Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Moss & Neno Jovanovic

Here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, as we're once again looking at 1-2 defunct or inactive local bands (2 this month) that we randomly selected for a look back at their run, accomplishments, and material in the current day! This month's selected acts come from both sides of the border, including one band with a lengthy run and a talented solo artist we haven't heard much from lately, so here's what you need to know for each profile! (Updated on February 11th at 9:26 AM)
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Moss

Genre: Hard Rock

Hometown: Eckerman/Strongs, Michigan

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics)

David Owen Mills (Life's Eclipse), vocals/ex-bass
Jason Mills (Life's Eclipse, Swampghas), guitar
Nicholas Kabelman, guitar
Terry Carrick, bass
Robert Kabelman, drums
Jason "Ogre" McConnell, bass

Info/Analysis: Moss were a Sault Michigan-area hard rock band that were originally active from 1995-2005, before reuniting under the Werehold Records banner from 2012-2015. Surviving information on their original run is in short supply nowadays, but Moss recorded a handful of demos and cited influences as diverse as Pantera and The Beatles at the time. After ending their 7 year breakup, Moss began work on a planned new EP, and saw four new songs posted to Werehold's YouTube channel (3 for their Friday the 13th music events), but have not issued a new public update in almost 2 years. The band's now-deleted songs with vocals (like "Undefeated") had a solid hardcore punk vibe, but their recent instrumentals had a nice mainstream hard rock groove with quality guitar riffs. Check out Moss' newest song "The Bright Lights Of Anywhere" below, and don't miss the Mills brothers in Life's Eclipse!


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Neno Jovanovic

Genre: Metal/Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:

Neno Jovanovic, all instruments

Info/Analysis: Previously performing under the project name Metallurgy, local guitarist Neno Jovanovic manned his own solo project from 2009-2012, primarily posting original demos and covers to both his Reverbnation page and his YouTube channel, though all solo performances have since been deleted from the latter for unannounced reasons. It's a shame that Neno hasn't been musically active lately, as he was a talented guitarist with a good ear for original metal compositions and solid covers of everyone from Rob Zombie to The Police(?!), though playing alongside the original track at that volume can mask his contributions. As seen on tracks like the death metal number "Cryogenic Freezer Department" (which you can hear below), Neno has some harsh vocal ability too, albeit underutilized on posted files. Most of his surviving clips are under 3 minutes long and/or visibly incomplete, but give his entertaining tracks a listen above, and hopefully Neno returns to music at some point!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month in this series, we have randomly chosen mid-2000s local punk band Mayadevi (featuring Ashoka At The Show, Shit Liver, and Undead Warriors alumni) for our next defunct profile, which should be an interesting installment, so look for that on or around March 10th, and for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

An Inactive Local Hardcore Band, New Song Postings, And More Recent Updates!!

We have some more news to get to on this Monday afternoon, so what's in store? Along with a few recent news updates, we have new song postings from two wildly different local projects (from recent physical releases), and leading off, what looks like a notable local band's descent into inactivity, so here's what you need to know!

It looks like local hardcore quartet Changing Waves have either broken up or fallen inactive. This hasn't been officially confirmed on the band's online pages, but they've offered no public updates since June, or played live since July. Plus, guitarist Michael Hagerman reportedly moved to Toronto earlier this month for school, and bassist Terrence Gomes has been focusing on his punk band The Northern Tragedy recently, so the odds of them functioning at present seem low. Featuring alumni of Paraside & Good Morning Gorilla in their lineups, Changing Waves debuted as a surprise late addition at November 2010's Total Chaos show at The Oddfellows Hall, and they became a steady and increasingly popular sight at local concerts for the next year & a half, including 13 Rosie metal night appearances, sets opening for bands like Unleash The Archers, Abriosis, and Tribune, and the release of a free demo in 2011. I don't know if something happened internally last year, but Changing Waves were a fun live band with a lot of talent, and their stage presences and energy drastically improved as they went along!

I hope last summer wasn't the last we've seen of Changing Waves, but at least they hit some big heights together, and best of luck to Benjamin, Michael, Terrence, Alex, and Devan in the future! Hopefully everyone stays active in music in some form down the road!

Next up, here's the latest from Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands runner-ups Haggith! The rising local grunge quartet reportedly finished recording their second "mainline" album (and third total studio release) "Deuce" early this morning, and will reportedly release it on May 10th (one week from Friday), which is the one year anniversary of their formation! The CD booklet is all that's needed to complete before pressing copies or posting a for sale copy online, though no word yet on if the date has a linked release concert in mind. If this comes out as planned next month, I'll definitely have a Haggith CD review on the site in June, though I'm not sure as of yet on if it will be "Deuce", their second album "Apocalypse", or drummer Mike Haggith's solo album "The Present Din". In cases like this, I'll either go with the biggest or heaviest release, but time will tell! While we wait, the guys posted two more studio tracks from "Deuce" onto the band's YouTube channel in the past week!

Including the previously announced cover of Mike's solo track "To Whom This May Concern", and a newly unveiled track named "Time For A Change", both feature Curtis McKenzie on lead vocals, while bassist Caleb Cachagee does feature on the former track. "Time For A Change" is a slow building number with a lot of softer elements, but I've embedded the darker & heavier "To Whom This May Concern" below, so give it a listen, and stay tuned for more details on the release of "Deuce"!

