though all but Northwest did
(maybe he meant the main stage?)
As for footage from the festival, there is some unique footage in the Tuned episode not previously seen in
the prior Local2 video from the event, including clips of headliners
The Fast Romantics
at the start, and every band sans Gnaeus at the end (though muted
Gnaeus clips can be seen during the interview), so if you were hoping to
see footage of The Pixo Control,
Northwest (well, just Marc Santos), and
The Poor Young Things,
here you go! Quality episode, especially if you attended the successful
sophomore installment of The Emergency, so give it a look above!
Remember, we can't embed Local2's videos here.
Next up, here's the first video that we've found from Friday night's first annual Superior Festival at
The Savoy Bar & Nightclub, though surprisingly, it's
not of one of the out of town headliners. This is actually of young Sault Michigan metal band
Tantrym Tyme covering Black Stone Cherry's "Lonely Train" and Alter Bridge's "Metalingus" at the end of their set, as per
their Facebook page yesterday, but the video appears to unveil the band's new lineup, as they've finally found a replacement for the already departed Quinton Jacobson. Though their sporadically updated Facebook page doesn't confirm his identity yet, personal Facebook postings confirm that the new guitarist is
Grooves Music instructor Michael McLeod, giving the band a quartet lineup and a long haired member once again. I'm not familiar with Michael from other local bands, but as he is a guitar instructor
, you know he has the chops, and he sounds pretty good from what I can tell in the video!
As for the video itself, it's filmed on the vertical cell phone camera angle, close to the corner of the stage. The guys are on form, handling the songs with relative ease, and the double guitar attack helps fill out their sound again! Also, singer/guitarist Jacob Hotlen is sounding more and more like Ten Kings' Brandon Carr as his voice develops! Give this new Tantrym Tyme video a look below, and stay tuned for more from the guys when posted!
Also, here's the latest from the original crash band, "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet
Sykotyk Rampage! First, the veteran rockers will return to the stage for the first time in four months (and only the second time this year) on Monday, September 21st when they will join
The Bear Hunters as openers for Mexican death metal band
Evilheart at The Algonquin Pub! While not yet confirmed by promoters, they'll reportedly replace
The Apocalypse Afterparty on the lineup for unannounced reasons (though note that they still haven't publically clarified their new lineup either.) Nice to see Sykotyk Rampage hopping on the Gonqshow train, and don't miss their creative crash rock next month! Also, Sykotyk Rampage have posted two new "albums" onto
their Reverbnation page in the past month, those being
"Kalos Kagathos" (an ancient Greek term for a military
ideal of personal conduct) and "Soaked To The Nipple" (they titled it, don't shoot the messenger!), bringing their official discography to 54 albums.
Though the band no longer releases sale copies of their albums (these and other recent "albums" are all available as free streams), the fun, improvised, and irreverent nature of Sykotyk Rampage's albums come through as usual on these albums and other recent works, so if you like puppies snoring and stars decaying, give Sykotyk Rampage's newest material a listen above, and see them next month at The Gonq!
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or store name:
- After some prior uncertainty about it's status, local music instrument/lessons store Music Depot has apparently closed it's doors permanently. While the sign in the door of the Gore Street business still says "Closed until further notice" (as it has since December), it's Facebook page was quietly deleted this year, and Google Maps lists it as "permanently closed", joining Colosimo's Music Store & Sault Michigan's Steve's Music Center in local music store closures in the last two years. Disappointing for fans, but at least we still have four other regional music store options!
- Local classic metal quintet Project 421 have launched an official YouTube channel, and they've already stocked it with lots of videos from their concerts! Created by bassist Daniel Horton, I believe we've featured or acknowledged every video on the channel on the SMS in the past, so there's nothing brand new there yet, but it's a nice convenient spot for their videos, so check it all out above!
- Ex-StrykerGC frontman Troy Isaac Kulka is looking to join or start a new local band project, as per his post on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on Tuesday. He sings and plays guitar, is in a place where he can focus more on music, and while he shared the StrykerGC Reverbnation page as a sample of his work, he described it as "a home recording project" that "was just a learning experience", and he's not requiring the songs to be played in his next work. Troy's a talented music veteran, so give him a shout above or at this link if you want to jam with him!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more news and updates this week! Thanks everyone!
I'd like to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Stone Smyth frontman and veteran local hard rock guitarist Troy Isaac, who passed away at Sault Area Hospital on Saturday at the age of 63. Troy is survived by his parents Darlene Nichols and Barry Isaac and his pet Buddy. The obituary notes that he was deeply private, but loved music, the outdoors, independence, and travelling for work and his own thrill of adventure. There will be no public services, but in lieu of flowers, family would appreciate donations to the Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society or the Canadian Cancer Society, and arrangements were entrusted to the Northwood Funeral Home. Long-time SMS readers will know Troy from his off-and-on solo project Stone Smyth (f.k.a. StrykerGC and StonesmithGC), who had launched in 2014 but ramped up their activity at points in the early 2020s with original songs & teasers of plans to tour with a full band.
