Weekend Concert Previews And Some Concert Cancellations!!

Today's first post was originally supposed to be 100% dedicated to concert previews, but some cancellations have came my way, including one of this weekend's shows, so I'll start with them before we get into the concerts still on. One of the cancellations is sadly for TONIGHT's Music Mayhem all ages concert at The Oddfellows Hall, which promoter Jeremy Hannah confirmed was off due to scheduling conflicts with some of the scheduled performers. The Facebook event page was deleted yesterday afternoon, though he did say to look out for new shows & events he'd be promoting. Shame that the Friday the 13th bad luck hit this show, especially with all of the notable debuts and returns among the lineup (i.e. Borderline Divine's first concert in 2 years, Changing Waves' first show in 3 months, and F.A.T.I.L.'s Oddfellows Hall debut), but hopefully we see all the scheduled bands back soon! The other cancellations were for Brimley metallers Half A Man's scheduled Sault Michigan concerts with Detroit hard rockers Fifth Way over the April 27th weekend, as per the deletion of the shows' Facebook event page yesterday. A reason for the cancellation has not been announced, though note that venues were never publically announced for the dates, so that could be related.

Disappointing news for sure, but you can still see Fifth Way that weekend at Kewadin Casino as openers for The Gin Blossoms, and Half A Man are scheduled to return from their year-long stage hiatus by LemmaFest, so keep an eye out! Now, we have previews for six concerts from three metal/hard rock bands in the twin Saults for this much lighter weekend, so here's what you need to know for the heavier concerts of the weekend that are on as scheduled!

First, we'll head to The Canadian Nightclub this weekend for some tribute band action, as Toronto-based Aerosmith tribute act Mama Kin are coming back to Sault Ontario TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Last seen in the area about two years ago, this talented quintet deliver an authentic looking and sounding experience that Aerosmith fans are sure to eat up, and hopefully there's a big crowd all weekend at The Canadian for Mama Kin! Hopefully the advance advertising at the venue and on the radio is helping get awareness up, but no matter what, head down to The Canadian this weekend if you love Aerosmith! Both of these shows are 19+ events, I'd assume a 10:00 PM start time is in order for both nights, and a cover charge of around $5 seems likely, so don't come with empty pockets. Check the above links for more details! The Canadian Nightclub has always been good for booking talented tribute bands, and though I'm not a huge Aerosmith fan, Mama Kin have the chops, so don't miss them tonight or tomorrow! Vocals aren't an exact match, but fans shouldn't be disappointed, so consider making it out this weekend, and for a preview, here's Mama Kin playing "Dude Looks Like A Lady" at a 2010 concert!



Also for heavier concerts this weekend is another pair of dates from local metal trio Caveman Morrison! Two weeks after their current lineup debuted at The Nicolet Tavern, the popular cover act will make their first appearances at The Roosevelt Hotel since re-adding drummer Johnny Belanger to their lineup TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT in what should be another solid weekend of metal and hard rock hits! Nothing seems to be too different from Caveman Morrison's other concerts of late, but if you've missed them in the West End in recent months, you should definitely take notice of their Rosie returns this weekend! Admission should be free, both shows have 9:30 PM start times, and you must be 19 to attend either tonight or tomorrow's festivities. For more information, visit the official Facebook event page! With their new lineup settled in and a return to The Nic already lined up for next weekend, Caveman Morrison appear to be back in full force, so don't sleep on their new lineup, and consider a trip to the Rosie to check them out this weekend! For a preview, here's Caveman Morrison covering Judas Priest's "The Ripper" at The Rosie late last year!



Finally for this weekend, there's at least a couple of heavier concerts going down, courtesy of Sault Michigan hard rock notables Monkey's Uncle! According to Kewadin Casino's entertainment page, this talented local band are scheduled to at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT in their first appearances there since November! Their absence has been noticeable, and though I assume they've played elsewhere locally in the interim, their pages aren't updated enough for me to know about any other possible gigs, so if I missed something, my apologies. That said, Monkey's Uncle have not officially confirmed these shows, but the venue has, and Kewadin's entertainment page has always proved to be a reliable source of concert dates, so I assume these are on as scheduled. Admission should be free, you must be 21 to attend either tonight or tomorrow's shows, and 10:00 PM start times seem standard. Check the above links for more details! Monkey's Uncle are a talented band with lots of solid covers and originals in the classic and hard rock genres, so don't miss them at Kewadin Casino this weekend, especially with the rarity of online advance word of their shows! For a preview, here's Monkey's Uncle covering Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" in 2008!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for some bigger news stories later tonight! 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!

Half A Man News And The Winner Of March Mayhem!

In our final post for this Saturday three-for-all, we have three aims: Preview a concert tomorrow night, update you guys on some recording plans from that band, and unveil the winner of our March Mayhem tournament! Before we preview tomorrow's concert, remember that the previously announced punk show at Foggy Notions tomorrow featuring Dancing With Paris has been cancelled, but you can still see them at The Oddfellows Hall on May 28th, details of which you can find at this location! But there is still one metal show tomorrow, so here's what you need to know!

