YouTube Channel Profile Series: joeybeairl, bigphatwilly, and kewadincasinos' Channels

As promised, it's time for our last YouTube Channel Profile of 2011, and for the first time in our newest monthly feature series on the SMS, we're focusing on multiple YouTube channels! The first one I randomly chose to profile this month only had one video, so I added extra channels until we had enough to fill a full post with three featured videos, so it's a triple assault of YouTube channels you guys should know about! Below, you'll find out about what each channel offers, the people connected to them, the videos' qualities and contents, and more, so let's start with our first of three profiles below! (Updated on February 4th, 2013)
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joeybeairl's Channel (http://youtube.com/user/joeybeairl)

Owner: Local metal guitarist & Guitar Studio rock camp director Joey Beairl, best known from bands like NoXcape, Krosswalk, Shift, Kickback, and Wild Fate

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 4th, 2007; Only video posted in September 2008

Channel Summary: Despite his impressive resume, the only video on noted local guitarist Joey Beairl's YouTube channel is not of one of his bands. Instead, it's of the inactive Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Unleashed, who were a product of his local Guitar Studio rock camp, which has produced a number of young local bands! Notably, Unleashed's lineup in this video included Joey's stepson Isaac Terrian on vocals, along with 415E/Highest of Fives bassist Jack Slater on guitar, Maddy Lama on bass, and Tantrym Tyme's Jacob Hotlen on drums. Joey's posted video is of an Unleashed performance at a Guitar Studio concert at The Soo Theater circa September 2008, where Unleashed covered Pop Evil's "Somebody Like You"! It's a good cover, and the members of Unleashed show talent for their young ages, though Isaac's singing isn't too varied, and their stage presences are kinda stiff. That said, they were kids in this video, and you know they've gotten better and more confident since! Nice work from Unleashed overall, and their only video that I know of is worth a look if you like listening to young local talent!


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bigphatwilly's Channel (http://youtube.com/user/bigphatwilly)

Owner: YouTube user & likely Sault Ontario resident bigphatwilly (real name unknown, first name likely a form of William)

Channel Timeline: Launched on June 23rd, 2006; Videos posted in September 2010

Channel Summary: Though I know nothing definitive on the identity of bigphatwilly, I do know that Willy was in attendance for Kiss' headlining concert at The Essar Center on August 10th, 2010. He filmed at least two videos there, which were uploaded onto his YouTube channel three weeks later. Though far from the stage & featuring staticy audio, Willy had a nice angle of the action, including a video of frontman Paul Stanley's zipline voyage into the crowd leading up to their performance of "I Was Made For Loving You"! He only captured the first minute of the song, but the video gives a nice glimpse of Paul's flight over the Kiss Army, so it's worth watching on that basis! However, Willy did film a full song at the show, as seen in his video "KISS - Detroit Rock City - Sault Ste. Marie, ON", where the hottest band in the world played one of their signature classics to their fans in the Soo! Same quality as the first video, and the audio really suffers when it gets noisier, but for a good look at Kiss at The Essar Center last year, feel free to lose your mind in "Detroit Rock City"!


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kewadincasinos's Channel (http://youtube.com/user/kewadincasinos)

Owner: Nathan Wright, an area web-site administrator & likely a past or present employee of Kewadin Casino and/or related holdings

Channel Timeline: Launched on July 25th, 2007; Only video posted in September 2007

Channel Summary: Presumably launched as an official YouTube channel for Sault Michigan casino/concert venue Kewadin Casino (though later supplanted by a new channel in 2010), Nathan only uploaded one video onto this Kewadin YouTube channel, that being of footage from hard rock legends Kiss' first stop in the Sault area on July 20th, 2007! Entitled "Kiss Live at Kewadin Casinos in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan", the video features three minutes of footage from when Kiss received the key to the city from City Commissioner (and ex-Rock 101 DJ) Ray Bauer, followed by 30 second clips of the band's opening songs ("Detroit Rock City", "Deuce", and "Makin' Love") at that huge outdoor concert. The video quality's nice, and it's great to see legends like Kiss getting some formal recognition from the city during their first local appearance! Though this channel is inactive and not the primary Kewadin YouTube channel anymore, this video is still a must watch for Kiss fans to relive their 2007 show at Kewadin Casino!


