Here's a new news post on this Tuesday night, which features a recently revived solo project and some recent updates & teasers from an established act, but first, here's what you should know about a brand new addition to our band links!
We have a new local hard rock band to add to our active Sault Ontario band links, namely Far From Fine! This name will be unfamiliar, but you may have seen them live already, as this band debuted at Toystock at The Grand Gardens North in November under the name Ravencore. A reason for the name change wasn't announced, but on their new Facebook page, Far From Fine acknowledged that they were initially waiting to launch it in conjunction with their planned debut album (which was teased in this SooToday article on their Toystock set), but opted to get this up in advance of the summer concert season for promotional sake. Effectively, Far From Fine are successors to the 2012-2016 hard rock band The Suicide Kings (a.k.a. Beaumont Avenue), with singer Mike Gaetano and current Handsome Sandwich guitarist Mitch Sirie reunited as such. Mike also handles rhythm guitar and keyboard in this project.
The rhythm section features former Gnaeus bassist Matt Fronzi and former Brutally Fatal/Revolution frontman Austin "Mickey" McCrae on drums. Uniquely, each band member has an image on Facebook featuring a brief question & answer section (how Angelfire or Tripod of them!), which reveals details about their setlist, planned original songs, and favourite local bands, though Austin didn't give an answer on the latter query. Their covers do skew towards a more varied range of bands than The Suicide Kings played, with Everclear, Good Charlotte, and Blackstreet cited, while they are known to have covered Weezer at Toystock. Originals named "Relapse", "This Way Again", and "Poison In My Mind" are cited as individual favourites of the band so far, though Matt couldn't name one over the rest. The lyrics for "Relapse" and another original song named "Broken" have been posted as images on the band's Facebook page as well.
No media samples or planned concert dates are posted yet, but given that they already played live as Ravencore, got local news coverage out of it (especially with Mike's son Gavin guesting on drums), and that they already have at least four original songs ready, then these are all good signs for Far From Fine in 2023! I have no idea if the guys have actually been recording their originals in studio already or if they're still writing and rehearsing them, but thye're on the right foot, so visit the above links for more on Ravencore Far From Fine, and if you know where to look, a couple of videos from Toystock are floating around on personal Facebook accounts!
Next up, here's the latest from local/Barrie crossover thrash quintet Spades GT's Facebook page! True to their pattern of one "Reel" per day of each band member, that series closed on Sunday with a "Reel" of guitarist Jay "Redbeard" Sarrazin playing at an unidentified concert. A fine guitar solo, just a shame that I can't embed it here! Again, this is Facebook's fault, not the band's. The "Reels" did keep coming though, with another one posted yesterday featuring singer J.D. Pearce and both guitarists rocking out mid-song, and today seeing another one, this time obviously cribbed from the "Hands" video that Jake Disman filmed at the Road To Lockdown Fest in Toronto on April 7th. Earlier today, the guys did tease that a "big announcement" will be made on their Facebook page at 7:00 PM tomorrow, allegedly "the first of many this spring", though I have no definitive word on what they're getting at yet, or if it'd even be locally relevant as opposed to something for the GTA.
Remember that they were recording their new album in Toronto earlier this year, while J.D. is likely back as curator for The Northern Vibe Festival's band-centric Forest Stage in August, so another Jack Spades homecoming set would likely follow in Ophir once again (festival organizers revealed the DJ-centric River Stage lineup yesterday, with the band announcement "coming soon"). In any event, we'll keep you guys posted on the latest news and notes from Spades GT when it comes in!
We'll close today with a surprise revival of a local grunge/alternative solo project, namely Kush Wood! The subject of our Defunct Local Band Profile just last month, project leader Kristien Woodcock posted on their Facebook page for the first time in over two years on April 10th, and has two new acoustic cover videos to show for it, one being a "Reel" of him covering Matthew Good's "Symbolistic White Walls". Sounds good while it lasts, but of course, the limitations of "Reels" are noted. The other video is cross-posted from Kush Wood's Instagram page, and while videos from there are not the cleanest thing to embed on the SMS, at least you can do it, unlike TikTok videos (not to mention "Reels"!). This sees Kristien covering Stone Sour's "Through Glass", and while neither of these videos are overly long, it's good to see him back at it with some strongly played & sung renditions! Give these a look, and Kush Wood are back in our active links!
It's now time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, as we shine a light on another local metal, hard rock, or punk act from the past, as randomly selected from our inactive band links! This month's choice is a more recent solo act who had a lot of promise despite never being a live act, so here's what you should know on them!