Brimley hard rockers Half A Man are back on the local stage tomorrow night for a special early concert at Golanka's Bar (The Bird)! Though the band have lots of great original hard rock in store for their fans tomorrow, there's a lot more going on than just their set. This show will serve as an afterparty for a softball team's opening game, though I'm not sure of the specifics. I'd guess it's either a Bird-sponsored team, a team made of Bird employees, or has band members or family/friends on the team. Aside from that, I have heard that Half A Man have giveaways planned for free band merchandise, and the people behind the upcoming "Yooper Bars" book will officially be on hand to gather photos and info on The Bird for their book, so if you want to make a cameo in the book or talk about The Bird, there's some added incentive! This show has a special early start time of 7:30 PM, you must be 21 to attend, and there is no cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! There's a lot going on tomorrow evening, but remember to be there for Half A Man's set, as their hard hitting music is making a fast rise in the local scene, so they'll be on the top of their game! For a preview, here's Half A Man playing their song "Drunk" at The Bird in February!



Also, I wanted to add that Half A Man announced on their Facebook page last month that they've unveiled their official plans to record a full length album this summer! They're planning to hit McNally Smith Studios in St. Paul, Minnesota in June to record the album, with a hoped release date for late 2011. The band also noted that they could get former Machine Head/Soulfly guitarist Logan Mader to mix and master the album, presumably through his production team Dirty Mind Productions, but nothing is concrete. Click here for full details! Intriguing news overall, I hope everything falls into place, and I'll absolutely pick the album up when it comes out!

And now, here's the conclusion to the SMS March Mayhem tournament! So, who won the tournament, and how does the final bracket look? The results are below!


Congratulations to Sykotyk Rampage, the winners of the March Mayhem tournament! The local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet took a surprising 207-83 win over Frightlight in the last week of voting to claim 1st place in this tournament! This was definitely a surprising result in both vote totals and pre-final round predictions, but Sykotyk Rampage did good to win all 5 matchups they were placed in! What does this all mean though? In terms of the spoils for the winner, it's just bragging rights, as the tournament was all basically an experiment in good faith. Some could point to band member-run voting campaigns for some of the results, but to me, it's just indicative of their devoted fan base rallying together! The results are interesting overall though, providing some interesting insights into some band's fan bases and how they can surprise you when the votes come in! Will we do this again, possibly with Sault Michigan bands? I don't know. I won't do one right away, as I do want to get back to some old school polls on the SMS over the next few months, but if I do do another, you guys will get lots of advance word, and it'll hopefully get an even bigger response! So congratulations to Sykotyk Rampage again, and here's hoping you guys enjoyed the tournament on the whole!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow, as I have a "surprise" post to share tomorrow to help make up for the delays the other day. What's the surprise? Well, if you see me at The Canadian Nightclub tonight, that could be a hint. Thanks everyone!

Fuck The Facts Concert Preview & The SMS March Mayhem Finals!!

Hey guys, it's time for another post, with two aims: To psyche you up for a concert tomorrow night, and to launch the finals of the SMS March Mayhem tournament! First though, let's get previewing!

Ottawa grindcore quintet Fuck The Facts are returning to Sault Ste. Marie for the first time in 2 ½ years tomorrow night! After last devastating a local audience in November 2008 at The Grand Theatre, this female-fronted outfit will make their way to The Roosevelt Hotel on Monday in a Dismembertainment-promoted night of metal madness! If you enjoy brutal fast death metal with guttural and brutal vocals, you'll enjoy Fuck The Facts, so don't forget this concert! Two local bands will open at this show, including extreme quintet WinkStinger & grimecore rockers Shit Liver! For WinkStinger, this is their first show in a month, and first Rosie appearance in two months, so it's been a relatively long time coming for their next show, while Shit Liver are back in full force to deliver their own unique brand of death metal as openers! This show will have a special $4 cover, but you know that if a Rosie show has a cover, it'll be of extra quality and prominence, so it's worth paying! This show will also be 19+ with a 9:00 PM or later start time. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This should be an awesome show, hopefully I can make it out! I need more metal, and fast, so hopefully they'll deliver from after their last show here! For a preview, here's Fuck The Facts' music video for their song "The Sound Of Your Smashed Head"!



And now, it's time for the finals of the SMS March Mayhem tournament, as we come down to the final two bands left after seven weeks of voting! First though, here are the results of last week's semifinals!

Frightlight def. As It Stands 89-76

Sykotyk Rampage def. Mike Cliffe 127-87

What do you guys think? The Frightlight win wasn't what I predicted, but it was a close vote all week long, and both bands have put in great showings and support from the beginning! Sykotyk Rampage ended Mike Cliffe's Cinderella run in the tournament with a more decisive victory, as their also-surprising run takes them into the finals! Congratulations to Mike on making it this far though, it's a good sign! With those matchups now wrapped up, here is the updated tournament bracket!

Amazing that this is almost over, huh? Well, without any further adieu, here's the tournament finale, the final matchup!