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I hope you guys enjoyed this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! A bit different than our first bunch of posts in this series, but hey, I expected this knowing the amount of YouTube channels with a minimal amount of local metal-relevant videos. Next month though, we're getting back to normal with a one-channel profile to kick off 2012, as we're gonna look at Sault Ontario hard rock quartet Borderline Divine's old YouTube channel! (Technically, it's Stillbroke's channel, but it hasn't been updated since way before their name change.) Still, there's some interesting stuff there from Stillbroke's last year before activity slowed, so look out for this next YouTube Channel Profile on or around January 22nd!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news, concert previews, and Christmas surprises later today or early tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Lots Of Assorted News And Notes!!

Let's kick off August in a positive way with a bunch of assorted news and notes from the last little while, including new members of a new local band, a local musician's entry in a major contest, a newly revamped Facebook group for area musicians, and some Woods of Ypres related updates, so without any further adieu, let's get this post going!

New Sault Michigan metal band NoXcape (formerly MK-Ultra) have officially announced the additions of Krosswalk guitarist Joey Beairl and former Absolute drummer Justin Lawless to the band, rounding out their full five-piece lineup. The news was quietly broken on their Facebook page yesterday. Joey's a well known guitarist from his work in bands like Krosswalk, Shift, Wild Fate, and Kickback (plus the Guitar Studio rock camp), and it's great to see him back in a local hard rock band! Justin rejoins his former Absolute bandmates Ben Huyck and Bill Spence in NoXcape, as I had been speculating since they hinted on old MK-Ultra pages that their new drummer was named Justin. Nice to see them back together, they had very nice chemistry in Absolute! However, NoXcape are definitely a different animal than Absolute, with an arsenal of original material with a nu metal influence already raring to go for their debut show at Dan's Place in Rudyard this coming weekend! Should be interesting to see how NoXcape sound this weekend, and we'll have much more from them as we hear updates, so stay tuned for more!

Next up, have you been noticing a lot of posts, statuses, and replies on your Facebook walls relating to a Facebook group called "Musicians Wanted (Sault Ste. Marie, ON)"? This has actually been around since March 2009 when (I believe) Half Past guitarist Alain Fletcher started it, but just in the past day, former Wishbone guitarist Jeremy Salatuk has been spearheading a revival of the group, complete with an upgrade to the new Facebook group format & mass invites to new members, and it's sure gaining steam! The group's aim, as it was in 2009, is to help musicians either looking for bands or new band members to connect and help make connections to that end. Since the relaunch, I'm seeing a lot of good activity from local musicians of all genres looking to get back in the swing of the local scene (including some hard rock and metal artists), and if you're in a similar boat, you should definitely join and see what you can do! Musicians in town who want to gig and play live should have those opportunities, and hopefully this group's second wind will help that become a reality! Join (or request to join) at the above links!

(Also, the group gave me a bit of news relating to Caveman Morrison, as frontman Tym Morrison confirmed in a post there that the band are basically on hold until the winter due to Tym's lengthy solo acoustic schedule. I expected we'd see them sparingly or not at all until later this year due to all the Saturday bookings, but it's nice to see some public word on that! However, if you're craving electric gigs with Tym Morrison, go see the Hollow reunion this weekend!)

Now, here's a cool note on a local artist's entry in a new music contest! We just mentioned Half Past guitarist Alain Fletcher above, but he has a neat recent update to share, as he's entered a contest to be featured on a Staind song! In cooperation with Indaba Music, Staind are looking for guitarists to send in their own guitar solos for the solo section on the multi-platinum Massachussets hard rock band's new song "Not Again" from their upcoming self-titled album! One lucky (and talented) winner will have their solo featured on the iTunes deluxe version of their new album, and will also win a Mike Mushok signature guitar, a $1,000 Guitar Center gift card, an autographed copy of the new Staind album, and a one month Tab-Pro subscription to Ultimate-Guitar.com! 10 runners up from the 20 most viewed submissions will win an autographed CD as well. Alain's entered under the handle "Dude705" to try and win the contest, and you can hear his solo at this locaton! Sounds good, it fits with the song's pacing, and it'd be awesome to see him win! Now, the winner is picked by judges, not fan votes, but give his submission lots of listens so he can make the top 20! Unfortunately, we can't see a ranking of the top solos, so give him lots of views, cause you never know! Check his solo out (or register yourself?!) at the above links, and his solo starts about 25 seconds into the clip. Best of luck, Al!

