Here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, as we're once again looking at 1-2 defunct or inactive local bands (2 this month) that we randomly selected for a look back at their run, accomplishments, and material in the current day! This month's selected acts come from both sides of the border, including one band with a lengthy run and a talented solo artist we haven't heard much from lately, so here's what you need to know for each profile! (Updated on February 11th at 9:26 AM) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Moss
Genre:Hard Rock
Hometown:Eckerman/Strongs, Michigan
Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics)
David Owen Mills (Life's Eclipse), vocals/ex-bass
Jason Mills (Life's Eclipse, Swampghas), guitar
Nicholas Kabelman, guitar
Terry Carrick, bass
Robert Kabelman, drums Jason "Ogre" McConnell, bass
Info/Analysis: Moss were a Sault Michigan-area hard rock band that were originally active from 1995-2005, before reuniting under the Werehold Records banner from 2012-2015. Surviving information on their original run is in short supply nowadays, but Moss recorded a handful of demos and cited influences as diverse as Pantera and The Beatles at the time. After ending their 7 year breakup, Moss began work on a planned new EP, and saw four new songs posted to Werehold's YouTube channel (3 for their Friday the 13th music events), but have not issued a new public update in almost 2 years. The band's now-deleted songs with vocals (like "Undefeated") had a solid hardcore punk vibe, but their recent instrumentals had a nice mainstream hard rock groove with quality guitar riffs. Check out Moss' newest song "The Bright Lights Of Anywhere" below, and don't miss the Mills brothers in Life's Eclipse!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neno Jovanovic
Genre:Metal/Hard Rock
Hometown:Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Members:
Neno Jovanovic, all instruments
Info/Analysis: Previously performing under the project name Metallurgy, local guitarist Neno Jovanovic manned his own solo project from 2009-2012, primarily posting original demos and covers to both his Reverbnation page and his YouTube channel, though all solo performances have since been deleted from the latter for unannounced reasons. It's a shame that Neno hasn't been musically active lately, as he was a talented guitarist with a good ear for original metal compositions and solid covers of everyone from Rob Zombie to The Police(?!), though playing alongside the original track at that volume can mask his contributions. As seen on tracks like the death metal number "Cryogenic Freezer Department" (which you can hear below), Neno has some harsh vocal ability too, albeit underutilized on posted files. Most of his surviving clips are under 3 minutes long and/or visibly incomplete, but give his entertaining tracks a listen above, and hopefully Neno returns to music at some point!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Next month in this series, we have randomly chosen mid-2000s local punk band Mayadevi (featuring Ashoka At The Show, Shit Liver, and Undead Warriors alumni) for our next defunct profile, which should be an interesting installment, so look for that on or around March 10th, and for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!
Hey guys, I hope you're all having a great start to Rotaryfest weekend! In today's news post, we have lineup updates for an upcoming concert, the lastest from a local metal solo project, and a new video from a Sault Michigan metal band, but first, here's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!
Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is in fact playing another solo concert in his weekly arrangement at Service Grill Pizza on Korah Road TOMORROW! Though I was aware that Tym had another weekly schedule set up there for the summer, I was starting to wonder if there would be anything this week, as he never publically acknowledged a show on his own Facebook pages or his website's schedule for last week (though SooToday did mention it.) Well, whether he was there last week or not, I can't confirm, but he's back at the Service Grill TOMORROW NIGHT for two sets of entertaining acoustic hard rock covers! Apologies for the short notice, it was only just formally announced yesterday. Looks like, as was the case the last time around, Tym will play a matinee set at 3:00 PM tomorrow before a more standard nighttime set at 9:00 PM for fans and pizza eaters in attendance! There is no cover charge, and I believe at least the 3:00 set will be all ages. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Tym's solo stuff is always entertaining, and definitely make note of these shows! For a preview, here's Tym covering Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" in 2009!
