LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Crush & That's Chester), Short Notice Concert Lineup Changes, And More!!

I wasn't planning to have another post until tomorrow, but with some backlogged Sault Michigan news to get to after this, I thought I might as well. Plus, one of today's notes relates to lineup changes for a concert going down TOMORROW, so read on below for that, new videos, and LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for two somewhat related concerts going down next weekend (and get some more recent concert updates and new videos in the post below this one!)

Toronto area Bon Jovi tribute band Crush and returning local classic/hard rock quintet That's Chester will be among the live entertainment taking part in this year's Ride For Sight motorcycle rally/blindness fundraiser event one week from tomorrow on July 13th! The second year that this long running event has been featured in the Soo, this will be That's Chester's first local concert since 8 months ago at last year's Ride For Sight (great to have them back!), while it'll be Crush's first 100% verifiable concert in Sault Ontario since they rocked The Canadian in September 2010 (though they may have played a Halloween season gig at The Rockstar Bar last year.) My source for That's Chester's involvement is their Facebook page, while Crush are plugged on Ride For Sight's website's schedule of the local events next Saturday. As best as I can tell, both bands (and perhaps others) are playing outdoors live at Searchmont Resort, which replaces The Roberta Bondar Pavilion as the host site this year, with Crush playing at 1:00 PM to welcome bike riders back from their motorcycle parade through town, while That's Chester are likely among (or are solely) the evening entertainment at 8:00 PM onward.

No admission prices or age limits have been posted if you're solely seeing bands, but for more information on the full Ride For Sight schedule of events, click here and the above links! This is a great event to raise money and awareness for blindness, and hopefully there's tons of riders taking part for the cause! As for the music, That's Chester should be better than ever for their reunion tour, so don't miss them, but we're not done with Crush yet for new shows, as they'll also be playing at The Rockstar Bar for a second show that night! My source is The Rockstar Bar's Martin Fiser on their Facebook group, where he confirmed that tickets are now on sale at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk for $7, with the price jumping to $10 at the door (I'd assume a 19+ age limit and 10:00 PM-ish start time are also in effect.) Check the above links for more details! Crush have an authentic Bon Jovi tribute sound that should find an audience in their local return, so if you like old school Bon Jovi hair metal classics, don't miss them at either Ride For Sight or The Rockstar Bar next weekend!

Now to some big late notice changes to one of the Sault Ontario hard rock concerts TOMORROW that we previewed earlier this week, as out of town headliners The Promonium Jesters & Defence Mechanism have both dropped out of tomorrow's concert at The Algonquin Pub. Promoter J.D. Pearce cited "illness" for the last minute cancellation on the Facebook event page, but didn't elaborate further. Disappointing news to be sure, but hopefully they'll both come back to the area down the road! However, unlike the similar instance with last month's Ahna/Powercup show at The Oddfellows Hall, replacement bands have been secured, as both of the openers at last night's Golers show at The Rosie (alternative/grunge rockers Haggith and punk trio The Northern Tragedy) will now fill the top slots tomorrow night! Though this will be their respective debuts at The Algonquin Pub, both last played at this building at The Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April. The other opening acts (Machines Dream & Johnny Dillinger) are still on, as are the $5 cover, 19+ age limit, and 9:00 PM start time. For all current details, visit the above links!

Though one could argue that much of this show's unique qualities vanished with the out of town bands' withdrawal, J.D. got some solid local openers to replace them, and a diverse lineup of grunge, punk, progressive rock, and techno still awaits attendees, so don't write this show off! For a preview of the new lineup, here's two songs from Haggith's second place performance at the aforementioned battle of the bands this spring!



Finally for today, here's another live performance video from prolific goregrind singer/guitarist Ringsnaps Gibson! The Crucify The Whore/Malignant Neoplasm frontman posted this video of him "jamming in the Blood Shed" onto Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel yesterday, and it validates his guitar talent further, as what he's playing is much lighter and more melodic than his somewhat divisive heavier material. Good angle to show his fingering too, and it's a nice surprise if you're not into the usual goregrind songs from his bands, but three new C.T.W. songs have been posted at the above links if you'd rather something heavier (albeit all have potentially disturbing titles and/or imagery.) Check out the new live video below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for some Sault Michigan-centric news tomorrow night! Thanks everyone!