And finally for today, here's the latest from local doom metal band Woods of Ypres! Firstly, the band has finally publically ackowledged the Madden brothers' departure, with both having been quietly removed from their Facebook page's lineup. No public statement has been made concerning their exit, but knowing from past trends, I didn't expect one, and we likely won't hear more until the band announces their replacements. Positive news now, as George Washburn from the website Rock Music Critic posted a review of "Woods IV: The Green Album" onto said website this past Wednesday! He calls it "epic in scope" with lush and thick music, but compares listening to the whole album with eating too much candy: It's very good, but it can be too much after a while. Very positive review though, click here to check it out! And finally, frontman David Gold has posted an interesting sample of a remix of the band's "Woods 4.5" song "You Were The Light" onto his YouTube channel, as done by guitarist Joel Violette! It's just a 79 second clip, but it shows a spacier techno vibe than on the original, and it's an interesting listen! David's also open to fan remixes, so if you're at all interested in making your own remix of the song, e-mail davidypres@gmail.com for the master files. This could be cool if it picks up steam, but check out the sample of Joel's "You Were The Light" remix below! Hopefully the full copy leaks soon!



That's all for now, but if I don't have a new news post later tonight, our next post will be this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" feature post, so definitely look for that tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Papa Fogals Chair & The Sexual Vigilantes

Hey guys, it's time for the second installment of our profiles of out of town bands with Saultites in their lineup...does anyone know of a shorter name I could use for it? Meh, that's off topic. Today, we'll talk about two Southern Ontario based bands that feature local members in their entirety, yet were never based here! One features two prolific local musicians' lighter side, the other of which is reuniting later this month! Maybe you remember them, maybe you don't, but they are sure worth profiling! So here's this month's profiles! (UPDATED: November 24, 2014)
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Papa Fogals Chair (London, ON)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED)

Andy Chillman (vocals/guitar)
Joey Grisdale (guitar/backing vocals)
Mike Bird (bass)
Derek Turner (drums)
Adam Chillman (percussion)

Official MySpace page: http://myspace.com/papafogalschair 
Official SoundClick page: http://soundclick.com/papafogalschair 
Official CBC Radio 3 page: http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/papa-fogals-chair
Official StereoKiller page: http://stereokiller.com/bands/papafogalschair 
Official Supernova page: http://supernova.com/papafogal 
Official AudioStreet page: http://audiostreet.net/papafogalschair

Local Info: Though never based out of Sault Ontario, all five members of Papa Fogals Chair either lived or now live in Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding areas. Friends since Grade 3, the members of Papa Fogals Chair played in a few local bands growing up, including Sulfur and Spit, among others, with Sulfur releasing an EP entitled "How Empty I Am". Following the lead of a few other Saultites, these guys headed to Southern Ontario in the early 2000s, where Papa Fogals Chair took shape. Most notable to local fans nowadays is drummer Derek Turner, who now mans the kit for Garden of Bedlam, though the other members of the band have kept busy in various other projects, notably frontman Andy Chillman's work in the London acoustic bands Too Much Unsaid & The Bird Stone Revival, and the local hard rock band The Side FX, which features both Derek & bassist Mike Bird.

Band Bio: Likening their music to furniture being bashed over your head, P.F.C. rose quickly among the metal scene in London. They released a demo and two albums, 2004's "Face Melter" and their 2006 followup, "Two Faced Is Never Pretty", both of which got some deservedly great reviews and radio airplay. A frequent sight in Southern Ontario at their height, P.F.C. were nominated for a London Music Award in 2004 in the Best Metal/Hardcore category, though after their 2006 peak, the band quietly dissolved. However, reunion shows happened on occasion, usually alongside Derek's new band Garden of Bedlam, including a notable performance at their first concert at Foggy Notions (now Coch's Corner) in 2008. Papa Fogals Chair would later make one-off returns to the live stage at Foggy's in February 2010, and at Mike Bird's stag & doe at The Moose Lodge in May 2013, though plans for future concerts are unknown.

