Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Random Killing

It's now time for this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, and given a major recent concert in Sault Ontario, this month's selected band was a no-brainer! As usual, this monthly feature series takes a look at a metal, hard rock, or punk band that's not based within an hour of the Twin Saults, but has featured a local resident in their lineup at some point in the past or present, and therefore, deserve some attention and notice on the SMS! We recently welcomed this band back to the local stage after the better part of 2 decades away, so let's take a look at them once again!
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Random Killing (Toronto, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED; ex-members in italics; Note that band pages credit some drummers under nicknames like "Ted" and "Deadbeat", but it's not explicitly clear whose real names they had. If you can help, message us at robertfigures@outlook.com!)

Andrew "Drool" Kiteley (vocals)
John "Rusty Talent" Hadju (guitar)
Jim "Mudd" Moore (bass)
John "Robber" Nielson (drums)

Kevin "Rodney Wastelands" Low (vocals)
Victor "V. Dumpster" Farkas (vocals)
Mark Watts (guitar)
Tony Mastromatteo (drums)
Mike Rosenthal (drums)
Tim Monahan (drums)
Sean Dignan (drums)

Official website: http://www.randomkilling.com
Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/randomkilling
Official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/therandomkilling
Official CBC Music page: http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/random-killing
Official YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/sandorthegreatful
Official Bandcamp page: http://randomkilling.bandcamp.com

Local Info: The frontman of Random Killing for 25 years now, Sault Ontario native Drew Kiteley discovered punk when he found a Wendy O. Williams album, and became a lifelong fan after that. Moving to Toronto for school, he ended up being recommended by Bunchofuckingoofs singer Steve Goof to try out for Random Killing's vacant singer position, and he's been there ever since, fronting the band at a number of well received local dates through the mid-1990s. Recently working in stage design and rigging for theatrical and entertainment events, Drew comes back home frequently to visit family. Read more on his local past and band work via this Sault Star article!

Band Bio: Launched under the name Roy's Comrades as a joke in 1984, Random Killing soon became a full band, releasing their debut album "Take Our Flag" the following year, and following it with "This Whole World" in 1989, each sung by their original singers. After Drew Kiteley replaced Victor Farkas, Random Killing grew to become a favourite in the hardcore punk underground, while never signing with a major label in the process. Sharing the stages with the likes of The Dead Kennedys, The Dayglo Abortions, and Agnostic Front, their song "12" memorably became a recurring segment on both Sesame Street for many years, while the band played live on Open Mic with Mike Bullard in 1998 as well. Random Killing have released 5 albums with Drew on vocals, most recently 1997's "Stranded", and though the band's touring and album releases have quieted since, they still play a handful of shows each year, including this month's Hardcore Homecoming at The Rockstar Bar, and hopefully they'll be back soon!

Random Killing have definitely earned their place among Canada's notable hardcore punk bands, and their 1990s work speaks for itself! Actually, all of their albums are good, and all three of their singers are up to the task on studio material, but as the increasingly got heavier and more polished, they found more of their groove to me, especially on their last album "Stranded". Rusty Talent has always proved to be a solid guitarist with edgy riffs, and Mudd's bass is well done and flows nicely too on their various albums, though the drumming is a bit inconsistent given that position's many changes. Drool shows a nice ability to flip from punk signing to more aggressive tones too, and his stage presence only adds to their live experience, and it'd be nice to see the guys launch another large national tour and record another album! We had to wait 17 years for this month's return show in the Soo, and hopefully they're back home long before 2031!

All of Random Killing's albums can be bought at their Bandcamp page linked . above, as well as on iTunes, while eBay and Amazon have copies of their albums too. There's a solid amount of videos online as well, including concert videos and music videos alike, so be sure to check YouTube for them, and here's one of their music videos for their song "Undertaker"!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month in this series, we'll stay punk with a look at The Labour Of..., the Toronto indie punk band featuring Saultites and future Maximum RNR & Detroit bandmates Brenton Ellis and Curtis Faux! Look for that on or around October 26th, and stay tuned for more news and notes (plus this month's CD review) soon! Thanks everyone!

Hardcore Homecoming Fallout, Concert Lineup Additions, And Haggith Updates!!

Let's keep the news rolling on this Saturday morning, so what's in store today? Recent updates from a popular local band, new additions to two big upcoming shows, and first, some initial fallout from a major recent punk concert, so here's what you need to know!