Next up, here's some lineup news for an all ages concert next week! Local metal quartet Sativa Rose have dropped out of the Sanktuary/Black Moor all ages concert on Wednesday at The Oddfellows Hall. Promoter/Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie confirmed the news in an e-mail to attendees on the Facebook event page, simply saying that Sativa Rose "would be unable to perform", although he didn't elaborate further. This is disappointing, but hey, they'll be back before you know it! In a further e-mail, it was confirmed that local cello/punk trio RedD Monkey would replace them as the openers, which is an interesting choice, but they're a great band that will be sure to set the tone well with their unique style of music! I should also note that local death metal quintet Unleash The Blackened Sky (formerly Bring The Misery) indicated in a status update on their Facebook page yesterday that they'd be playing at this show, but I have no idea how far that got before RedD Monkey were confirmed, so don't read too much into it. The other note I had for this show was that curiously, the last band playing on Wednesday isn't one of the out of town bands, it's actually The Bear Hunters! Odd, but I remember that some other local concerts have had the out of town bands playing earlier in the set so they could hit the road earlier, so I assume that's the reasoning. Get full details on this concert at the above links, and I will see you guys there on Wednesday!
Thirdly today, here's the latest news from Eckerman, Michigan metal band Life's Eclipse! The highly promising quartet have released a new video to the Werehold Records YouTube channel featuring samples of updated versions of two songs from their upcoming "Shadow Over Superior" album! The band decided to give the songs "For The Burning" and "Phenotype" a minor facelift, apparently because the band felt the original songs sounded like "1996". So in other words, the band thought they sounded dated, but how do the new versions stack up? Well, I can compare them because the original versions are still on this sample video of the whole album, so click here to see the old versions (and the other samples.) "For The Burning" does sound more energetic and full now than the original did, and the digeridoo-esque opening is pretty unique, but it's still hard to gauge the whole song. The new samples are about 55 seconds each, which is longer than we'd heard before, but still not a full taste, especially sans vocals. "Phenotype" is basically the same story, a fuller and more high impact version of the original, also with a new opening riff. Not bad at all, these are improvements, and I can't wait to hear the full songs! Check the new video out below to hear the updated samples!
And finally today, here's the latest from a local solo metal project! We've mentioned Sault Ontario guitarist Neno Jovanovic's work in his solo project Metallurgy off and on for a while now, but Neno's got some new stuff to share today! Firstly, he's apparently abandoned the Metallurgy name for the project, and is now keeping it self-titled. Probably a wise move if there's other bands named Metallurgy out there. He's also uploaded some new material to his Reverbnation page, including a couple original tracks and some covers! The cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" is still there, but in lieu of his short riff demos, he now has covers where he plays along with Rob Zombie's "Sick Bubblegum" and Mastodon's "Blood and Thunder" as well! He's good, but people are going to assume he just uploaded the original song there, so I would recommend he just covered the song without backing tracks. The new original samples "From The Ground" and "2" are really cool though, they have an awesome groove and would be very welcome on a local stage if Neno ever wanted to form a band! He has the skill, I'd love to see him expand on this solo stuff! Check out Neno's Reverbnation page for more, and I'll keep an eye out for more of his solo work!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates over the weekend! Thanks everyone!
Hey everyone, I'm still in Detroit, but I do have some more local metal news to share today! This is mostly a compliation of recent stories that I haven't reported on lately, but some newer stories are in the queue for at least one more post before I return home, hopefully. So for today, we have the latest news from Woods of Ypres and an upcoming hard rock concert, and some more assorted stories, but first, here's the latest updates on a major upcoming concert festival!