Hometown:Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/General Viejo, Costa Rica
Genre: Alternative Rock/Grunge
Lineup:
Kristien Woodcock, vocals/guitar
Audio/Video: Kush Wood released four studio singles to major streaming services like Spotify in 2020 & 2021, namely "Intent & Design", "Love Replace This", "Down The River", and "The Passage Way", while a separate original song named "Weathering Change" was posted to their Bandcamp page in 2016. Most of Kush Wood's media was otherwise posted to their YouTube channel, which mostly features solo acoustic covers by Kristien, though you can hear versions of unreleased originals like "The Shade" and "The Open Highway" here. A solid amount of covers that lean to 1990s alternative rock acts are also present, though his cover of The Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush" is a Soundcloud exclusive from their singer search. Here is Kristien's playing "Love Replace This" in one of his last YouTube uploads from 2020!
Info/Analysis: Launching the Kush Wood Facebook page in December 2015 while working in Costa Rica, Kristien originally put out solo cover recordings, but he did post two original songs to Bandcamp before the project went inactive after July 2017. After an almost 3 year hiatus, a now-long haired Kristien resurrected Kush Wood in March 2020 with a Patreon page and plans to release new originals on major streaming services. New songs and performance videos followed for the next year, but Kristien has only posted thrice since the spring of 2021, all to share posts not about Kush Wood. It's a shame that Kush Wood fell inactive again, as Kristien had a good thing going with well produced throwback originals that felt like a modern take on the grunge era, and in a town that had bands like No Arrow and Haggith, he'd have gotten a good reception had Kush Wood played live gigs!
Kristien also has a versatile range for melodic tones and grittier effects, and his songs adapt well to acoustic and electric styles if songs like "The Passage Way" are any indication, so hopefully we haven't heard the absolute last from Kush Wood! Give their originals and covers a watch/listen for yourself to see what you think!
I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This series will return on or around April 10th with our second Sault Michigan profile of 2023, as our latest random selection is early-mid 2010s hard rock cover trio Power Slug! Look for that next month, and for more news and notes on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!
Before we dive into this weekend's hard rock concert previews, here's a new news post to check out on this stormy Wednesday night, which wraps up with some assorted recent updates, but let's lead off with a batch of new videos, starting another new video from local/Barrie punk/metal quartet Spades GT! This comes from Toronto filmmaker Aidan Grossman of the The Grossman Film Group, who filmed and edited this seven minute clip for the band, and be advised that while the YouTube video is unlisted there, Spades' Facebook page shared the clip publically earlier today. The video was shot at their set opening for Anvil at The Rockpile in Toronto last month, and it features the absolute best quality video footage I've seen of Spades (Jack or GT), but it's not just about that, as Aidan also filmed new band members Daniel Rodbard & Tyler Reiner prepping for the show and driving to the venue (meeting up with J.D. and Dan there).
You also see the guys setting up for their gear & some one-on-one remarks outside The Rockpile before we get soundcheck and performance footage taking up most of the last 2½ minutes. Nice little "Inside Baseball" look at Spades GT getting ready for a concert in their current era, and again, the video quality is excellent for the performance clips, as brief as they are! It'd be awesome if Aidan could post the whole unedited set, but if you want to watch the whole thing from another attendee, check back on the SMS by the weekend. Check things out below, and look for a couple of cameos by Anvil drummer Robb Reiner (Tyler's dad!)
Next up, here's another new video of new local acoustic hard rock (and online page-less) duo Short & Sweet from the Parabol concert at Soo Blaster last week, as per frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel once again! Why he's staggering uploads like this, I'm not sure, but it does mean that we're covering Short & Sweet more frequently! This time out, you will see him and Kyle covering another Seether song, namely "Wasteland" (definitely not the same named song by 10 Years). Another strongly handled cover that's effectively pared down to an acoustic duo format, in spite of some jittery camera work, so give it a watch below!
Also today, here's the latest from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown, who revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that their second show with their current lineup will take place on July 13th.... in Chesterfield Township, outside of Detroit. Alas, no local dates yet, hopefully at some point soon! Specifically, they'll be opening for Nonpoint (of "Bullet With A Name" and "Left For You" fame) that night at the Diesel Concert Lounge, so click here for details on that show if you're so inclined. In the video proper, singer Brandon West (who randomly loses his shirt midway through) and guitarist Ted Olson are bantering with someone off camera while allegedly signing their contract to open for this concert, before plugging the show proper. They also have tickets to sell for $20 a piece (message them for details), so this may be one of those "openers pay to perform and sell tickets to offset the cost" situations that you see more of in larger markets.
Still a huge deal for H.L.T.C. to open for a name band like this, let alone in their second show with this lineup (this will be huge for Jaxon especially), so give the announcement video at this link! I cannot embed the video here due to Facebook content matching the music in the video, even though it is from Heavy Lies The Crown's own album.
Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter new items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:
I have moved Sault Ontario alternative/grunge solo project Kush Wood to our inactive band links, having not updated their Facebook page since sharing a meme in May of last year. Project leader Kristien Woodcock had been active recording original content since 2015, and he had a good thing going despite us only discovering his work last summer, so hopefully he picks things back up for Kush Wood in due course!
