SweetKenny Album Updates, Local Musicians' Short Films, And Much More!!

Let's clear out all remaining backlogged stories for The Sault Metal Scene today, so what's in store? Along with some shorter recent items (including an upcoming EP release), we have some link restorations, a recap of short films by local metal artists that recently recieved their local debut, and first, some big news and updates concerning an upcoming album across the river, so here's what you need to know! (Updated at 7:34 PM)

Dafter, Michigan hard rock solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton has announced some larger details concerning his upcoming eighth solo album "Ink!", so what should you know? Scheduled for release on March 31st (three weeks from tomorrow), Ken describes it as "a 'heavy rock' fun album" with a mix of instrumentals and songs with vocals, and it features 10 tracks in total. Unlike his last two vocal-featured albums, there are no credited guest performers, though like his 2013 releases, streaming copies of all 10 songs are now available to check out at this link! Now, as we just reviewed SweetKenny's album "Perception" in November, I will hold our next review of one of his albums until May to maintain our minimum 6 month buffer between repeat reviews of the same artist, but if it comes out on time, "Ink!" will be next for his albums! For reference, we haven't reviewed his presently newest album "Cracks In The Wall" from last fall yet, but I chose "Ink!" because it's heavier on average. Watch out for that in two months, and pick up "Ink!" on CDBaby and other sites upon it's release!

Next up, I wanted to give a mention to a pair of short films that were filmed by local metal musicians, as I attended their debut local screenings last night at Algoma University! One was from Frightlight bassist Mike Gingras (a.k.a. Eddie Fright) and Party Island Productions, and it was "The Kid Who Made The Face", the very same film from last summer's benefit show at The Rosie. It's a mockumentary about the fallout from & search for a kid who made such a horrible face at a Toronto mall 25 years ago that it changed the lives of everyone who saw it, including a character played by Mike's brother Dano Villano (of Howling Bullets fame.) Well made and full of amusing moments, it even featured some Frightlight in-jokes (a character wore a band shirt, and another complimented their stature), though Mike told me that no Frightlight music was included because all of their songs are already about movies. The second movie was "The Last Strand" by AlgomA frontman Boyd Rendell (a.k.a. Darby Wigwaus) & 62nd Chamber Productions, so how was that?

It was basically about a night in the life of two mall janitors, one eccentric & crude, the other serious and ill-tempered, until one hits their "last strand". If the credit date is accurate, the movie was filmed before AlgomA's launch, so there's no direct band references (though bassist Kevin Campbell has a small role as a mall employee.) It was a well made movie too with an interesting contrast of characters, and a nice familiar setting, though the audio sounded distorted for much of it. It was nice to get to see Mike & Boyd's hard work pay off, and look for physical copies of them in the coming months!

Also today, I wanted to let you guys know of a couple more restored MySpace links to our listings on the site, thanks to the website's recent revivals of old photos and videos! That said, I'm glad to return defunct Sault Ontario concert agency Big Voiced Records & former Sault Michigan studio Klusterfunk Productions to our "Other Local Metal Links" sections! That said, I opted not to restore the links for Adamantium Productions, the Bell Border Jam, Hitman Productions, Infamous Productions, idioRECORDS, Lucky Limb Studios, The Mistresses of Metal, or The Satisfied Frog, as they lack videos or relevant detailed photos, so their restoration would depend on MySpace bringing back profile information. Big Voiced Records was local musician Jeremy Hannah's former hardcore concert promotion agency, and their MySpace page is full of concert posters from 2007 & 2008 like this one, while Klusterfunk Productions worked with artists like Clownsack during their mid-2000s heyday. It's great to restore some old content to our links, even if just in two cases, so check the above links for more old/new info, and stay tuned in case there's more!

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

• Local death metal standouts The Bear Hunters will indeed play at this year's Sewer Swampstravaganza at The Oddfellows Hall on May 3rd, as confirmed on the Facebook event page yesterday! The fifth confirmed band, their addition (and RedD Monkey's hiatus) will make them the only act to play at all 4 Swampstravaganzas. Great addition as expected, and stay tuned for further lineup updates!
• The now-London based djent metal project Hiroshima Mutant Mindframe has uploaded a handful of short clips and breakdown samples onto their Soundcloud page in the last few weeks! Though unfinished, all have promise and brutality, so even though Matt moved down south, give his very solid new audio previews a look above, along with older material!
• Though a post on the Facebook event page post yesterday by singer J.D. Pearce indicated that local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades would release their debut EP at this Saturday's Anvil show at The Canadian Nightclub, he revealed on our Facebook page tonight that there was a "snag" in production, and they're now aiming for an April release. Disappointing, but look for some new originals from them on Saturday regardless!

That's all for today, but stay tuned TOMORROW for this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Lion Ride), A New Local Band, Detroit News, And More!!!

Greetings everyone, it's time to hit you guys with a packed news post, with a new local band, some out of town shows from local bands, new stuff concerning Detroit's new album, some new local videos, an event page for an upcoming show, a new recording studio link, plus Kiss and Destroilet news! But first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!! (Remember to read my review of Clownsack's debut CD immediately below this post!)

According to their MySpace page, Lion Ride will be coming back home a lot sooner than we'd figured! They will apparently be back at The Rockstar Bar on February 6th, only 6 weeks after they last played locally (which was also at The Rockstar Bar!) Their MySpace page says the show will start at 10:00 PM, though that could change. It also lists a $5 cover, so keep that in mind. Of course, more details are likely to come in in the coming weeks, so stay tuned as I hear more! Myself, I can't wait, I never would have guessed they'd be back so soon! Unless something unforseen comes up, I'll be there! Stay tuned to the SMS for updates! We'll get back to Lion Ride later in the post!