Also, local grindcore solo project Crucify The Whore posted a handful of new songs onto their label/studio Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel in the past week! All are on the "Grindshed" split demo with C.T.W. mainman Ringsnaps Gibson's similar Tomgrindy project (which was reportedly released on Friday), and they include songs named "I Will Crucify The Whore", "You Don't Have To Want To, Because I Do", and three other songs (here, here, and here) that feature possibly offensive sexual references, so be warned if you're easily offended. If you're familiar with C.T.W. material, you'll know what to expect out of these songs, as they're generally short & full of guttural pig squeal vocal effects, but I will admit that there is some more variance on some of these, including some better guitar riffing, techno influences, and pseudo-rapping. At least their sound is getting fuller, but unless you're an established fan of goregrind music, this will be an acquired taste, though I still respect their stances and intent! Check out "I Will Crucify The Whore" below, and hear more at the above links if you want!



And finally for today, here's three recent shorter news updates from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• I've moved local solo musician Neno Jovanovic to our inactive Sault Ontario band links, as his solo project (formerly known as Metallurgy) has issued no public updates since a year ago today. Neno's a talented guitarist, and he knows his way around some solid covers and originals, so hopefully he revisits his music at some point in the future!
• I apologize for how late this is, but Fred Kember of the 705 Video Magazine posted a review of the April 13th Ripcordz' concert at The Algonquin Pub onto their site two weeks ago! Featuring thoughts on both The Ripcordz & Destroilet's sets (he was late for T-Rex Manning), he highly praised the show, even citing it as proof that "there is still hope for music out there", but check the above links to give it a full look (and to hear some Ripcordz songs not played that night!)
• While a local debut remains unannounced, new hard rock cover quintet The Thrill Junkies (essentially Turner Up & Havadder's successors) finished in 5th at the Rock N' Roar Battle of the Bands in Spanish on April 6th, earning a slot opening for Loverboy & Lee Aaron at the Rock N' Roar festival there on August 17th! Nice to see The Thrill Junkies repeat Havadder's success from last year, and best of luck come August! (FYI, local classic rock band Griphook also competed, but did not place.)

That's all for today, but stay tuned hopefully tomorrow for another news post! Thanks everyone!

Sykotyk Rampage's Newest & Next Albums, Plus New Solo Audio Uploads!

Today's new news post is split in two directions: Half new material from a prolific local band, and half new songs from a pair of local guitarists, but the prevailing theme of new original tracks flows through this post, so check it all out below, starting with a newly released local hard rock album!

If you're a fan of the original crash band, you'll like this, as Sykotyk Rampage have officially confirmed their slate of 2012 albums, but before that, they've finally released their last album from last year! As you may remember, they announced 6 new studio albums last year, with 5 being either uploaded or put on sale in August & September, but "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts of Stupidity" remained unreleased. Well, the band finally uploaded the album to their Reverbnation page yesterday, and now you can stream it for free! Note that it's not posted on their Reverbnation store yet, but neither is it's predecessor "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts of Intellect", so either they're being uploaded simultaneously on purpose or they're meant to be free. "GMWTOS" is considered by the band as their 25th album despite the late upload, and it has the same lineup and recording information as the rest, so nothing's too different. The track listing is actually two songs longer than band pages originally suggested, with songs named "Silence" and "Nobody added to the end, both of which were cut from the first "Genius Mushrooms" album last year. Probably most familiar on the track listing is the song "Acreage", which has been a recent live setlist addition, but longtime fans of Sykotyk Rampage will be right at home with this material!

Also, if you're curious about who sings what, drummer Paul Becker handles lead vocals on all but three songs, two of which his brother Dirk sings lead on, and one being an instrumental. So will I review "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts of Stupidity" on the site? I hope so, but probably not for a while, as a whole pile of new albums we're mentioning in a second will take precedence soon, and I wanna review the two "Genius Mushrooms" albums in order anyway. I will say that "...Stupidity" is heavier than "...Intellect", but whether that makes it better is up to you guys to decide. Stream it today at the above links for some solid new crash music, and if it goes on sale, I'll let you guys know!

With that all said, Sykotyk Rampage have officially announced six more new albums coming out this summer, making this the second straight year that they're releasing a half dozen albums! Just to compare, they only put three out in 2009 & 2010, so the guys are definitely making up for lost ground. In intended chronological order, the albums are entitled "Jonathon, Your Music Sucks!" (pictured), "Sykotyk Ramp-age", "Anal Disruptions", "Smells Real Good On A Bad Night", "The Cross", and "Will Do Anything, Seriously?", which will put their discography to 35 albums when released! All of the albums have had their artwork posted on their Facebook page, so click here to check them all out. Varying quality for the cover art, but that's par for the course from recent years. All have 11-12 planned songs, though track listings for them haven't been announced yet to my knowledge, so I don't know if there's any prevailing themes or concepts at the moment, though the previously posted "Roll A Doobie" sounds likely for one of the six. Release dates are apparently scheduled for July & August for these 6 albums, but note that many of their recent albums have been noticeably delayed from their actual release/posting dates, so note that the given dates aren't necessarily concrete.

I'm definitely looking forward to these next 58 or so Sykotyk Rampage songs, and fans of their unique take on alternative hard rock and blues should as well! It's hard to judge the albums based on artwork and album titles, but some definitely sound more irreverent than others, and I wonder if the anti-religious message on the artwork for "The Cross" will mean anything more? I definitely plan on reviewing one of these new albums in August if any are out by then, and like with last year's releases, precedence will go to the heaviest album, not the first, because keeping a chronologic order for such a prolific band is tough without falling behind. As updates roll in for Sykotyk Rampage's next new albums, stay tuned for more news on this unique local quartet's next moves!