As per their Facebook page last month, local industrial metal solo project Molten Imp has left Bandcamp (at least for now) to devote more resources to uploading new material on a perceived overlooked platform, namely Soundcloud, while also introducing a Patreon account for paid backers to get exclusive content. As such, their prior paid virtual singles can now be heard for free on Soundcloud, albeit without the paid buyer-exclusive bonus tracks. Sounds like Boyd's thinking outside the box a little for his imminent music work, but we'll see how things ahead go for Molten Imp!
Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews will hit the road for DeTour Village (70 minutes southeast of the Soo) this Saturday for a free outdoor concert at their marina as part of DeTour Village's summer concert series! Now, DeTour Village is just outside of our coverage range (it and Drummond Island are really the only parts of Chippewa County that are more than hour's drive away), but if you're up for a drive or live near the southeast tip of the county, you'll see Rhythm & Brews at DeTour's marina on Saturday at 6:00 PM, and hopefully things go well!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
We have a new news post to check out on this warm Tuesday, and while we're half focusing on videos from a recent Sault Michigan concert, let's stay in Sault Ontario to start, courtesy of a new teaser video and a newly added solo project to our full coverage! Here's what you should know!
We have a new local solo musician to add to our local band links, namely Kush Wood (real name Kristien Woodcock), an alternative/grunge musician who has actually had his solo Facebook page up and running since 2015! Apologies for the delay in finally rolling Kush Wood into our band links, of course, but let's make up for lost time! Kristien is not familiar from past local bands, but you may have first heard of him via his run of grunge and alternative-leaning unplugged videos posted to his YouTube channel through 2017 (partially uploaded when he was working in Costa Rica), plus his entry into the Stone Temple Pilots singer contest that you can still hear on Soundcloud. In March 2020, Kush Wood returned with long hair after a three year public hiatus, and has continued posting new and re-recorded videos and original singles over the past year, with many now available on digital platforms like Spotify, Bandcamp, and Apple Music.
The grunge influence is very prevalent in Kush Wood's originals, and while Kristien seems to have Scott Weiland as a vocal inspiration, his own songs are closer in spirit to "Jar of Flies"-era Alice In Chains, if more optimistic. Production can be a work in progress, especially with the obvious drum programming, but Kush Wood is on to something, and it's nice hearing a grunge-inspired solo act like this around here! Give Kush Wood a listen above, and here's his video for "Love Replace This"!
Next up, here's a very brief teaser video for something that local party metal band The Apocalypse Afterparty were recording with Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno's Spacebag Productions in March. Uploaded to drummer Amanda Stanghetta's personal Facebook page and subsequently shared publically to the band's own Facebook page, this features frontman/Amanda's husband Paul covering Saul Williams' "List of Demands (Reparations)" in a bathroom, with Josh manning a very professional camera at a close angle. No one else is playing the song proper in this 13 second clip, but given the setting, there might not be room for everyone anyway! If this is going to be a professional multi-angle video of this cover, other band members will have been shot separately, but so far, I don't believe it's out yet. We'll let you know when/if the video is released, but give Amanda's teaser clip a watch below!
Let's head to the Sault Michigan area to close, via new live videos of local hard rock trio Tarnished's "summer rock party" concert outside of Hulbert House Bed & Breakfast in nearby Hulbert Township on Saturday night! The venue's Facebook page uploaded or live-streamed five videos of Tarnished's set, which allow us to see their outdoor stage setup, which will also be used for their set opening for Gunnar & The Grizzly Boys in August. Looks professional enough to do the job, though it's placement sideways along the slope of a hill is definitely an interesting visual! As for the videos proper, two are from later in the night from a closer zoom of the stage, with Tarnished covering Seether's "Remedy" and Poison's "Every Rose Has It's Thorn". The other three are in daylight and are thankfully much longer, including covers of Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black" and Everlast's "What It's Like".
The other video is over 9 minutes long and captures songs from near the start of their set, including the end of frontman Alex Traynor's solo track "Life Is Made Of Lies" and covers of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" and Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust". This video has definite audio quality difficulties, so I'd be embedding another one here, if Hulbert House hadn't blocked external embedding of these videos, alas. Given that the two full songs in the 9 minute clip are very bass heavy, who is playing bass in Tarnished now? Alex himself (and on a five string bass, no less!) It is surprising to see him not on guitar, but if him switching instruments allows them to play live short term, go for it! Unfortunately, only the Everlast cover is on a horizontal camera angle, but the filmers do zoom in and get closer to the stage on the other clips. Performance-wise, Tarnished are on their game!
Despite not having a high turnout (remember, the band didn't plug this date until Wednesday, and Hulbert is an hour's drive west), they're in good spirits and clearly happy to be back on an E.U.P. stage for the first time since March! And again, this will be a preview of what to expect when they play Hulbert House's outdoor stage again in August, pandemic willing. Give these videos a look via the links above, and that's all for today, but look for our next Defunct Local Band Profile by Friday! Thanks everyone!