Can Frightlight's horror punk attack take out the surprising Sykotyk Rampage's crash punk sounds? It will be interesting to see who takes this final matchup, which you have ONE WEEK to vote on! Vote at the left of the page for this final poll in the SMS March Mayhem tournament! Who'll win it all? We find out next Saturday! Stay tuned for that, reviews, and more very soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half A Man) & The SMS March Mayhem Semifinals!!

Hey guys, I apologize for this being later than it usually is, but that's the joys of vacation plans. This post shall lead off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, but then we'll transition into the latest SMS March Mayhem updates, including the debut of the final four! Let's get things going!

Brimley hard rockers Half A Man are playing a rare all ages concert on The Fourth of July! This will serve as both an official outdoor show and as a Fourth of July barbeque to take place at 6816 South Main Street in Brimley. I believe this is likely at or near a band member's house, but don't quote me on that. This event has a 1:00 PM start time, but I imagine the band might not play until later. It is definitely an ALL AGES show, and there is no listed admission price. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sounds like a fun time, and what better way is there to spend both Independence Day & the SMS' 4th anniversary? Details aren't entirely out there yet for what's going on, but stay tuned to the above links for info as it comes in!

Now it's time to update the SMS March Mayhem bracket as we finish the quarterfinals, narrowing the bands down to a final four! Who made the final four? Here's the results of the third round!

As It Stands def. Destroilet 35-17

Frightlight def. Lion Ride 39-19

Mike Cliffe def. Shit Liver 109-106

Sykotyk Rampage def. WinkStinger 48-22

What do you guys think? As It Stands' victory is what I predicted, though it was a bit more of a blowout than I was predicting. Destroilet had a good run though! Same goes for the Frightlight/Lion Ride match in terms of the finish, as I thought Lion Ride would have at least lost by a closer amount. Mike Cliffe's surprising Cinderella run continues with a stunningly high vote total, narrowingly beating Shit Liver in this past round! Who'd have thought we'd get over 200 votes on a matchup? Sykotyk Rampage's win of WinkStinger is also a surprise, though their fanbase is quite devoted! So these are the quarterfinal winners, and here's the updated tournament bracket!

As you can see, the winners of last week's first two matchups and the winners of the last two matchups will face each other, starting TODAY, in fact! With that said, here are the matchups for the SMS March Mayhem Semifinals!


Can Frightlight continue their gauntlet run in the tournament with a victory over hardcore mainstays As It Stands? And in the battle of surprise semifinalists, can Mike Cliffe pull off yet another upset victory as he takes on Sykotyk Rampage? The winners of these matchups face off in ONE WEEK in the finals, so VOTE TODAY and pick your finalists! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news very soon! Thanks everyone, and GET VOTING!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Farewell To Freeway) & The SMS March Mayhem Quarterfinals!!

Another packed month of local metal news continues today with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT & the latest SMS March Mayhem updates, including the launch of the tournament quarterfinals, so that's the topic of this first post of the day! Before we get to the news, I will say that our next news-centric post (likely coming tonight) will feature new As It Stands & Half A Man videos, and some assorted other stories, so keep an eye out! Now, let's begin this post!

Another Roosevelt Hotel metal night from Dismembertainment is now confirmed, this time for the show on May 12th! (No word yet on the May 5th lineup.) This time around though, it will be the first Rosie metal night (I think) to feature two out of town bands! As part of their All Or Nothing Canadian tour, two touring hardcore bands will hit Sault Ontario for this show, including headliners Farewell To Freeway! Signed to Victory Records, this hard hitting metalcore quartet will be sure to incite some fury when they headline this Thursday nighter! Also joining them will be No Bragging Rights, a melodic hardcore band from Southern California who are a great compliment to this show with their own take on hardcore mayhem! Check the above links to give both bands a listen! The local openers will be As It Stands, adding another high profile opening slot to their spring schedule, so make note of them as well! Typical Rosie rules apply, including a 19+ age limit, 9:30 PM-ish start time, and no cover charge. For more details, check the above links and the Facebook event page! Sounds like a solid concert, I'll of course keep you posted when and if updates roll in!

Now it's time to update the SMS March Mayhem bracket as we close down the second round and head into the final three rounds of the tournament! I notice some campaigns are growing to get votes out, and I thank you all for voting over the past week! So, how'd the last second round matchups score? Here are the results!

Mike Cliffe def. Sativa Rose 40-33
Shit Liver def. State of Misery 80-73
Sykotyk Rampage def. That's Chester 50-13
WinkStinger def. Woods of Ypres 26-22

What do you guys think? I'm really surprised at how many votes Mike Cliffe got, I'm pegging him as the Cinderella of the tournament! Who'd have thought he'd outscore Sativa Rose? Nice high scoring match though, you can tell both have devoted fanbases! The Shit Liver & State of Misery match sure was the battle of dueling vote campaigns, as both would have crushed any other band's total had they took on anyone else! Shit Liver ended up pulling out a narrow 6 vote victory in a match that I thought was a coin toss from get-go! Sykotyk Rampage's win didn't surprise me given the shorter time period that we've covered That's Chester on the SMS, but this was a thoroughly dominating performance! Who'd have thought? WinkStinger's victory over Woods of Ypres wasn't what I expected, but I did figure it'd be close. I'm surprised that it scored so low though, who'd have thought it'd be the lowest voted of the matchups? And finally, is it ironic that the first band alphabetically in each matchup won? Odd, if nothing else! So that closes out the second round, and here's the updated tournament bracket!