We'll close this post with some recent new audio uploads with a pair of local guitarists, starting with local solo guitarist Mike Cliffe's new original song "Bowl of Grain"! Uploaded to his YouTube channel late last month, Mike says that this originally started as a blues number, and it still retains some of that vibe, though with some extra sections that add a creepy or ominous vibe, before ending as a hard rocker with atmospheric backing sounds. It's one of his better recent originals in my opinion, and the visuals really fit the song well too, so give his solid new song "Bowl of Grain" a listen below!



And finally, local solo guitarist Neno Jovanovic has uploaded a new original sample track in-progress onto his YouTube channel! Also posted late last month, it's a 1:50 hard rocker that has a catchy riff, and it shows Neno's talentes well, especially given that it's his first publically posted original composition on YouTube in over six months! I like where this is heading, so give Neno's new sample a look below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly! Thanks everyone!

Tym Morrison Concert Preview, Upcoming Concert News & Updates, And More!!

Here's one final news post before TONIGHT'S Ypres Metal Fest, but before that, I just wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of "The Father of Loud", Jim Marshall, whose pioneering work with Marshall guitar amplifiers helped lead to the creation of metal as we know it. He passed away on Thursday at the age of 88, and he deserves much respect for helping create loud guitar driven music of any kind, which so many influential musicians have used and benefited from for decades. R.I.P.!! Now, today's news post features our final concert preview for this weekend, more upcoming concert news, and a new audio recording, so here's what you need to know!

Our last concert preview for this weekend is finally here, and it's for Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's return to The Service Grill on Korah Road TONIGHT! This will be his first solo acoustic gig at this venue in almost two months, though the concert was postponed for unknown reasons to today from it's original date yesterday, so hopefully the new date is more of a benefit for you guys! Notably, this is also the second straight week without an announced Saturday concert at Bossy's Pub N' Grub, so has that arrangement ended after 12 weeks? Time will tell, I suppose, but I'll keep you guys posted if I hear more! Tym will bring his unplugged hard rock and metal covers back to The Service Grill at 8:00 PM tonight, there is no cover charge, and given the restaurant setting, I'd assume it'd be all ages. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Tym staying busy with his local projects, and even if his Bossy's series is done, he has a lot of great music to give, and hopefully tonight's show is huge! I just hope attendance isn't hit too hard by the Ypres Metal Fest, but the show must have been postponed for a reason. For a preview, here's Tym covering Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" at Bossy's earlier this year!



Next up, TONIGHT'S Ypres Metal Fest has gotten some more deserved local press via SooToday's Donna Hopper, who penned an article about it and how Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold's family's been coping since he passed away in December. Similarly to The Sault Star's recent David Gold article, his mom Esther and Ypres Metal Fest promoter Rich Moreland are interviewed, and topics of discussion include the grieving process, David's lyrics and messages, the condolences from fans after he passed away, David's struggles to make it in music, and the process to begin the Ypres Metal Fest, among other topics, so click here to read the full article! Beyond the new interview quotes, there isn't a lot of new information here that hasn't been covered elsewhere, but the article does indicate that David had been planning to teach overseas again in Dubai later this year, and it also gave Esther's e-mail (esther.h.gold@gmail.com) as an location to send donations towards the David Gold Memorial Scholarship for local post-secondary institutions that is hoped to be offered starting in the 2012-13 school year. This is another nicely written article that gives good press to both David and TONIGHT'S memorial concert at The Canadian Nightclub, so give it a read, and I hope to see you there at 5:00 PM sharp!

Thirdly today, here's the latest updates on next Friday's all ages metal show at The Oddfellows Hall! Promoter Jeremy Hannah has launched a new Facebook event page for the show, now more generically titled "Music Mayhem", and it features a few more updates on this concert to take note of. Admission is $10 at the door, it is definitely all ages, and doors open at 7:00 PM on Friday, April 13th for this show, which should be awesome! The lineup still has As It Stands headlining, with Shit Liver, Borderline Divine, For All That Is Lost, Winkstinger (or "WingStinger"), and Changing Waves following them in the band order, and note that "T.B.A." is placed beside As It Stands in the band lineup. Is a new band possible, and/or could As It Stands drop out? If I hear anything to confirm either, I'll let you guys know, but note that the event poster has asterisks beside the band number & time period of the concert, which likely means "subject to change". In a post on the event page's wall, Jeremy apologized for the late notice for this show, but he also added that there'll be a door prize for paying attendees, which is interesting, so keep that in mind! Sounds like a great show all around, and with some notable returns and Oddfellows Hall debuts among the lineup, so check the above links for more details!

And finally for today, local solo guitarist Neno Jovanovic has posted another play-along cover of a hard rock song onto his YouTube channel, and it's of his cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy"! Uploaded on Monday, it's his first posted track on YouTube since February, and it's another well played cover that sounds like you'd expect, though the guitar track definitely sounds newer than the original song, and it doesn't flow as well as some of his other covers because of the recording quality disparity. Solid work as always though, and on one of Queen's heavier tracks too, so give Neno's latest cover a listen below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for a special Sault Michigan-centric auto-post tonight during the Ypres Metal Fest for you American readers, and it has new concerts, a band breakup, and more, so look out for it! As for Sault Ontarians, I hope to see you guys at The Canadian at 5:00 PM for the Ypres Metal Fest, which is gonna be massive (and for a great cause), so I'll see you guys there! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Who wants to see some new videos/songs! I've got them today for our latest local metal video showcase, featuring the latest videos from a popular local metal band, the latest solo recordings from a pair of local guitarists, and some new song uploads I've made to compliment an upcoming feature post, so read on below to get caught up!