This year's edition of Hempfest has a new timeframe for when it will take place. The bad news is it was pushed back two weeks, but the good news is it's now gonna be A FULL WEEK long! The festival will now take place from August 8th to 15th at it's familiar location in nearby Ophir, Ontario. The reason for the change is due to issues securing a sound man for the original dates. Hopefully the lengthening of the festival will counteract that! According to the e-mail that organizer Robert Neron sent to Facebook attendees on Wednesday night, the festival will now consist of 3 ½ days of camping, and 3 ½ days of partying, which likely implies that entertainment will take place from 12:00 PM on August 11th through the end of Hempfest this year. As such, the new ticket price for the festival will be $15 a day or $100 for the full week, which will be a $5 savings from buying 7 individual tickets. The on-sale date of June 3rd doesn't appear to have changed. As for the scheduled bands and performers, as of right now, their schedules and days to perform are unchanged save for being moved two weeks earlier. I imagine alterations could be made if the new dates conflict with prior engagements, but we'll likely hear about this as it comes. In the off chance a performer sees this and didn't hear the news, contact Robert Neron at this location to confirm what you need to confirm!
For full current details, visit the official Facebook event page. Hopefully this date change doesn't throw too many people off, but hey, it had to be if they wanted a good sound guy! At least now, it's a longer festival, and I can safely say that Robert's putting a ton of work into this, so you know it will come together well! Stay tuned for Hempfest updates as I hear them, especially concerning the metal and hard rock bands announced for this year!
Secondly today, here's the latest news on a notable hard rock band's local debut next month! Once only advertised on Reverbnation with information to be announced, the March 4th concert headlined by Kitchener hard rockers The Saigon Hookers now has full details to share! For one, the opening band has been announced, and it is Brad Example & The Role Models! This is the band fronted by Inner City Surfers bassist Brad Lacell (a.k.a. Brad Example), and I assume they play punk, I'm not entirely sure. Though the Facebook event page says that this is their first show, I have located evidence that a band of the exact same name played at Foggy Notions on December 30th, 2006 (source here), so if nothing else, they haven't played a show recently! The house rules that I previously assumed appear to be the same, so expect a 19+ age limit, no cover charge, and a 9:00 PM start time (likely later though). And yes, this is the show poster on your left, not too bad! Sounds like a fun time, hopefully I can make it out! Also, notice all the Lion Ride connections with this show? Lion Ride bassist Carmine Romano was a long time member of The Saigon Hookers before leaving last month, and frontman Mikey Hawdon drums for The Inner City Surfers with Brad Example, so this show should feel familiar in a few ways! Stay tuned for updates if they come in!
Thirdly today, here's some new Woods of Ypres news! Firstly, the band's Facebook page now features some new t-shirt designs to soon be sold, including a girl's baby doll t-shirt and a normal style shirt, both of which are indeed black! These aren't available to order or pre-order yet, but if you want to pre-order anything from Woods of Ypres' new merchandise, click here! Secondly, the band have announced five new out of town concert dates for shows in Ottawa, Fredericton, Kelowna, San Antonio, and Seattle! Check out their official forum for details, and yes, these shows are now in our out of town concert listings on your right! Also on the Woods of Ypres docket for tonight, here's some of the latest reviews of the "Woods IV: The Green Album" re-issue! Dejon Turner from The Aquarian Weekly gave the album a B, describing it in one word: Arboreal. He praised it's beauty but found it hard to get into, which I can agree with. Click here to see the full review! New York-based music blog Brooklyn Rocks gave "W4" an overall positive review, but it seems to be more of a description of it's sound than a critique of what the author thought. Still, he sums it up well, check it out at this location!
Finally, though not a full review, Vince Neilstein from the amusing metal blog Metal Sucks posted a short article about Woods of Ypres on there on February 9th! Despite an uncertainty of how to pronounce Ypres (it's ee-pray, but he settled with "Woods of Awesome"), Vince highly praises Woods of Ypres, referring to their sound as "Type O Negative at their darkest, doomiest, slowest, and saddest". I'd agree for "W4", but I don't think he's heard their earlier albums much. Still, it's great press, so check it out (and more from this awesome site) at this location!
Let's close today's post with three shorter stories, in alphabetical order by name:
Local hardcore quintet As It Stands will headline a metal concert in Windsor, Ontario on March 26th! They'll be back at The Coach & Horses with area metal and punk bands, and you can get full details on this show at this location! Sounds good, nice to see them spread their sound further, but remember to check them out at The Rosie on March 3rd as well!