Sault Ontario Weekend Concert Previews, Plus A New AlgomA Video!!

As promised, here is our second post of the day, and it's 100% Sault Ontario-centric, so what's on tap? Along with a new videos from  a recent concert, we're mainly focusing on  previews of three very different concerts taking place between tomorrow & Saturday, so read on below for what you need to know, and check out the post below this one for new Sault Michigan concerts (some of which are this weekend), concert previews, and more!

For the second time in two weeks, Vancouver crossover/thrash quartet The Golers will rock The Roosevelt Hotel TOMORROW NIGHT! After a well received set of hardcore punk & metal originals last month, it'll be great to see them back in Sault Ontario for another go-round, headlining local concert promoter J.D. Pearce's seventh Thursday night show at The Rosie! There will be differences from two weeks ago though, starting with new opening bands, those being local alternative/grunge rockers Haggith (in their first Rosie concert of 2013) and local punk trio The Northern Tragedy (in their Rosie debut & their first show since the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands), but will they impress in taking over for Destroilet & AlgomA as the openers tomorrow night? Note that the Facebook event page lists "more tba" for the lineup, but J.D. has confirmed that there are no other opening bands. Another difference is that the admission price will be $7 (which is lower than the last Golers show), though a 19+ age limit and 9:00 PM door opening time is still in effect. For more details, check the above links!

The Golers were ultra impressive and brutal the first time around, so if you missed the concert two weeks ago, or just want another dose of crossover thrash brutality, be at The Rosie TOMORROW for all of the action, including two local opening bands who aren't frequent sights there! For a preview, here's The Golers playing their song "Hoe" and a cover of Poison Idea's "A.A." in the Soo last month!



Next in concerts going down in Sault Ontario this weekend (barring a late notice confirmation), we'll see Uxbridge, Ontario industrial thrash/rock septet The Promonium Jesters finally hitting the area THIS SATURDAY, three years after first looking for a local date! Honestly hard to describe, their sound blends techno influences, industrial rock, and heavy metal into a sound that fans of Nine Inch Nails and similar bands should enjoy, and compared to other recent local shows, they'll definitely stand out! They'll be joined by Southern Ontario electronic outfit Defense Mechanism on Saturday, and while they're not metal, their sound blends dark & goth imagery and synth/techno sounds into quite an interesting package, and they should fit this type of show well! The local openers include sporadically seen local progressive rock band Machines Dream (featuring ex-Gates of Winter keyboardist Brian Holmes) and As It Stands drummer John Mignacca's electronic instrumental solo project Johnny Dillinger (in his first live concert of any kind since August), so prepare for a diverse and unique lineup of bands sounds on Saturday!

Briefly advertised to take place at The Rockstar Bar, this show will instead be held at it's downstairs neighbour The Algonquin Pub, which will mark all 4 bands' debut there. There will be a $5 cover charge on Saturday, you must be 19 to attend, and there's an announced 9:00 PM start time. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! You won't see another show like this in the area all year, so if you like techno and electronic rock, be at The Algonquin Pub on Saturday for all of the action! For a preview, here's a live compilation video set to The Promonium Jesters' song "Strange"!

Finally for the known Sault Ontario weekend schedule, we have popular local metal cover trio Caveman Morrison's first ever gig at The Water Tower Pub at 360 Great Northern Road THIS SATURDAY! Obviously located at The Water Tower Inn (which locals will know is easy to spot), this local venue frequently hosts live cover bands on Saturdays (Fridays are jazz nights), and while metal hasn't been a past sight, it's great to see some heavier music return to Great Northern Road, and Caveman Morrison should deliver a fun night of classic and metal hits in their first gig here! A 9:00 PM start time is in effect for what I assume is a 19+ event, while I don't know if The Water Tower Pub has a cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Caveman Morrison picking up their local bookings and expanding their horizons all at once, and hopefully if Saturday's a success, more heavier bands will play at The Water Tower Pub down the road, so keep it in mind! For a preview, here's Tym & company covering Foreigner's "Blue Morning Blue Day" at The Rosie!