Let's start today's post with some brand new videos from local extreme metal quintet Winkstinger... sort of! As edited at least in part by Paul Boyer, two new Winkstinger videos were posted onto drummer Jonas Gasperas' YouTube channel late last week, and they feature some existing footage of the band combined with video effects to create some new uploads altogether! One, entitled "Winkstinger - The Video", features a mix of about 3 minutes of video footage culled mostly from concert videos I shot (I sure ain't complaining!), band photos, and stock footage video, mainly from old Batman serials. Interesting mix, and though no attempt is made to sync the footage with the featured songs (their cover of the Blues Brothers car chase song & their original "Stop! You Can't Interrogate Someone With Brain Damage!"), it's a fun little video that showcases Winkstinger well! The one I'm embedding below though is a video made for their song "Where'd We Go Wrong" which combines my video of them from the Garden of Bedlam-headlined Rosie metal night last July with grainy video effects and lots of weird and amusing cartoon and video clips. I like the mix of this one better for syncing with the song, and it's definitely an interesting watch, so check it out below, and see much more at the above links!



Next up is Sault Ontario solo artist Mike Cliffe's newest song "Lost Soul Blues", as posted to his YouTube channel on Saturday! Described as a "guitar oriented dark blues variant" with "mournful synth", this is definitely one of Mike's slower and darker sounding originals of recent months, but it still has a bluesy flair while sounding fairly down and deliberate. The visualizations also go with the track's mood nicely enough! Not his heaviest song, but the mood makes up for it well, so check out Mike Cliffe's newest solo song below!



Also new from local guitarists is Neno Jovanovic's new solo instrumental cover, and this time, it's of The Misfits' "Astro Zombies"! Uploaded late last month onto his YouTube channel, this is of Neno playing along with the original track again, and in this case, he sounds clearer than the original! That could be expected to a point, but he flows very well with the original song, and if you like The Misfits, you should appreciate Neno's latest cover! Check it out below, and hear more of his solo work at the above links!



And finally for today, I wanted to note the additions of a couple of new audio uploads to the SMS' YouTube channel. If you're following our schedules, Saturday will feature our next Defunct Local Band Profile on Sault Ontario hardcore quintet Paraside (featuring the Hagerman brothers from Changing Waves.) In that spirit, and like I've done in earlier months when this came up, I've decided to post some extra material from that band's heyday onto YouTube, and in this case, it's the three audio tracks that Paraside have on their MySpace page. These got lost in the shuffle a bit thanks to the Dead In The Van video uploads, but you guys should definitely know about these, especially if you enjoyed Paraside's brief late-2000s run! The songs are Paraside's originals "Butterfly" & "M.I.A.", along with their "Alarm" intro, and I've combined them into two uploads to post onto YouTube for preservation! I tacked the "Alarm" intro to the beginning of "Butterfly" to avoid posting a 45 second instrumental by itself needlessly. These were live recordings & have fairly scratchy audio, but there's glimpses of talent and chemistry underneath, and you do hear a Changing Waves-esque sound underneath the audio quality issues!

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for these songs goes to the former members of Paraside & the hard work they did to make these songs, I'm just trying to share them with a wider audience! These are good glimpses back to 2007 & 2008 despite the recording quality, so check out Paraside's songs at the above links, and here's their "Alarm" intro, followed by "Butterfly"!



That's probably all for today, but stay tuned later this week for more news, our Paraside profile, and hopefully my review of "Woods V", among other posts! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Mama Kin), Cavo Concert Updates, And Much More!!

I know news has been a little more spread out lately, but things will be a bit busier at the end of the week, so don't worry! Today, we've got a new solo performance clip, some assorted news stories, and some updates on a major upcoming concert's media coverage, but first, here's some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for this spring! (UPDATED, 1:30 AM)

Toronto-based Aerosmith tribute band Mama Kin are coming back to Sault Ontario for the first time in at least two years in April! As currently being advertised on the marquee board outside of the venue, this talented tribute act will hit The Canadian Nightclub for a full weekend of Aerosmith classics on April 13th and 14th, so if you love Aerosmith, circle those dates on your calendar! The shows are listed on Mama Kin's website (so there's an online source), but they're credited as playing at The Knights Inn, which hasn't been the name of the hotel on The Canadian's site in quite a while. Minor error, no worries! I'd assume both of these shows would be 19+ affairs, a 10:30 PM start time would seem likely, and I'd expect a cover charge of around $5. For more details, check the above links! It's great to see Mama Kin back in the area after such a long wait for their return, and though I'm admittedly not the biggest Aerosmith fan going, there'll be lots of demand and fanfare for the next best thing to Steven Tyler and company! Keep an eye out for more on this and the rest of what is shaping up to be a huge month for the local metal scene as we get closer to this April!

Next up, here's the latest on April 6th's Cavo/My Darkest Days/Veer Union concert at The Dreammakers Theater at Kewadin Casino! Allstar Promotions (who are holding this concert) announced on their Facebook page on Thursday that they've joined forces with Cheboygan rock radio station Real Rock 105.1 to promote & hold contests for this show. This would include giveaways for tickets & meet and greets, along with a package including front row tickets and a night's stay at Kewadin's hotel. I've heard little directly referencing this arrangement from Real Rock yet, but if you listen in, things should pop up soon for advertising & contests! Remember, though Real Rock 105.1 is based out of the Traverse City area, they have a simulcast in Cheboygan, which is why better FM radios on clearer days can pick the station up in the Twin Saults. Plus, despite leaving the U.P. in 2010, stations owned by Northern Star Broadcasting in Northern Michigan still occasionally advertise & promote bigger shows up here, so it's not unheard of. If you're interested in tuning in to try and win some tickets, or you just want an alternative rock radio station in the area, tune your dials to 105.1 FM or listen online at this location!