As you can see, the winners of last week's first two matchups and the winners of the last two matchups will face each other, starting TODAY, in fact! With that said, here are the matchups for the SMS March Mayhem Quarterfinals!

In the battle of hardcore eras, can As It Stands build on their momentum, or can Destroilet lock up a third straight blowout win? Will Frightlight's gauntlet run continue, or can Lion Ride defeat them and advance to the semifinals? Can Mike Cliffe continue his Cinderella run against Shit Liver, or will their crusty and grimy sounds prove too much? And can Sykotyk Rampage emerge from the cave with an upset over WinkStinger's extreme attack? The winners of the AIS/Destroilet match and the Frightlight/Lion Ride bout will face off next week, as will the Cliffe/Shit Liver and Sykotyk Rampage/WinkStinger winners in the final four! The voting for the quarterfinals begins today, the winners are in next week's semifinals, and you have just ONE WEEK TO VOTE! Let's see some enthusiastic results and high totals again, we're nearing the end of the tournament! VOTE TODAY!!!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for a likely new news post later tonight! Thanks everyone, and GET VOTING!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (River Witch) & SMS March Mayhem Updates!!

Second post of the day is now, and remember to check out our Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on The Heatseeking Moisture Missles in the post below! Today, we'll start with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, but we'll cap off with the latest SMS March Mayhem updates, as we hit the halfway point of the second round! And yes I have a news post coming tonight as well in a rare triple post day, so let's get right to it!

This was partially a Facebook exclusive from yesterday afternoon, as I wasn't planning to post a new news post yesterday, but I had to get the word out on this before it was too late. As it turns out, this weekend certainly was busier than we had predicted, as River Witch also played/are playing this weekend! At 6:00 last evening, the band announced on their Facebook page that they'd be playing at The Bird last night and TONIGHT, which has to be one of the closest short notice announcements I've seen for a show in quite a while. So I plugged it on our Facebook page last night to ensure it wasn't forgotten about, and I promised to lead off one of our posts today with it, so here we are! Remember, TONIGHT'S show (just like last night's) is a 21+ affair with no announced cover charge, and it starts at 10:00 PM tonight. Apologies for the short notice, but it's out of my hands. I wish River Witch would update their shows and pages in further advance than they tend to do, but hey, what can I do? They'll still deliver some solid hard rocking shows this weekend, so check the above links for more details, and if you saw them last night, hopefully you had fun! Remember, they're back at The Bird TONIGHT at 10:00 PM!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets, as we hit the halfway point of the second round, and determine the first four quarterfinalists in this poll tournament! I'm glad to see votes picking up in the second round, and there's some interesting results, so here they are!

As It Stands def. The Bear Hunters 27-21
Destroilet def. Browbeat 101 20-5
Frightlight def. Garden of Bedlam 38-24
Lion Ride def. Half Past 40-23

What do you guys think? I figured As It Stands would win given their solid local following, though The Bear Hunters kept it close and proved their own growing prominence in the scene, which is about what I expected! Destroilet pulled out a second straight blowout win, though the fact that Browbeat 101 officially broke up didn't help matters for them. Still, leaving them in was only fair! Frightlight got tons of votes, again showing the fanbase that's helping them do so well in the Vans Warped Tour Battle of the Bands voting, though it did come at the expense of Garden of Bedlam, who I thought would have finished closer! I'm really surprised at that, though their slow activity of late couldn't have helped. And Lion Ride's win over Half Past was what I expected, though I should note that Half Past had a solid lead for the first half of the week before Lion Ride surged in front to lead the week's voting. Good on Half Past though for a solid finish! With all that said, here's how the brackets now look for the tournament!


As you can see, As It Stands will collide with Destroilet in the quarterfinals, and Frightlight will continue their gauntlet run against Lion Ride, with these promising to be two highly voted matchups! The voting for these begin next week, along with the other quarterfinal matchups from the rest of the 2nd round winners. Speaking of which, those remaining second round contests begin TODAY, including the remaining seven first round winners and the last byed entrant. Without any further adieu, here are the final second round matchups!


Can solo artist Mike Cliffe pull off an upset against fast rising metal quartet Sativa Rose? In the battle of young local death metal bands, can Shit Liver's grime sounds take out the more extreme stylings of State of Misery? Who'll win the matchup of crash punk & classic rock when Sykotyk Rampage take on That's Chester? And can WinkStinger continue their run by spoiling the tournament debut of noted local doom metal quartet Woods of Ypres? The Cliffe/Sativa Rose & Shit Liver/SoM winners face each other next week, as well as the Sykotyk Rampage/That's Chester & WinkStinger/Woods winners in a quarterfinal matchup next week too, along with the winners from this past week, so keep an eye out! The second round ends with these four matches, so to decide the last quarterfinalists, VOTE TODAY in the polls on the left! No risks, no biases, just pick your favourites and help get their support up for the next round push! YOU HAVE ONE WEEK, so make your votes heard!