We'll close this post a throwback to the first Golers show in the Soo from two weeks ago, as local openers AlgomA posted a new video of their soundcheck song that night onto their YouTube channel on Monday! Featuring some faded in effects to introduce the clip, this was filmed on a stationary camera center to the stage, and despite fans somewhat being in the way, this turned out really well, and the audio's better than I think some people at the show would have said! No word on if more footage shot last month will make it online, but check out AlgomA's "best soundcheck ever" below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for... something tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Full Throttle), A New Band Discovery, And Sault Ontario News & Notes!!

Continuing with our recent abundance of Sault Michigan news, we have even more on this Saturday morning (our first of two posts today), so we'll lead off with a new band discovery and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT! After that, we'll touch on some recent Sault Ontario updates, including a new video and much more, so here's what you need to know!

In some recent Google searching, I recently discovered a defunct Sault Michigan hardcore/punk band named Poverty Stricken, so here's what you should know about them! Previously named Death By Kickdrum, Poverty Stricken were a young band (at the time) that was active from roughly 2003-2006, and they have a fairly detailed autobiography on their Angelfire website that has even minor details about their run, along with more info on their Tripod website and their PureVolume page. Their lineup widely varied, but frontman Taylor Keller & drummer Jack Messer were constants (alongside guitarist Ian Rose & bassist Justin Menard in their last lineup), and notable local metal guitarists like Mike Libertoski & Scott Savoie were briefly members according to the above links. Poverty Stricken did play live gigs, mainly at school functions, but they did play at the local Sidewalk Sales event in August 2006, and I can't find much else for band details after that point. They also released two demo tapes featuring mixtures of original material and metal/punk covers, and four rough demos were posted onto their PureVolume page linked above, but how do they sound?

The quality's rough, but there is a carefree style and a hard edge to the posted songs, and I think Poverty Stricken sound pretty good given their ages! I also admire the work put into their websites, band pages this old (let alone from high schoolers) don't tend to be this detailed. Some of the songs are a bit punk leaning, but there's something there musically, and I'd be interested to see what Taylor and Jack are up to musically now! Poverty Stricken are now in our inactive Sault Michigan band links!

Next up, here's that SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Full Throttle will be playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this was only just announced yesterday, and it'd have made our last Sault Michigan-only post too long if I shoved it in late. Recent favourites at The Bird, Full Throttle (featuring Absolute's Donny Newell on vocals, guitarists Jason Lamoreaux & Steve Pevarnic, drummer Mark Gillotte, and a bassist to be determined) should have a varied set of hard rock-leaning covers in store for fans tonight, so if you need something to do after LemmaFest, why not take a trip down to The Bird for some Full Throttle action? There's no announced cover charge for this 9:00 PM show, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for details, and for a preview, here's Full Throttle's current incarnation covering Velvet Revolver's "Slither" in March!

We'll close this post in Sault Ontario, starting with new videos from local hard rock quartet Ashes To Dust! These are their first live concert videos since last fall, and like most of their other uploads, these come from performances on the stage at Superior Heights Collegiate & Vocational School, where the members still attend. Featuring their current lineup (though with Noah Morden focusing on vocals only with no bass), the videos are of Ashes To Dust playing their new original song "Forgotten Lives" and (as embedded below) a cover of 10 Years' "Wasteland", and the quality's fantastic on these! Noah's vocal range is improving, and the guys have a good sound and know the songs, though they could all stand to be a bit more energetic. Check out their 10 Years cover below, see more at the above links, follow Ashes To Dust on Twitter, and don't miss the guys at the third annual Swampstravaganza in August!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from Sault Ontario, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or venue name:

• Queen Street East bar/concert venue The Bottom's Up Lounge will close this weekend, due to the building's landlords selling the location to new owners who want it vacated by July 1st. Though not a common metal venue, Tym Morrison once frequented this small (though classy) lounge, and metal band alumni have played at their open mic nights. Disappointing news for sure, but hopefully the ownership returns with a new spot down the road!
• The July 6th Promonium Jesters-headlined concert has switched venues (sort of), as promoters have quietly moved the show from The Rockstar Bar to their downstairs neighbour The Algonquin Pub. A reason wasn't announced, but a scheduling conflict wouldn't surprise me, as it is a Saturday nighter. The show should still be great no matter what floor it's on, so don't miss it!
• I've removed defunct local hardcore band With Blood Build Character (the original band under this name, not the former Unbound that guitarist Christopher Neveau is also a member of) from our Sault Ontario band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page earlier this year. Essentially the successors to March Into Regression, they played live just once (in Laird last August) before falling inactive, but hopefully their members stay active in local music going forward!

That's all for now, but stay tuned later today for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on ex-Intrepid guitarist Donnie Hank's channel! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Promonium Jesters), Sleep When You're Dead Preview, And More!!

As we slowly wind down the month, we're back with some news and notes today, with a lot to say related to three stories about upcoming multi-band shows, so what's on tap? We have new band confirmations for a major returning event this summer, and a preview for a special all ages show TOMORROW, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT in a little over a month that's unlike anything you've seen lately in the area, so here's what you should know!

A unique blend of genres and not-often-seen styles will hit The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, July 6th, including Uxbridge, Ontario psychedelic industrial rock band The Promonium Jesters in the headlining slot! A seven-piece band that had previously looked for a local booking in 2010, they mix techno influences and heavier Nine Inch Nails-esque sounds into a prolific (though hard to describe) package, but it's all definitely heavy and a nice change of pace! They'll be joined by Southern Ontario techno/electronic project Defense Mechanism, who aren't quite metal, but they have a lot of darker electronic imagery & cool use of samples (almost a mix of industrial, goth, and 1980s synth rock), and I'm into what they're doing! Two local bands will be in on this show, including local progressive rock quartet Machines Dream (featuring Gates of Winter alum Brian Holmes on bass & keyboards), and they're among the most talented bands in the area for musical ability alone, so don't miss their set! The other scheduled act is Johnny Dillinger, which is the alias used by As It Stands drummer John Mignacca for his instrumental electronic material!

Though far removed from his local hardcore drumming, this will be John's first live stage appearance in almost a year (where have A.I.S. been?), but hopefully Johnny Dillinger makes some fans at this unique concert! This 19+ show (which is promoted by J.D. Pearce) will go down at 9:00 PM on July 6th, but ticket prices and details have yet to be unveiled. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This could be one of the most original multi-band shows of the year locally (only the Rabid Whole-headlined show was remotely similar), so don't miss it come July 6th, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's a preview for a special mid-week concert, as the first metal-headlined Oddfellows Hall concert of the year goes down TOMORROW NIGHT, including out of town headliners Sleep When You're Dead! A metalcore quintet from Oshawa, their energetic and brutal sound should appeal to metalheads and hardcore fans in the midst of their Tear It Up & Start Again tour, so don't miss their local stop tomorrow! Three local bands will open tomorrow's festivities, including the long awaited return of local extreme metal band Winkstinger, in their first local concert in 10 months! This will also mark the debut of their current four-piece lineup, which now features Jason Bourcier on bass (and no rhythm guitarist), but after such a long break and the obvious changes, how will things shape up? I'm curious to find out! Also joining them is local stoner/death metal quartet Giwakwa (replacing RedD Monkey) in their Oddfellows Hall debut, who should be ready to melt faces with their sludgy and brutal originals following their debut shows last month, so be there for their set!

Finally, local punk trio Redundant will open the festivities with their fun originals & covers, and despite not matching the other bands' genres, their talents will speak for themselves (and they have metal chops!) Redundant will open things at 7:00 PM tomorrow, there's an $8 cover, and like promoter Jamie Vincent's other recent shows, this is ALL AGES! For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I will absolutely see you guys there for this hard hitting blend of hardcore, death metal, and punk, and how can you miss this relatively unique mix of bands at this price? For a preview, here's the music video for Sleep When You're Dead's single "Three Lights Madoc"!