Metallurgy, the solo metal project from local guitarist Neno Jovanovich, has posted a new 20 second clip of some riffs he wrote onto his Reverbnation page! I have to say, it sounds really promising in a groove metal sort of way, but I'd like to see it expanded on for more of a song! Still, click the above links for that and more!
I've added the inactive local recording studio Swallows Nest Productions to the "Other Local Metal Links" at the bottom left. Active in the spring of 2010, it was a home-based record studio that would have brought "professionalism to the working musician". Local concert promoter & bassist Nathan Bouliane worked as a production designer with Swallows Nest during their brief run, which seemed to dry up in May. It'd have been interesting to see this succeed! Still, if you wanna check it out, the link's above!
That's all for today, in all likelihood, but I should have more news by Tuesday, so stay tuned! Thanks everyone, and go to some concerts tonight!
Hey guys, it's time to get you all caught up on some new stories, including a pair of new band additions to the SMS and this weekend's concert previews, but first, some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!! (Also, check out our latest Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile in the post below this one!)
Thanks to Ernest Beaumont for telling me about these concerts, I wouldn't have heard about them otherwise. Sault Michigan hard rockers Splitshot will be playing a weekend set at The Bird TOMORROW AND SATURDAY NIGHT! Both concerts will start at 10:00 PM, there's no cover charge at either, and you must be 21 to attend either show. Note that these concerts are not listed on the band's official Facebook page, which doesn't appear to have been properly updated since early last month, and I don't know of any other official band pages, but Ernest has always been a reliable source for shows dating back to the Nixxon Dixxon days, so these are a go! If you need concerts to hit this weekend across the river, Splitshot should do the trick! Remember, they're the new local hard rock band featuring Chris Hubbard and Kyle Beaumont from Nixxon Dixxon, and though I've yet to hear anything of theirs, they've gotta have something going for them! Check them out this weekend if you can, and consider this our first previews for this weekend's concerts!
Before we launch into the remaining previews for this weekend, here are the two new bands I came across, and we'll start with a Sault Ontario solo project I only just came across this week! The project is named "The Shaner", and it's the mastermind of a local guitarist named Shane D. (not entirely sure of his last name.) Influenced by southern rock and metal, he's posted 20 instrumental original tracks onto his Reverbnation page, with apparent hopes to compile some of the songs on a full length album. The Shaner doesn't appear to be active at present, with no visible updates since at least the spring of 2010, but I will say that Shane does have talent! He has some heavier tunes with nice aggressive riffs like "Redeux" and "Righteous Own", but diversifies with bluesier fare like "Tin Blues" and even some more funk based material. His production isn't too bad either, and he has an ear for good and catchy riffs! I don't know if Shane's still active locally, but he has promise, so check out The Shaner at the above links!
The other new band is, to the best of my knowledge, a new page for a band we featured here briefly two years ago. In late 2009, you may remember when we featured a local metal project named Metallurgy that sounded promising, but had no real information. Well, their MySpace page was deleted about a month later, but it looks like Metallurgy are back! That, or a band of the same name, but I have a hunch this is the same band. This time around, I can confirm that the mastermind of this project is Sault Ontario guitarist Neno Jovanovic, and he has posted two songs onto his Reverbnation page as well! Both appear to be newer uploads, including an original demo with some nice riffing, and a cover of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades" where Neno plays guitar along with the original vocal track from the song. He mostly has it down, though it was a bit surprising to hear Lemmy! Metallurgy are definitely active at present, and we'll have to see what pops up from Neno and/or Metallurgy in the next while!