Now, the post above also implies that the reason the radio promotions for the Cavo/MDD show aren't local is because of local stations' desires to only promote & advertise out of town shows, likely a reference to Rock 101 and their "Concert Track", which usually only mentions big rock shows in Southern Michigan and Southern Ontario. I'm not going to pass judgement on anyone for why the local deals aren't happening, as we only have one side of the story here, but there's reasons for everything, and things will work themselves out. Stay tuned for more news on this major concert as it comes in!

Thirdly today, local guitarist Neno Jovanovic has posted another solo guitar cover onto his YouTube channel! Uploaded yesterday, this is his cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" (typo aside), and like his other covers, he plays the guitar track along with the remaining parts of the song, and he adds to it well! He could have mixed it in a bit better, or boosted it's heaviness a tad, but Neno knows the original song well, and give his take on "Ace of Spades" a listen below!



And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Sault Ontario death metal quintet The Bear Hunters have begun recording of "colossal" bass tracks towards their debut full length demo! The news was broken yesterday on their Facebook page. Good to hear, I can't wait to check out the finished product when all is said and done, so stay tuned for more!
  
• Newer Sault Michigan quartet Elements of Madness have quietly added Landon Mattson (guitarist Cody Rosebohm's cousin) as their new drummer, replacing Kyle Hummelgard. A reason for the switch wasn't announced. Landon does have experience as a former drummer in the local indie/ska band The Pick-Me-Ups, so he does have talent! Stay tuned for more band updates, and best of luck to Kyle in the future!
• Sykotyk Rampage have posted a "new" song onto their Reverbnation page! Entitled "Roll a Doobie", it's an interpretation of The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" in their own crash style, with more off-colour lyrics related to the song title. It's an interesting mix, so check it out above, and stay tuned for full details on this & more new songs as we get closer to the release of their next albums!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news over the next few days, along with weekend concert previews, this week's classic video, and this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on Friday! Thanks everyone!

Another Local Metal Video Showcase!!

It's time to get some more videos out to you guys on this wet Monday afternoon, so here's what's on tap for our latest local metal video showcase! Today, we have the latest videos from two notable Sault Michigan acts and two covers from a pair of Sault Ontario musicians, so here's all that you should know! (EDITED: 5:54 PM)

Brimley metal quartet Half A Man have posted some new videos onto YouTube, and the newest of them gives us our first glimpse at new singer Dillion Semasky! As posted onto guitarist Erik Rintamaki's YouTube channel yesterday, it's of most of Half A Man (I don't see bassist Gary Croad) covering the Down song "Bury Me In Smoke", and though it's filmed in the same location as their "Gooodbye" performance from last month, a white effects filter is laid on the video for some reason. Maybe it's to build anticipation for the new lineup's full debut? Who knows, but audio wise, Dillion sounds good! He knows the song, and he can pull off an aggressive yet melodic track like this with Half A Man, so all seems good to me so far! Check the above links to give the video a listen, or view it below, and thanks to Erik for telling me about the YouTube copy! That said, they have two more new videos on the band's YouTube channel as well, and like their other new YouTube uploads, these are from their April 16th concert at The Merchant's Bar. They're of their cover of Prong's "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" and their original song "Life Goes On", so click each link to check them out! There's not much new to say on these in terms of quality, but these are solid and very heavy performances, especially "Life Goes On", so check out both of their new videos, and here's their new Down cover from yesterday!



Next up, here's some new videos from Kinross hard rockers Banned! No less than FOUR videos from their set on Saturday night at The Bird have been posted onto band members' Alex & Don Traynor's sister/daughter Ashley Traynor's YouTube channel over the last two days, which is awesome, so kudos to Ashley for filming these! The videos are of Banned covering Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine", Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight", Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World", and (as embedded below) Alice In Chains' "Man In The Box", so click on each link to see her videos from Saturday night! For reference sake, Alex sings lead on each posted song except "Wonderful Tonight", which Don sang lead on. I find it odd that Banned's new singer/keyboardist Mike Straw doesn't seem to do much of either in the posted videos we've seen of Banned's current lineup, beyond backing vocals. Maybe it's just a coincidence or a slow build, but I'm curious to hear more of his talents! Overall though, these are fairly solid performances by Banned, though Alex definitely handles vocals better on songs that had higher-voiced singers originally. Good stuff all round, so check the above links for all the new (and old) Banned videos, and here's their cover of "Man In The Box"!



Finally, here's some new solo performance videos from a pair of Sault Ontario musicians, starting with the latest guitar cover from Neno Jovanovic! Like his other recent covers, this is of him playing the guitar tracks along with the rest of the original song, and in this case, it's a cover of Mastodon's "Blood & Thunder". It's a good cover, he knows the original well, but it'd be nice if it was the full song and if it was a bit louder in the mix. Still, it's worth checking out, so here's Neno's cover of "Blood & Thunder", as uploaded to his YouTube channel on Thursday!



And finally, ApocalyptiCDitroyeR frontman Jesse Middaugh has posted two new solo performance videos onto the band's YouTube channel! These are two weeks old, so I apologize for being late to mention these on here, they just slipped me by. These are the first videos that Jesse's posted on his YouTube in over four months that feature him on an electric guitar, which is good to see, and they're of his cover of Simple Plan's "Jet Lag" and (as embedded below) an original track named "The New One"! I'm not high on Simple Plan, but these new videos show off Jesse's guitar skills well, and the new track has promise as a hard rocking number, so definitely give these new videos a look above and below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile later this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & The Lust Boys) And New Videos!!