Finally for today, here's the latest lineup news for the third annual Sewer Swampstravaganza at The Oddfellows Hall on August 21st, as two more bands have been confirmed for this all ages multi-band marathon concert, including young local hard rock quartet Ashes To Dust! This will mark the guys' first non-Superior Heights concert since... last year's Swampstravaganza, so if you're not a Steelhawk, it'll have been 13 months since we last seen them, which is too long! As well, this will be A.T.D.'s first non-school show with their current lineup, which now features frontman Noah Morden on bass, and Liam Yeomans on rhythm guitar, but fingers crossed all lines up for a better set this time around! The other new confirmation is local punk trio The Northern Tragedy in what may be their Oddfellows Hall debut, and their rising original sound should be a fun addition to this concert! Note as well that it'll be drummer Terrence Gomes' second Swampstravaganza appearance, as he played at the 2011 installment during his debut set with Changing Waves.

Now 7 bands strong, I'd assume 3-5 bands are to be added to the lineup, so click here for current details, and stay tuned for updates! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news (and weekend concert previews) shortly, and if nothing comes tomorrow, I'll see you guys tomorrow night for Sleep When You're Dead and three exciting local opening bands! Thanks everyone!

News On Toronto's David Gold Memorial Show, Site Updates, And More!!

Let's keep the news rolling on this Sunday morning, so here's what's on tap! We've got updates to one of our monthly feature series, notes on a couple of band deletions from our local band listings and what led to that, a new video from a prominent local guitarist, and leading things off, some details on an upcoming tribute show for a missed local metal musician, so here's what you need to know!

Today, I wanted to start with news on the other David Gold tribute show coming up in April, and though it is in Toronto, it's definitely worth some extra coverage given his untimely passing in December. An event page for what is being called "A Memorial Concert For David Gold" has been posted online, and the event will take place at The Annex Wreckroom in Toronto on Thursday, April 5th. David played at this venue with both Woods of Ypres & Gates of Winter in 2008 & 2009, so it's a fitting spot for the Toronto memorial! This event will serve as both a memorial concert and the CD release show for "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", which will be played over the speakers for attendees (and presumably be on sale too, but that's not confirmed.) The lineup isn't final yet, but the show will be headlined by Chicago doom metal mainstays Novembers Doom, and also joining them will be Kittie, Hallows Die, and Gypsy Chief Goliath (all of whom will be at the Ypres Metal Fest in Sault Ontario two days later.) The other bands currently confirmed for the Toronto memorial are all Ontario black metal outfits, including Toronto's Eclipse Eternal, North Bay's Empyrean Plague, Pagan Ritual from Oshawa, and Panzerfaust from Mississauga. More artists are to be announced, and a "surprise performance" may happen as well.

This may be 7 hours away, but it's shaping up to be an awesome tribute to David Gold's memory, so here's some extra details! Admission is strictly by donation, and all proceeds will go towards both David's final expenses and (this is news to me) a David Gold Music Scholarship that's being started in his memory for music students at Sault College! Now that's a nice and fitting gesture by his family! For more details and information on how you can attend or contribute, visit the official Facebook event page! This all sounds good to me, and though I doubt I can hit this event (given the distance and my night classes on Thursdays), I hope a huge local contingent can make it to this show & the local memorial that Saturday and pay a fitting tribute to David! I'm a bit surprised that no bands have been announced for the Toronto gig featuring ex-Woods of Ypres members (be they recent lineups or older), but maybe some will factor into the implied surprise performance in Toronto. I've also heard that some bands at both of the memorial concerts plan to cover Woods of Ypres material in their setlists, which would be awesome, but we'll have to see what's in store come April! Stay tuned for much more on the David Gold & Woods of Ypres fronts soon, and keep an eye out for the initial release of "Woods V" TOMORROW!

Next up, Trail's End guitarist Chris Hubbard posted another Van Halen cover onto his YouTube channel on Friday, and like his last video, this is of a section of a new Van Halen song from their new album "A Different Kind of Truth". This time, he covered the intro of "China Town", and covers it pretty well, though I'd like to see him tackle a full song from the new CD soon as well. His talents are impressive, and he definitely loves Van Halen, so give his cover of the intro of "China Town" a look below!