Papa Fogals Chair are awesome, there is no way around that! I've been a fan since I first checked them out a few years ago, they're exceedingly heavy and they have some nice grooves in a lot of their songs too! Andy Chillman has some unique vocals compared to other singers of their type, but they work very well! I love the guitar work too, awesome riffs and solos! Very little for me to complain about here! But don't take my word for it, check them out on their MySpace page. It's great to see locals hit the heights that PFC reached, and though I'm still bummed that I missed them in February 2010 though, but hopefully that's not their farewell! With 2013's MySpace overhaul, no videos of theirs survive that I know of, but here's one of their best original songs "Disgust"!


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The Sexual Vigilantes (Toronto, ON)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED)

Curtis Faux (vocals/guitar)
Brenton Ellis (bass/backing vocals)

MySpace page: http://myspace.com/thesexualvigilantes
Reverbnation page: http://reverbnation.com/thesexualvigilantes

Local Info: If you know your local bands, Brenton and Curtis should be very familiar! Brenton (a.k.a. Diamond Brent Panther) & Curtis were recently best known as the singer & bassist for the cult Toronto hardcore punk band Maximum RNR, but you may also recognize them as bandmates in the Toronto bands The Labour Of... and Kuah, and of course, from the inactive local hardcore punk band Detroit, releasing two EPs during their run! Also, Brent's well known locally as Destroilet's current co-lead singer, Lion Ride's former bassist from 2008-2010, and as The Bombed Squad's former frontman, while Curtis has been seen locally and in Southern Ontario acts, currently with the garage punk band The Cola Heads and the thrash outfit Chainbreaker. Brent and Curtis were the only members of The Sexual Vigilantes, with a drum machine handling the kit on studio recordings.

Band Bio: Formed in 2005, The Sexual Vigilantes played a varied style of metal/hard rock, ranging from classic rock inspired songs like "Back In Brown" to more hardcore songs like "Phantom Limb", to even some songs with electronic influences. In fact, some SXVGLNTES songs eventually became Detroit tracks, like "Pyre Driver" and "Kill-O-Rama"! Not ones to take themselves seriously, the band infused a lot of comedy into band discussions, from their many different stage names to various band descriptions and bio information, which you can get tastes of at their various pages! The Sexual Vigilantes were mostly known for their studio output, rarely playing live concerts, and employing guest musicians where needed when they did. The Sexual Vigilantes have not updated their MySpace page since March 2009, and are long since defunct, but check them out at the above links, and maybe they'll turn up again down the road!

The Sexual Vigilantes were unique soundwise, harbouring an interesting combination of genres! Curtis isn't a bad singer, he and Brenton play as good as ever on their instruments, and they can be pretty funny! Though not locally based, they brought The Sexual Vigilantes home on December 28th, 2007 for two shows that night; an acoustic show at the former Eargasm Records, and then a normal set at what's now Coch's Corner, with their Detroit bandmates Mark Ranᶁ & Mikey Hawdon joining in on guitar and drums. I think those were their only concerts. Solid band, it'd be cool to see them reunite down the road, as their stuff was pretty entertaining! For a video preview, here's The Sexual Vigilantes' playing "Motorbike The Song" live at their last show!


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Hope you guys enjoyed this month's out of town band profiles! Just cause you take a metalhead out of the Soo doesn't mean you take the Soo out of the metalhead! Next month, I will take a look at two bands who aren't from Ontario: Feral Noise, the Calgary metal band featuring Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison on guitar, and Michigan's own Sadomasochism, one of many bands to feature local drummer Mikey Bishop! Stay tuned for that in the first couple weeks of March!

That's all for today, tomorrow will feature my review/recap of tonight's Sault College/Scotties Tournament Battle of the Bands at the curling rink on Anita Boulevard! Will Sykotyk Rampage win it for the metalheads, or will one of the other bands win a well deserved $750? I'll let you guys know tomorrow afternoon, plus news on a local band's new frontman, and hopefully more! Thanks everyone!