That's all for now, but we have a new news post coming tonight featuring a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, Cinderella fallout, the return of a promising local band, and more! Thanks everyone!

New Band Pages And The Start Of The SMS March Mayhem's 2nd Round!!

Hey guys, I apologize for not making it to any shows last night, we got caught up in a lot of stuff at home and by the time everything was free, I'd have been very late to any of the bands playing downtown. I'll be at a very long marathon of concerts tonight though, as I'll be seeing the Sewer Swampstravaganja and Lion Ride tonight, and I hope to see you there! Now, to today's post on our current 31 day streak of new posts, and we'll start with some new band pages, and then, it's SMS March Mayhem updating time! Here's what you need to know!

Three local bands have new pages we haven't previously mentioned on here, so here they are! Local hardcore band As It Stands are now on SignMeTo, Roadrunner Records' music discovery site, so click here to check out their page on there! It features a short band bio and all of the studio songs they've unveiled since their return, but little else at present. Give it a look and become a fan! Also, Brimley hard rockers Half A Man have a page on MetalHeadRadio.com which is honestly hard to navigate, but does contain band information, so click here to check it out! Disregard that the URL implies it's just a page for drummer Mikey Bishop, it's an official Half A Man page! And finally, Theatre of Night, the classical metal project from 3/4s of End of Existence, now has a MySpace page as well! Though lacking in band info, it does feature some new photos of keyboardist Craig Harrison, and one song not posted on Reverbnation, entitled "Mary's Epic"! It's a very nice instrumental song, it has that epic orchestral feel that I love hearing in metal, so give it a look at this location, and more at the above links for all three of these bands!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets, and as we close down the first round and begin the second round! It's the "Sweet 16" now, as the winners from the past three weeks join the four byed bands in matchups over the next two weeks! Before we get into that, how'd the results shake down for the last 4 first round matchups? Well, here they are!

State of Misery def. Sneaky Pete 29-10
Sykotyk Rampage def. Stillbroke 11-6
That's Chester def. Turner Up 9-4
WinkStinger def. Tym Morrison 18-3

What do you guys think? I am pleased to see such a following for State of Misery in this round, but I chalk up the lopsided results partly due to Sneaky Pete's local unfamiliarity, only having just debuted on stage last night. It'd be closer if they'd been playing longer, but State of Misery pulled out a good win! Same for Stillbroke, kind of. If they hadn't been on a year long break from the stage, I'm sure they'd have gotten more votes, but they'll be back soon! Congratulations to Sykotyk Rampage on their win though, nice to see their support! In the classic rock showdown, That's Chester beat Turner Up in a low scoring but close win, which surprised me given the relative newness of our coverage of That's Chester. Interesting! WinkStinger won a very lopsided win over Tym Morrison, which really surprised me, as I thought fans of Tym's solo work would come out in higher numbers! Still, nice to see some high WinkStinger support! Now, with the first round done, here's the updated March Mayhem bracket!

As you can see, State of Misery will face Shit Liver in the second round, Sykotyk Rampage and That's Chester will face each other, and WinkStinger will face Woods of Ypres in the next round, after their own first round bye. Those matchups (plus Mike Cliffe vs. Sativa Rose) will take place next week, but how about this week? Three of the byed bands will make their debuts along with the first five opening round winners, but before that, I just want to clear up one note about a band that is now broken up, that being Browbeat 101. I won't replace them or delete them from the tournament because they already won their opening match, and it'd be unfair to them to remove them now, whether "dead forever" or not. So here are this week's matchups, the first four of the second round battles!

Can As It Stands make a big splash to begin their tournament against The Bear Hunters in this battle of prominent extreme metal bands? Can Browbeat 101 pull out a posthumous victory, or will Destroilet win another matchup in decisive fashion? In a marquee matchup for the second round, can Frightlight spoil the tournament debut of Garden of Bedlam? And can Lion Ride top Half Past in their first matchup, or could we see an upset? The As It Stands/Bear Hunters & Browbeat/Destroilet winners face each other and the Frightlight/GoB and Half Past/Lion Ride winners face off in two weeks in the quarterfinals, along with the winners of next weekend's second round polls! As always, these matchups are polls on the left hand side of the screen, and to vote, all you have to do is pick a favourite and vote! YOU HAVE ONE WEEK to determine our first quarterfinalists, so VOTE TODAY!

That's all for today, but I will see you guys at The Oddfellows Hall in an hour or so for The Sewer Swampstravaganja, and then at The Rockstar Bar for Lion Ride! Thanks everyone!

New Bands On Three Shows & The Latest SMS March Mayhem Updates!!

Hey everyone, its time for another news post at the SMS! We're mostly gonna detail the March Mayhem bracket, but we will start with some new bands on three upcoming concerts, and later tonight, I believe we'll have a new news post with some more stories from the last while! So let's begin this post!