Now, I wanted to address a couple band deletions from our local band listings on the SMS. As I've alluded to on the site in May, Facebook has slowly been changing all groups on the site to the new group format, which is designed for smaller circles of people, rather than the old format that was basically a Facebook pages predecessor. As such, while wall posts, photos, and biographies are retained, all group members that weren't administrators are removed (but can rejoin) and the groups basically all look the same, barring continued use. Our old inactive Facebook group has already been changed over, for example, but not all have. As such, a couple of local hard rock bands whose primary online pages were Facebook groups now lack enough information to really warrant a link on the SMS (no offense to the members.) One is The White Knights (featuring Frightlight & Fingerbone alumni) and the other is the Stillbroke-predecessor quartet The Jesters. The former is a closed group that had minimal info to begin with, and the latter has been reduced to just a photo and one sentence of information, so not a lot is lost by removing them from our links, but the member's newer bands have had much more success! I just thought you guys should know what happened, and if your band's Facebook group still hasn't been converted, make sure you save info and media there just in case!

And finally for today, here's some updates to our Defunct Local Band Profiles to make their more accurate and current. Due to photo links changing thanks to the Facebook group change-overs, I've restored one to the AtrophiA profile and replaced another on the M7K profile (the latter now has a newer photo of guitarist Mike Vincent from an old Bear Hunters gig.) I also edited The White Knights' profile to allude to missing info, now that their Facebook group has been crippled even further from the Facebook group changes. The rest of the new edits aren't Facebook group related, I promise! On the Renderware profile, I added a reference to ex-bassist Wayne Watkins' current work in the partly-local indie rock act The Small Town Rivals, while the Out Of The Mouth Of Babes profile now has a reference to former singer Josh McNally's current work in the blues rock band The Moves. I also edited the State of Misery profile to note frontman Steve Rhodes' current band's name change from View To A Kill to The Valentine's Day Massacre. Finally, I added references to the Bring The Fallen profile to note bassist Nolan Rainville's current work in the stoner rock trio Giwakwa. Hopefully things are up to date with this series again, so check the above links for the updated profiles, and stay tuned for our Paraside defunct profile next month!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news as the week rolls along, including updates on the "Woods V" release tomorrow and much more! Thanks everyone!

Sykotyk Rampage Show Update, Bands Looking To Play Here, And More!

Another day rolls by, another pile of news to get to! I have an update concerning an upcoming local metal concert, a few bands looking to play here, a preview of a new song from a local band, and the confirmed demise of another. Let us commence with the news! (Stay tuned to the end of my post for info on what will happen SMS-wise during my next Detroit trip)

The Sykotyk Rampage concert on April 3rd at The Rockstar Bar has had a lineup change, as planned openers Nebraska Arms have either dropped off or were removed from the lineup. No reason was given, but hopefully nothing bad happened! In their place are RedD Monkey, the Toronto/Kelowna based classical/alt-rock band featuring three Saultites in their lineup! I've never went into major detail about RedD Monkey on here before, but just picture a band with Smeltzer frontman Steve "Knuckles" Mozarowski and drummer Kevin Overton (you metalheads better know him from Gates of Winter), alongside Steve's brother Pete on the cello...yeah, you read that correctly! But don't write them off as Smeltzer 2.0, RedD Monkey are way more unique and experimental, they'll definitely be worth seeing! But of course, seeing as this is Metal Militia Wednesday, Sykotyk Rampage will bring all the metal you'll want and need! For full details on this concert, which will be $3 at The Rockstar Bar on April 3rd, click here! I'll keep you posted with any updates as I hear them!

Next up, we have confirmation of a band breakup that I had feared since last month. Sault Michigan grunge rockers Half Stupid have indeed called it quits, as confirmed by frontman Zac Crook in an e-mail to me on MySpace today. Zac assures me that he's still jamming and working on music for future projects, as is bassist Matt Williams, so we haven't heard the last from them! Still, it is disappointing, I was a big fan of Half Stupid's, they filled the grunge niche nicely while No Arrow's been inactive! It really seemed like they were on the rise in 2009, but hey, what happens happens. Either way, it's nice to hear real word that they've ended, rather than just a vague statement that could be varyingly interpreted. Check them out as we remember them at this location, and if I hear anything amout new grunge/hard rock bands from Zac, Matt, or Jordan Gendreau, I'll be sure to let you all know!