Let's keep the news rolling on this snowy Tuesday, as we've got a lot to get to today, including this week's classic video, a new solo cover from a local guitarist, and kicking things off, two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, including one show THIS WEEKEND, so here's what you need to know! (Edited at 4:50 PM)

Kinross hard rock quartet Banned are hitting the stage THIS SATURDAY at Golanka's Bar, a.k.a. The Bird! This will be their first Sault Michigan concert in about three weeks, though I'll note that Banned took part in a minimally-advertised talent show of some type named "Yooper's Got Talent" last weekend in Rudyard. For the life of me, I couldn't find anything on this event, save for older videos featuring mostly comedians, so I couldn't reliably cover it on here. Hopefully Banned did well, and I apologize for missing this event! This weekend though, Banned should deliver a great set of hard rocking covers for their fans at The Bird, so consider checking them out on Saturday night! My source for this show is a posting on Banned's Facebook page. I'd assume that this concert is a 21+ event, there's no announced cover charge, and everything starts at 10:00 PM. Check the above links for more details! Banned are definitely a talented rising local band, so don't miss their exciting sound on Saturday at The Bird! Stay tuned for more on this show later in the week when we preview this weekend's local metal/hard rock concerts!

Also for new concerts is a big metal show on March 30th, and it features the local debut of The Lust Boys! As you may know, this is the Victoria, British Columbia sleaze/glam rock quintet featuring Sault Ontario native Ben "Benny Blitz" Kemp-Reynolds on guitar, and it looks like their quest for a local booking here on March 30th paid off, as they're listed for a headlining gig at The Canadian Nightclub that night during their "Tour Before Dishonour" this spring! My source is the tour poster on your left, and the gig (with venue) is also listed on their Reverbnation page, but this is subject to change. Opening for them at this show will be local classic metal quartet Late & Loud, featuring Ben's old Glass Statues bandmates Benn Garside and Josh Hatherly, which makes them an especially fitting opening band for this show! I'd assume this concert would have a 19+ age limit, and Reverbnation lists a likely incorrect start time of 8:00 PM, but other details like admission prices, possible extra bands, and other ground rules are not out yet. Until we hear more, check the above links for more details! It's great to see The Lust Boys bring their sleaze onslaught to the Soo finally, and it'll be good to see Ben back on a local stage after three years away! There'll be lots of great classic metal sounds at this show, so keep it in mind for this spring, and stay tuned for updates and possible changes as they roll in!

We'll close today's post with some new videos, and first, here's the latest solo cover from local guitarist Neno Jovanovic! This time, he covered the guitar track from Rob Zombie's "Sick Bubblegum" and posted the results (as synced with the original song) onto his YouTube channel yesterday! It's a good cover, and he knows the guitar track well, but it sounds a bit reserved compared to the original song. Very good though, Neno's got real talent, so check out more of his solo covers at the above links, and here's his take on "Sick Bubblegum"!



And finally, here's this week's classic video! With the big metal show at The Roosevelt Hotel on Thursday (possibly the 41st metal night?), I wanted to tie in our latest classic video with a band playing that concert, and I've chosen The Bear Hunters! We're slowly gonna include 2011 videos more regularly in this series as the year progresses, and in that spirit, this week's video comes from the Rosie metal night on February 3rd. In this video, The Bear Hunters (including then-guitarist Mike Vincent) covered "Squirrel Buddy" by guitarist Mitch Sirie's April Eyes solo project, which became a fan favourite during it's brief time in their setlists early last year! I actually filmed this performance too on an earlier upload on our YouTube channel, but this particular video was filmed at a different angle by attendee Tiia Opala-Ollinaho. Good audio quality, though the original video was largely focused on Mitch and singer Nik Deubel, and it was very dark on her camera too. It's a good video though, and it's always nice to see extra perspectives! Tiia posted this on Facebook the day after the concert, and you can view the original video at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150127795912527, but note that I fixed and brightened the lighting on the video after posting it on YouTube.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to The Bear Hunters and Tiia for all of their hard work, I'm just trying to spread this video out to a wider audience! It's a solid video, and kudos to Tiia for uploading it, so check out The Bear Hunters covering "Squirrel Buddy" last February below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our next "Favourite ____ of 2011" poll tomorrow, and the final results of this month's poll, so if you haven't voted yet, VOTE A.S.A.P. at the form on the top left! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Monkey's Uncle & Swayze Train), Sue Inside's Return, And More!!

Let's take a break from concert previews for a bit to get some news on the site! Today, we have videos from a re-activated local band, some new solo demos from a local guitarist, and leading things off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for you Sault Michiganders, so here's what you need to know!

Kewadin Casino's entertainment page has been updated to reflect concerts at The Rapids Lounge through the end of the year (and River Witch's name change to Powerslug), so thanks to that, we have four new concerts to announce, starting with the return of Monkey's Uncle to Kewadin Casino's bar & concert venue! Though already scheduled for Kewadin dates on November 25th & 26th, this talented hard rock quartet will also hit The Rapids Lounge two weeks earlier on November 11th and 12th to rock fans with their originals and covers! I believe these shows replaced a cancelled booking, but I don't recall who was originally listed for that weekend. As I sadly expected, Monkey's Uncle haven't confirmed these new dates, but Kewadin Casino's own site is as good a source as any! Admission should be free for both of these new concerts on the 11th & 12th, you must be 21 to attend, and both should have start times of around 9:00 PM. Check the above links for more details! Even if they only update pages sporadically to not at all, Monkey's Uncle have a lot of hard rocking tunes to show off at their shows, and they've now got four in a 15 day span, so get your fill of Monkey's Uncle next month for sure! Stay tuned for updates if they come in!