I have new bands added to three upcoming Dismembertainment concerts! Firstly, local death metal quintet State of Misery have been added to the lineup of the next metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel on April 14th! This is sort of unexpected given that they're playing on April 28th as well, and there usually isn't the same band at consecutive metal nights, but they should do well! State of Misery join Desbarats' For All That Is Lost on the bill, and my source is drummer Nick Kainula's Facebook page, where he was asked by organizers if they wanted to play beforehand. Also, WinkStinger have been added as the local openers for May 23rd's Isosceles Project concert at Foggy Notions! My source is the official show poster which you can see at this show's Facebook event page, and if that's not a good source, I don't know what is! WinkStinger will fit right in as openers, joining fellow extreme Ontario acts Thekillingfield and Like Animals! Finally, Winnipeg metal band Annex Theory (featuring former Quo Vadis singer Trevor Birnie) will join Laika at the August 25th metal night at The Roosevelt Hotel, as confirmed on their summer tour's event page! I'm impressed with them, good extreme sound and awesome vocals, remember this show come August! Check the above links for more!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets, and begin the last polls of the first round! Yeah, I know it's April now, but why change the name when "March Mayhem" flows so well? With two weeks of voting in the can, we're now down to 20 bands, and I again want to thank you all for voting so well in most of these matchups! Though only one of the polls crossed 20 votes, we got good results for all, so, here are the final totals for the 5th-8th first round matchups!

Half Past def. Late & Loud 12-4
Mike Cliffe def. Riverin 5-2
Sativa Rose def. SBD 13-5
Shit Liver def. Sense of Truth 20-18

What do you guys think? Half Past's win isn't surprising given their higher local profile compared to Late & Loud, who are relatively new, but with Half Past's scattered activity of recent months, I figured the results would be closer. I expected the Mike Cliffe vs. Riverin match to have low votes because they aren't the most well known bands (no recent concert history doesn't help), but thanks to those of you who did vote! I had no idea who'd win, but congratulations to Mike on pulling it out! Sativa Rose's win over SBD wasn't too surprising either, they've made more waves in recent months than SBD, whose concerts are less frequent, and I'm sure their genres helped influence the votes. Shit Liver's win of Sense of Truth was really interesting, in what was the only real "close" fight of the week. Though they never led, Sense of Truth were neck and neck with Shit Liver all week, and with that kind of a high result, imagine how it might have looked had they not been on such a long hiatus! But Shit Liver's loyal fans helped them win it all, and they're moving on to the next round! Now, here's the updated March Mayhem bracket!

As you can see, Half Past will now face Lion Ride in the second round of the tournament, thanks to Lion Ride's first round bye. Mike Cliffe will face off with Sativa Rose in the next round, and Shit Liver will clash with the winner of this week's Sneaky Pete/State of Misery match. The Half Past/Lion Ride match starts NEXT WEEK, with the remaining second round matches taking place in two weeks, so remember that! Other than adding the winners for the next round, nothing's changed to the bracket itself. With all of that said, the final 1st round polls for March Mayhem are now online, and the same rules apply as before. You have one week to vote, it's one vote per person, and pick your favourite band in each of the four matchups below with the polls on your left!


Can veteran local hard rockers Sneaky Pete take out fast rising hardcore quintet State of Misery despite not debuting on stage until Friday night? Despite their long hiatus from the stage, can Stillbroke overcome the crash sounds of Sykotyk Rampage? Who will win the battle of classic hard rock cover bands when That's Chester collide with Turner Up? And can Tym Morrison's acoustic solo project overcome the extreme stylings of WinkStinger? The winners of all of this week's matchups will collide in two weeks, where the Sneaky Pete/State of Misery winner faces Shit Liver, the Stillbroke/Sykotyk Rampage & That's Chester/Turner Up winners face each other, and the Tym Morrison/WinkStinger winner faces Woods of Ypres! So there are our last March Mayhem first round battles, and to vote, the polls are on your left! VOTE TODAY, YOU HAVE ONE WEEK! And remember, next week, the second round begins with bands whose names are between the letters A and L!

That's all for now, but VOTE IN THE NEW TOURNAMENT POLLS TODAY, and stay tuned for another news post later tonight! Thanks everyone!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Late & Loud), Plus SMS March Mayhem Results & The Next Matchups!

Hey guys, it's time for our second post of three on this triple post Saturday! Remember to check out our news post featuring updates from Destroilet, Half A Man, Meatplow, and a special concert event this summer at the post below! The "Woods I" review is still on for later tonight as scheduled, and I have news ranging from Rich Moreland's new concert booking company to the latest band switch at an upcoming concert for a news post tomorrow as well, so stay tuned for all of that! Now to this latest post, beginning with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Two weeks before hitting The Oddfellows Hall for The Sewer Swampstravaganja, local classic metal quartet Late & Loud will return to the stage TONIGHT at Foggy Notions! I apologize for the short notice, word on this concert didn't come out until yesterday afternoon. It's nice to see Late & Loud getting so many bookings at Foggy Notions, but I wish they'd let us know about them with more advance warning than just a day. Oh well, a show's a show, so make it to Foggy's tonight if you can for some entertaining heavy metal! They're on tonight at 11:00 PM, there's no announced cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit their Facebook page! I still have to make it out to see them one of these days, be it on April 9th at The Oddfellows Hall or sooner! I've always been a fan of Brendan Christie's solo work, the band have good chemistry from the videos I've seen, and hopefully tonight's show is a success! Check the above links for more, and when I find embeddable video footage of Late & Loud in action, I'll have it here!