Ok, more positive news now! I sometimes get e-mails from bands looking to play shows here on tour, and today was quite active in that regard! Two different bands sent me e-mails asking if I could help them find promoters or any help at all with getting a booking for Sault Ontario! And you know me, I'm always willing to help, cause after all, the more local metal shows, the better! The first band is The Promonium Jesters, an industrial metal band from Uxbridge, Ontario! Not bad, kind of a techno/metal mix with a psychedelic flair, definitely not something we see here a lot from rock bands! Frontman Ethan Moseley tells me that they've been trying to get a show in the Soo for years, but not for the lack of trying. He's looking for a good local promoter to help get the band a booking here, so I shot him off some contacts and tips, but I'll go the extra mile to help! If you want to book The Promonium Jesters for a concert in Sault Ontario, e-mail Ethan by clicking here! Check out the band at this location to get a taste of their sound!

The other band is one that I know I've tried to help before, though I can't remember if a booking ever came out of it. Windsor metal band Aquila are planning a July tour from Calgary through Southern Ontario, and would love to play Sault Ste. Marie during that span! Frontman Mark Arruda e-mailed me on MySpace this morning asking if I could give them some contacts to try and get a local booking, so I did just that! But just like with The Promonium Jesters, I just point them in a good direction. That's where you come in, the bookers and venue owners of the Soo! Aquila flat out kick ass, hard hitting and thrashy and very headbangable! I've been a fan of them since I first got contact from the band last March, and it'd be great to see them here! If you're at all interested in booking or helping out Aquila in their attempts to play in Sault Ontario in July, message the band at their official MySpace page! Let's see if we can get both these bands (and Rusted Dawn too, they're still looking) here for shows!

And finally for new news today, Stillbroke frontman Jesse Frigault has posted a new video to YouTube, which features his own solo acoustic rendition of a new Stillbroke song! Entitled "I'm Still Hanging On", it's slower but it has some nice heavy vocals, I imagine this should be a very powerful song when amps and other instruments are added! Interesting effect put on the video, makes it look older! Check the demo out below!



Alright, so to close this post, those of you closer to me may know that this weekend, I'm heading to Detroit again for March Break. I leave Saturday morning and will be back later in the week, Thursday roughly. Now there's a bunch of stuff coming up, blog or local concert related, that may or may not be affected by this. I just wanna get it out of the way so you know what to expect, or not to expect:

Firstly, concerts: Sense of Truth are playing at The Canadian Nightclub on Friday. As keeping with my own reverse psychology stand to avoid jinxing myself out of another SOT concert, omit the words in red: I will not be at the show on Friday, I will not enjoy myself or take photos and video, and I will not post a review at some point afterwards. (Remember, reverse psychology!) I don't know whether it will be immediately after the concert or at some point after I get to Detroit, but my review will definitely not be up one at one of those points in time! Ok, now for shows I'm really seriously not going to, I can't make the Garden of Bedlam/Papa Fogals Chair show at Foggy Notions on Saturday, because I'll already be in Detroit, so GO TO THAT SHOW FOR ME!!!! Make it a huge success, how often are we gonna see PFC back together? And it's Garden of Bedlam! Come on!!

As for SMS-related events, the review of Sykotyk Rampage's new album "22" will be posted on March 1st as scheduled! Postponing it would be a disservice for an album I've bypassed too long already, although the computer I have access to in Detroit is horribly slow. So I'm likely going to type up my review this week, and will save it for an autopost next Monday, so that will definitely happen as scheduled! I likely will not post the newest profiles of out of town bands with local members until after I get home, so don't worry about that. And as always, I'll update as much as I can fathom as long as I get a clear computer, and the patience to deal with it's slowness! Just a heads-up for everyone in case you miss something or assume anything. And I WILL BE BACK AROUND NEXT THURSDAY!!!

That's all for now, I'll have lots more news and updates in the coming days, stay tuned!