Also newly listed, Sault Michigan hard rock quintet Swayze Train are coming to our local Kewadin Casino for the first time(?) in December! Though no strangers to the Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace, the local quintet featuring Clownsack, Electric Motor Fish, Slackjawed Rats, and Insipid Brutality alumni will make what I think are their first ever weekend appearance there for New Year's weekend on December 30th & 31st! What better way to send in 2012 then with this talented new band? Like with Monkey's Uncle, Swayze Train have yet to publically confirm these dates, but I have more faith they'll acknowledge these in advance, so something's probably coming! The same house rules as the Monkey's Uncle shows above will likely apply here, so nothing's too different (21+, no cover, after 9:00 PM, etc.) Check the above links for more details! It's nice to see Swayze Train branching beyond The Frog for some local shows, and though I still don't know how they definitively sound, the band is very accomplished all around, so keep these shows in mind for your New Years weekend plans! As always, stay tuned for more from them and the casino as everything comes in!

Next up, have you been curious lately as to the whereabouts of Sue Inside, the Oil Springs metal project that originated locally in 2007? We hadn't heard anything major from them since January, but as it turns out, the band returned to activity for at least one live gig in August, and the videos from it are online! These come from a live acoustic outdoor concert that bassist Adam Veen played under his solo project pseudonym Dr. Jeremiah Rabishi on August 12th in Oil Springs, and Sue Inside bandmates (and ex-Sault Ontario residents) Shane Lipsit-Fraser & Jeff Vogel joined in for some live originals and covers! The posted videos include acoustic covers of Five Finger Death Punch's "Far From Home", The Foo Fighters' "Skin & Bones", and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", and they do a good job! I continue to like Adam's singing too, he should do vocals on more Sue Inside originals, as in all honesty, he has a better range than Shane does. These videos come from Adam's solo project's YouTube channel, which mostly features Dr. Jeremiah Rabishi material, but there's also an actual video of his & Shane's old band Paricide, a promising acoustic Sue Inside audio demo named "Get Busy", and yes, one live video from August of the band playing a Sue Inside original song!

Entitled "Saved On T.V.'s", it's a live acoustic jam that I haven't heard before in other versions, and it has promise to it! Much of Sue Inside's non-local output has been unplugged, but it's a well played track with some nice acoustic guitar work from both Shane and Adam/Dr. Rabishi, and I missed hearing Jeff's drum work too! Good stuff, so check out some new Sue Inside video footage above and below, and if I hear anything new on them from Southern Ontario, I'll have it here!



And finally, local solo artist (and awesome Napalm Death filmer) Neno Jovanovic has uploaded two more solo guitar demos onto his YouTube channel earlier this week! Both have also been posted on his Reverbnation page. Following his trend of playing the guitar tracks over the original song, these newest tracks are of Neno covering The Police's "Message In A Bottle" and (as featured below) The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"! Not the heaviest songs, but hey, he plays them well! I'm no Police fan, so I can't say how it compares, but it's well performed. The Ramones cover isn't bad, he knows and plays the song well, but the pacing seems too hectic during the singing. Good stuff though, Neno has lots of talent,. and hopefully we hear some more originals and covers from him soon! Check out these and more audio demos at the above links, and here's Neno's cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop"!



That's all for now, but in case there's no new news post later today, I will see you guys TONIGHT at Coch's Corner for this year's Halloween party (with Frightlight and more!) Thanks everyone!

Helix Concert & Chained Memories Updates, Plus New Videos!!

Here's some more news to end your Monday with, but rememer to check out our Joan Jett video showcase from earlier today in the post below! Now, we have updates for a major upcoming Rockstar Bar concert, new videos from a local guitarist, and the latest news from a young Sault Michigan area band, so here's what you should know!

We now have more complete details on Kitchener metal legends Helix's headlining concert at The Rockstar Bar on December 3rd, so here's what you should know! Firstly, there will be an opening band, and oddly enough, it will be local dance rock cover band Boogie Fever! Far cry from Stillbroke in 2008 genre-wise, but Boogie Fever are a talented band who you're bound to have seen locally before, and you may recognize guitarist Mark Oliverio from his work in Foothill Road too, so their talent should speak for itself! As well, ticket prices have been announced, and they will be $10 in advance or $14 at the door, which is a damn good price to see Helix live! Advance tickets are on sale at the front desk of The Algonquin Hotel (downstairs from The Rockstar Bar), and as you'd likely have expected, it's a 19+ show. Doors open at 9:00 PM with Boogie Fever presumably kicking the show off at 10:00 PM on December 3rd. Check the official Facebook event page for more details! Sounds like things are shaping up well for Helix to rock us on December 3rd, so stay tuned for updates and previews of this show as we get closer to it! It'll be a good one!

Next up, here's some more videos from local guitarist Neno Jovanovic, and first, here's a new video from the Napalm Death concert at Feedback last week! This is also from Toronto death metal band Hallows Die's set at the show, as uploaded to his YouTube channel on Friday, and it's of two new songs to be released, which they capped their set with! Like the rest of Neno's great videos from this concert, the quality's really nice, and Hallows Die are playing with a lot of fury here! I wonder if this is the last of the videos that Neno shot? I hope not, as I'd like to see some footage of Wake's set, but I can understand if he didn't get any videos of theirs. Still, endless kudos go to Neno for filming as much as he did, and check out Hallows Die's last two songs from their set below!



Another new upload onto Neno's channel is a solo demo named "Cryogenic Freezer Department", as uploaded yesterday, and I'm digging it! You may have also seen it recently on his Reverbnation page as well. The guitar riffing is fast and hard charging with a techno-sounding tint, and we get some vocals too! Death growling, actually, and Neno (if it's him singing) has a brutal voice, though when he tried to kind of shriek, it didn't flow as well. The video's only 92 seconds long, but it shows some nice promise, and hopefully Neno builds on this further in either solo or band projects! Give his newest original demo a look below!