And now, it's time to update our SMS March Mayhem tournament brackets! Yes, our poll tournament between 28 local metal bands is now down to 24 following the end of our first week of voting, and I want to thank all of you guys for the enthusiastic voting numbers so far! We got 20 or more votes in all of the first 4 polls from the opening round, and I've heard mostly good things from readers about the tournament, so thank you all so much! So, what were the final totals for the first 4 matchups? Here they are!

The Bear Hunters def. Bring The Fallen 17-16
Browbeat 101 def. Caveman Morrison 14-6
Destroilet def. Changing Waves 21-5
Frightlight def. Gates of Winter 46-22

What do you guys think? I'm honestly surprised that Caveman Morrison didn't pull in more votes, but the Browbeat 101 support is encouraging for them! I assume Changing Waves' low totals are more due to local unfamiliarity at this point, as they are relatively young, but still, Destroilet had the biggest win of these four matchups by point ratio! The Bear Hunters' just narrowly edging out Bring The Fallen was interesting, especially given that this matchup went both ways all week! As for Frightlight vs. Gates of Winter, it's just the joy of where they were seeded, as both of their totals would have had them beating any other band from the opening polls! But Frightlight fans pulled through to ensure a victory with 46 votes, so they're moving on to the second round! Thanks again to everyone for voting! Now, here's the updated bracket for SMS March Mayhem!

As you can see, The Bear Hunters will now face As It Stands in the second round of the tournament, thanks to As It Stands' first round bye. Browbeat 101 will face off with Destroilet in the next round, and Frightlight will clash with Garden of Bedlam, who also received a first round bye. Those polls begin in two weeks, along with Lion Ride vs. either Half Past or Late & Loud, so remember that! A couple more bracket notes: I obviously added "101" to Browbeat's name to reflect their recent name change, the bracket modification for the Frightlight/Gates/Garden section is just to reflect alphabetical order given Frightlight's victory, and biggest of all, I restored Turner Up to their old spot in the tournament, now that they are in fact still active. Apologies to Skull After Betrayal, I'll make it up to you guys! With that said, the next four 1st round polls for March Mayhem are now online, and the same rules apply as before. You have one week to vote, it's one vote per person, and pick your favourite band in each of the four matchups below with the polls on your left!

Can newcomers Late & Loud surprise Half Past with a victory in the opening round? Will Mike Cliffe's experimental hard rock trump the industrial sounds of Riverin? In this battle of local hard rock trios, will Sativa Rose's classic metal overcome SBD's experimental grunge stylings? And despite their long hiatus from the stage, can Sense of Truth deliver a knockout blow to rising grimecore rockers Shit Liver? The Half Past/Late & Loud winner faces Lion Ride in two weeks, the Cliffe/Riverin & Sativa Rose/SBD winners will face each other in three weeks, and the SoT/Shit Liver winner faces the winner of next week's Sneaky Pete/State of Misery match in three weeks. So there are our latest March Mayhem first round battles, and to vote, the polls are on your left! VOTE TODAY, YOU HAVE ONE WEEK!

(Apologies to Late & Loud for the "logo", as I haven't seen an official logo for them yet, so I just made up a wordmark to fit the picture. If one pops up, I'll add it!)

That's all for now, but VOTE IN THE NEW TOURNAMENT POLLS TODAY, and stay tuned for our review of Woods of Ypres' debut EP later tonight! Thanks everyone!

Last Month's Poll Results & The Debut Of SMS March Mayhem!!

It's poll day at the SMS! I apologize for this being late a day, I was working out a lot of kinks in what will constitute our next poll(s). This will be interesting, to say the least, but before we get to that, we have a poll from last month to outline the results to! As you may remember, we posed thia question to you guys last month: "What was your favourite local metal concert of 2010?" 31 votes, decent total, could have been better or worse! Remember, this poll included almost all of the choices from the prior half year polls on 2010 concerts, and does this declare a definite winner? Give it a look and see, as here are the results!