At last, let's delve into the first of the fallout from last week's Hardcore Homecoming concert at The Rockstar Bar, including SooToday's coverage of the event! Donna Hopper was on hand to cover everything and snap some great photos (all in black and white again), and in her recap, she mentioned that she and Random Killing frontman Andrew "Drool" Kiteley deduced that this was the Toronto punk legends' first Soo show in 17 years (circa 1997, in other words.) Far too long, if you ask most people on Saturday! Bar sales even came close to breaking the venue's record, which is a neat accomplishment in itself! Solid write-up as usual, and as for her photos, 31 of Donna's shots made the article, sixteen of which coming from Random Killing's set and fans, but there's also 4 from Jack Spades' set, 6 from Destroilet's set (including one of guest singer Garry Ingram), three from London punk quartet Gatgas' set, and two from The Elements' opening set, so click here to see all of Donna's great pictures!

In case you're wondering, Local2 video cameras were on hand for an episode of Tuned with Donna Hopper, so I'd look for that in the coming days as well! As for more press coverage, an unexpected local news source was in attendance last week too, that being... the Sault This Week?! Yes, our free weekly newspaper was there, as Ali Pearson's interview with Andrew (credited as Drew throughout) is available to read both online at this location and in page 14 of this week's paper in the "Faces of the Sault" section. The article mentions that Drew travels home often to visit family, and features his remarks on how he got into punk rock, his move to Toronto and eventual addition to Random Killing, how they got a song on Sesame Street, his recent day jobs outside of the band, and information on his personal life. It's a nice in-depth article that could also serve as a crash course into his life for those unfamiliar with him or Random Killing, so check it out at the above links or your most recent issue of Sault This Week! Stay tuned for more Hardcore Homecoming fallout as we hear it!

Also today, here's notes on two recent band additions for two of local concert promoter J.D. Pearce's Halloween season shows! One is for the Gob concert at The Rockstar Bar on Wednesday, October 29th, as he confirmed yesterday on the Facebook event page that local indie/punk quintet Northwest have been added to the lineup, apparently in place of Oakville punk band Seaway for unannounced reasons (though their Facebook page implies that their tour dates with Gob end the previous day.) As far as I can tell, this will be Northwest's first public concert set since the release of their self-titled digital EP, though I have no idea whether there will be physical copies at the Gob show. Solid addition though, so don't miss them along with Gob and fellow locals Jack Spades & Redundant on October 29th! The other band addition comes two days later and one floor down for J.D.'s annual Halloween party at The Algonquin Pub on the 31st, as local hardcore punk quintet Destroilet will play this event for a second straight year, in just their second gig of 2014!

Quietly confirmed in recent days on this show's event page, this will mark the first non-Coch's Corner installment of J.D.'s Halloween shows to feature an all-local lineup (alongside Frightlight's farewell set and Sykotyk Rampage), and Destroilet should compliment things well with their old school sound, so prepare yourself for quite a Halloween season of punk and metal action! Stay tuned for updates on these and J.D.'s other shows as we hear more!

Finally for today, here's the latest news, good and bad, from local alternative/grunge quartet Haggith! On the positive side, the band revealed on their Facebook page last week that their upcoming concept album "Apocalypse II" is making great progress in studio, and it may be their last album released exclusively through their label Paperclip Productions, likely thanks to new bassist James White and the combined availability of his White Wreckords recording studio, which "XIV" is partially being recorded at (though no word yet on if James will be the sole bassist on it or not.) However, drummer Mike Haggith revealed on his solo Facebook page on Wednesday that he'll "be stepping away from music for a little while" due to "unfortunate developments" in his personal life so he can work to better himself. Mike elaborated that this will likely delay both of Haggith's upcoming albums and his planned re-release of his first "Neighbourhood Watch" solo CD (and presumably his teased best of release) for an indefinite time.

That said, Mike clarified that this won't affect the band's concert schedule, as Haggith aren't booked to play again until The Soo Zombie Walk on October 25th, though we'll keep you guys posted if anything changes in regard to that set. I do know the personal reasons behind Mike's break, and though I won't publicize them here unless he does, I hope he can power through this and be back in form before we know it! When all is back to normal, look for some big updates from Haggith, and best of luck!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes hopefully soon! Thanks everyone!