And finally, here's some updates from Kincheloe metal band Chained Memories! First, the band has added rhythm guitarist and singer Sean Roush to their lineup, replacing Jacob Zeeryp. Band pages refer to him as being on different instruments, but I think he's handling both with the band. I'm not familiar with Sean's talents, but hopefully he'll fill a missing piece in the band! Their Facebook page has kept fans updated to progress in the band's rehearsals, and things appear to be progressing well for Chained Memories so far, even having the band post a tentaitve cover playlist for live shows! While their's some standard fare like Metallica, Judas Priest, and Pantera covers, there's also plans to cover Corrosion of Conformity, Hatebreed, and Carcass, which will be very interesting once they get gigging! Progress is slow but steady, but I think Mike, Ryan, and Sean know what they're doing, and hopefully we'll see Chained Memories rocking a local stage before you know it! Get more details at the above links, and also follow drummer Mike Rynberg on Twitter for band updates at this location!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for more news, and for our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on The Lust Boys (featuring former Glass Statues guitarist Ben Kemp-Reynolds) on Wednesday! Thanks everyone!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison) And More Updates!!

Hey guys, I hope you're all having a great start to Rotaryfest weekend! In today's news post, we have lineup updates for an upcoming concert, the lastest from a local metal solo project, and a new video from a Sault Michigan metal band, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is in fact playing another solo concert in his weekly arrangement at Service Grill Pizza on Korah Road TOMORROW! Though I was aware that Tym had another weekly schedule set up there for the summer, I was starting to wonder if there would be anything this week, as he never publically acknowledged a show on his own Facebook pages or his website's schedule for last week (though SooToday did mention it.) Well, whether he was there last week or not, I can't confirm, but he's back at the Service Grill TOMORROW NIGHT for two sets of entertaining acoustic hard rock covers! Apologies for the short notice, it was only just formally announced yesterday. Looks like, as was the case the last time around, Tym will play a matinee set at 3:00 PM tomorrow before a more standard nighttime set at 9:00 PM for fans and pizza eaters in attendance! There is no cover charge, and I believe at least the 3:00 set will be all ages. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Tym's solo stuff is always entertaining, and definitely make note of these shows! For a preview, here's Tym covering Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" in 2009!



Next up, here's some lineup news for an all ages concert next week! Local metal quartet Sativa Rose have dropped out of the Sanktuary/Black Moor all ages concert on Wednesday at The Oddfellows Hall. Promoter/Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie confirmed the news in an e-mail to attendees on the Facebook event page, simply saying that Sativa Rose "would be unable to perform", although he didn't elaborate further. This is disappointing, but hey, they'll be back before you know it! In a further e-mail, it was confirmed that local cello/punk trio RedD Monkey would replace them as the openers, which is an interesting choice, but they're a great band that will be sure to set the tone well with their unique style of music! I should also note that local death metal quintet Unleash The Blackened Sky (formerly Bring The Misery) indicated in a status update on their Facebook page yesterday that they'd be playing at this show, but I have no idea how far that got before RedD Monkey were confirmed, so don't read too much into it. The other note I had for this show was that curiously, the last band playing on Wednesday isn't one of the out of town bands, it's actually The Bear Hunters! Odd, but I remember that some other local concerts have had the out of town bands playing earlier in the set so they could hit the road earlier, so I assume that's the reasoning. Get full details on this concert at the above links, and I will see you guys there on Wednesday!

Thirdly today, here's the latest news from Eckerman, Michigan metal band Life's Eclipse! The highly promising quartet have released a new video to the Werehold Records YouTube channel featuring samples of updated versions of two songs from their upcoming "Shadow Over Superior" album! The band decided to give the songs "For The Burning" and "Phenotype" a minor facelift, apparently because the band felt the original songs sounded like "1996". So in other words, the band thought they sounded dated, but how do the new versions stack up? Well, I can compare them because the original versions are still on this sample video of the whole album, so click here to see the old versions (and the other samples.) "For The Burning" does sound more energetic and full now than the original did, and the digeridoo-esque opening is pretty unique, but it's still hard to gauge the whole song. The new samples are about 55 seconds each, which is longer than we'd heard before, but still not a full taste, especially sans vocals. "Phenotype" is basically the same story, a fuller and more high impact version of the original, also with a new opening riff. Not bad at all, these are improvements, and I can't wait to hear the full songs! Check the new video out below to hear the updated samples!



And finally today, here's the latest from a local solo metal project! We've mentioned Sault Ontario guitarist Neno Jovanovic's work in his solo project Metallurgy off and on for a while now, but Neno's got some new stuff to share today! Firstly, he's apparently abandoned the Metallurgy name for the project, and is now keeping it self-titled. Probably a wise move if there's other bands named Metallurgy out there. He's also uploaded some new material to his Reverbnation page, including a couple original tracks and some covers! The cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" is still there, but in lieu of his short riff demos, he now has covers where he plays along with Rob Zombie's "Sick Bubblegum" and Mastodon's "Blood and Thunder" as well! He's good, but people are going to assume he just uploaded the original song there, so I would recommend he just covered the song without backing tracks. The new original samples "From The Ground" and "2" are really cool though, they have an awesome groove and would be very welcome on a local stage if Neno ever wanted to form a band! He has the skill, I'd love to see him expand on this solo stuff! Check out Neno's Reverbnation page for more, and I'll keep an eye out for more of his solo work!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates over the weekend! Thanks everyone!