Next up, I have a new local band we can cover on the SMS! Remember that band Turner Up that I mentioned on New Years Day that Steve Brogno from Driving Dave Home is the drummer for? Well, they're more metal than he implied to me! Singer/guitarist Todd Killam confirmed to me on their Facebook group that they play everything from 54-40 (not metal) to White Zombie and The Stone Temple Pilots, who definitely count! Hell, I'm a huge White Zombie fan, it's great to hear that a local band covers them! So yeah, I missed the chance to cover their New Years show at Foggy Notions, and it looks like it would have been fun! No audio or video yet though, but they look extremely promising, and not just cause Todd Killam had a Zakk Wylde bullseye Les Paul guitar! Also, as a side note, I spotted ex-The Chosen frontwoman Taryn Bugyra from Foggy's guesting on vocals in one of the pics, like she did at the Caveman Morrison show! That'd have been cool also! So Turner Up are the newest band on our band listings on the left of the page! Can't wait to see them live, check out their official Facebook group for more info!

So I'm sure that some of you guys have picked up Detroit's new album "Brace For Impact" since it's release last week, but if not, the band are helping spread the word! If you want a preview of it, they've uploaded five of the songs from the album onto their MySpace page! Accordingly, they've also updated their MySpace page to match the new album, and it looks very nice! To get a copy of "Brace For Impact", they still haven't officially announced it's on sale at any stores or websites, so my best guess is that you should contact the band directly through MySpace if you'd like a copy! They were $5 at the CD release show, should be a similar price now too! I have my copy, and I will review it on February 1st! So check the songs out on MySpace if you're interested, and if you're not, here's one of the songs, "Darth Vader", which was uploaded to YouTube the other day by bassist Mark Rand!



While we're on the subject of bands featuring Mark Rand, both Detroit and Lion Ride have booked some new shows for out of town! Detroit will be back at The Bovine Sex Club in Toronto on January 19th for a FREE show with extra bands to be announced! I'd love for them to play a free show here, maybe one day! Then, 10 days later, Lion Ride will hit Barrie for a show at The Foxx Lounge with Southern Ontario rockers White Cowbell Oklahoma! Great to see them back on the road, hopefully these shows go well!

Next up, a pair of cool updates concerning two local bands that look to soon be hitting the studio: First, Sense of Truth have launched an event page for their concert on Tuesday with Ultraviolence at Coch's Corner (Poster to the left!) Through the page, I can confirm that sadly, Sense of Truth will be lacking guitarist Steve Myers for the show, as he's in Cuba. Whether frontman Cory Murchison will handle rhythm guitar again for the show or not remains to be seen. It's a 10:00 PM show with no cover charge, and Sense of Truth are hyping that this will be their last show before they hit the studio to record their first CD! They promise to unveil a new song that's faster, harder, and heavier, which should be awesome! I'll definitely be at this show, I've missed Sense of Truth too many times, and Ultraviolence are awesome too! Hope to see you guys there, confirm your attendance at this location! Meanwhile, local thrash/punk rockers Destroilet have announced via their also recently remodeled MySpace page that they will begin working on their first EP in the coming months, with a CD release show for the spring! Hopefully that goes as planned, I'd love to hear some studio quality originals from them! I'll keep you guys posted as I hear more on both bands!

Another new link to add to the SMS also today, and it comes courtesy of a Sault Michigan recording studio! It is Klusterfunk Studios, which is ran by local musicians Paul Stanaway and Josh Mayer! This counts as "metal" because this was the studio where Clownsack recorded their first album, "Rotten Candy" (Klusterfunk Studios' MySpace page even has "Saudi-A-Ripoff" on their music player!) No other metal bands are listed on their page that worked with them, though they've worked with notable local bands of other genres like Campfire 3.14, The Bourbons, and TT, among many others! Their MySpace hasn't been updated since May, but they seem like a very good studio, here's hoping they're still in the production game! So they're now in the Other Local Metal Links on the right of the page!

And finally for today, here's a question: What was the biggest news story of 2009? No, I'm not talking about the poll we're running on the SMS, I mean in general. SooToday's running a big poll where we can decide what the biggest news story of any type was in 2009, and as I expected, the whole Kiss saga is a choice! They grouped everything from the initial vote to Susan Myers to the eventual postponement into one choice, and it's one of 20 choices SooToday has on their poll! EDIT: As of 5:15 PM today, Kiss are currently third in the vote behind the local swine flu outbreak, and the death of three local soldiers in Afghanistan. Personally, I don't know if Kiss was the most "important" local story of 2009 in general, especially compared to the loss of some fellow Saultites overseas, but wouldn't it be cool to see Kiss ranked at least second? Vote today, let's get Kiss higher on their poll! And if you have voted, click here for the results to date!

(Oh yeah, VOTE IN OUR POLL ON THE SMS TOO! Fifteen choices for the biggest local metal story of 2009, four of which involve Kiss in some fashion! Let's see this top 50 votes again, I wanna know what you guys think!)

That's all for today, more news and updates are coming very soon, including some more concert videos and stuff like that! Also, if I don't get around to mentioning it beforehand, I highly recommend going to see Anvil! The Story of Anvil at The Grand Theater on Friday night! It looks like an awesome movie, and it's the most metal thing there since last spring, so why not make it out? Thanks everyone, more stuff to come!