Frightlight at Coch's Corner on June 16 (7 votes, 23%)
Garden of Bedlam at Foggy Notions on February 27 (3 votes, 10%)
Turner Up at The Canadian Nightclub on March 27 (3 votes, 10%)
Algoma Hope4Haiti at Nite-Life Dance Club on February 20 (2 votes, 6%)
Sense of Truth at The Canadian Nightclub on February 26 (2 votes, 6%)
Lion Ride & Sense of Truth at The Canadian on May 22 (2 votes, 6%)
Garden of Bedlam & Half Past at The Canadian on April 2 (2 votes, 6%)
Endast & Blood Drunk at Foggy Notions on September 2nd (2 votes, 6%)
Total Chaos at The Oddfellows Hall on Nov. 21st (2 votes, 6%)
Sativa Rose at The Roosevelt Hotel on December 23rd (2 votes, 6%)
Other (2 votes, 6%)
Garden Of Bedlam at The Rockstar Bar on November 12th (1 vote, 3%)
Sativa Rose at Foggy Notions on December 31st (1 vote, 3%)
Caveman Morrison at The Roosevelt Hotel on April 9-10 (0 votes, 0%)
Crued at The Canadian Nightclub on May 1 (0 votes, 0%)
Downtown Showdown at The Oddfellows Hall on May 28 (0 votes, 0%)
Kiss at The Essar Center on August 10th (0 votes, 0%)
Gunz N' FN' Rosez at The Rockstar Bar on September 23rd (0 votes, 0%)
Grady at The Grand Theater on November 16th (0 votes, 0%)
The Mark Rand Band at Coch's Corner on December 29th (0 votes, 0%)

So, how do the results look? Well, seven concerts tied for last with no votes, none more surprising than Kiss at The Essar Center in August. Seriously, NO ONE picked that enormous concert? Very surprising. Garden of Bedlam's Rockstar Bar show in November and the New Years Eve concert at Foggy Notions tied for 12th place with a single vote, both of which seem a bit off given the reception they both got! Amazingly, right above them was an eight way tie for fourth place with two votes each, and while all deserve a high placement, the logjam is something I'm not used to seeing. You think there'd be more of a spread! The second place options tied with three votes each, those being Garden of Bedlam's Foggy Notions show in December and Turner Up's March show at The Canadian Nightclub, though voters on that choice may have just picked them in general for the whole year. I expected they'd get higher, no worries there! And in first place, just as they were for the first half of 2010 poll, was the "secret" Frightlight concert at Coch's Corner! The secretive nature of it kept people wondering, and if you were there, you'll recognize why this had such a big impact! I still wish I could have attended, but there you have it, the winner of the "favourite concert of 2010" poll is Frightlight's secret show in June!

So, what is this month's poll? I've decided to try something different, as inspired by the current NCAA college basketball tournament! I've long been against polls on the SMS which compared bands individually, as I don't want to seem preferential or biased towards specific bands. However, I had a good idea for a poll event that would feature bands competing in a fun, hassle-free tournament a'la "March Madness" to see who could be considered the "winner". After getting a positive reaction from some SMS readers when I proposed the idea, I'm running with it, and we'll see how it goes over! So, I'd like to announce the debut of The Sault Metal Scene's March Mayhem! (EDIT, 4:24 PM: I replaced Turner Up in the bracket to reflect their demise as an active band, and replaced them with Skull After Betrayal, with alphabetical adjustments where needed.)


Click on the image to see the full bracket, which will be updated frequently! This will be an eight week tournament event featuring four matchups a week (until the "final four" are decided) involving 28 of the higher profile active metal and hard rock acts in Sault Ontario! I wanted to get it to 32, but I was having trouble getting that high. The 28 bands I chose are all active at present (well, maybe not Bring The Fallen, but nothing's official), and they'll face off in this single elimination tournament, a'la "March Madness"! Nothing's on the line here besides bragging rights, it's simply for fun, curiosity, and to see if something like this would even be popular for the SMS to attempt. In case anyone's wondering, the seeding is done by alphabetical order, as I found it's the only fair way to do it, I couldn't rank bands and risk alienating or seeming biased towards any of them. That said, if you've noticed As It Stands, Garden of Bedlam, Lion Ride, and Woods of Ypres got byes to the second round, it's only to ensure that after the first round, the tournament can have a 16-8-4-2-1 breakdown like a usual tournament, with no screwy rounds. Those four bands were given the free pass for their recent local prominence, not on personal preferences, so that's why they'll skip the first round.

SMS March Mayhem will take place over the next eight weeks, with the opening round taking place over the next three weeks through April 9th. The second round will be two weeks long, ending on April 23rd. The quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals will all run for a week each, ending with a final winner on May 14th! So each individual matchup will be it's own poll, running for a week, with four matchups taking place each week until the semifinals. So the first four 1st round matchups alphabetically will run until next Saturday, so VOTE TODAY! Here are the matchups!

Which death metal quintet will take the battle between The Bear Hunters & Bring The Fallen? Can Browbeat frontman Dutch Vanderploeg overcome his old band Caveman Morrison in this contest between local hard rock trios? When Changing Waves collide with Destroilet, will old school hardcore trump the new? And can Gates of Winter pull out a victory over Frightlight despite their slow activity and low profile of recent years? VOTE TODAY on your left to help decide! Remember, the Bear Hunters/Bring The Fallen winner faces As It Stands in three weeks, the Frightlight/Gates winner takes on Garden of Bedlam, and the winners of this week's other matchups face each other! You have ONE WEEK to pick the winners of these matchups, so get voting!

Stay tuned later tonight for a new news post featuring some more big recent news, and I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Rosie for Browbeat! Thanks everyone!