Now, we'll return to the weekend concert previews to close the post, and firstly, we'll head to The Rockstar Bar for some Turner Up! Yes, after a two week absence from the concert stage (Foggy's jam nights notwithstanding), the local classic hard rock quintet will be back at The Rockstar Bar tomorrow night and Saturday night for pair of concerts! Though announced short notice, fans will surely just be happy they're back, as two weeks off is a long time for Turner Up! Both of this weekend's concerts will be at 10:00 PM, with 19+ age limits and no announced cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I'd like to remind everyone that, largely thanks to my camera's return to working condition, I will be at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday night to check out Turner Up for our first concert review of 2011! I've yet to see video or hear audio of them with Krista Marshall on vocals, so this will be a good first sample, and I'll have a review, photos, and a video on Sunday, so stay tuned! And check the above links for more details on this weekend's Turner Up shows!
And finally, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is back for another solo acoustic concert this weekend in his continuing arrangement at a local concert spot! Note that I didn't say two concerts, as according to the schedule on his official website, his planned show at The Big Cheese in Heyden tomorrow night has been cancelled, as well as his planned shows there on February 11th and 25th. Why? I don't know, though I'll chalk it up to existing commitments at The Big Cheese, but I honestly can't say. With that said, his Foggy's arrangement has no imminent breaks, and he'll absolutely be back at Foggy Notions on Sunday night for loads of acoustic hard rock and metal covers! The show starts at 10:00 PM, you must be 19 to make it in, and there is no announced cover charge. It's great to see Tym out there again rocking out and entertaining his fans, and it helps fill the Caveman Morrison void that we've had for the last few months! If you miss him on Sunday, you have ample opportunities to check him out through February, so check the above links for more details!
For a video preview, here's something I literally just found: A new Tym Morrison acoustic solo original! Entitled "How I'm Wanting You More", he uploaded it onto his official YouTube channel on Sunday, and it's a reserved but emotional and well played acoustic number, and it would fit in nicely at his solo concerts! Check it out below!
That's all for today, but I have more news to share tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that, plus my Turner Up concert review, our next Defunct Local Band Profile on Nite Wulfe, our next poll, and more! Stay tuned!
This is probably my shortest post in a while, but really, news does tend to slow up after Halloween every year. No matter, you can't let a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT slip by if you can help it! Plus, a tiny bit of updates as well, so let's get started!
Caveman Morrison's own Tym Morrison has scheduled another local concert for later this month! He'll be at The Big Cheese in Heyden one week from Friday, on November 20th! This show will take place at 10:00 that night. No listed cover charge, but just in case, buy something if you go. According to the Facebook event page, Tym will debut his brand new pedal that allows him to do three part vocal harmonies, which should be interesting! Sounds like a good weekend of shows if you're a Tym Morrison fan, as he'll also be at The Bottoms Up Lounge the night after! I'll update you guys if I hear anything else, but in the meantime, check out some of Tym's quality solo material at his official website, and his lengthy potential setlist at this location!
Now for a couple link changes on the SMS. First, I've removed the MySpace page for defunct local band Metallurgy. The page either expired or was deleted. Shame too, the page had some solid material, here's hoping Metallurgy members are still active in the scene! The other change is to local punk/metal band Destroilet, as they've officially launched their own MySpace page! Looks good, nice to see them expand beyond Facebook! Remember to go see them with Detroit and Talk Shit on December 29th at Coch's Corner!
And finally, Sue Inside frontman Shane Fraser has uploaded a pair of new videos to his YouTube channel featuring two more acoustic demos of upcoming songs, "Nerf For Not" and "Betcha Not"! Sounds good, especially "Betcha Not", which definitely sounds like classic Sue Inside, just unplugged! Definitely my favourite of the new acoustic songs! Check it out immediately below!
That's all for now, I do apologize for the slow stories and lack of daily posting lately, but again, this always seems to happen around November every year. The busiest times for local metal updates are typically summer and Halloween, but things will pick up! Stay tuned!
Moss
Info/Analysis: Moss were a Sault Michigan-area hard rock band that were originally active from 1995-2005, before reuniting under the Werehold Records banner from 2012-2015. Surviving information on their original run is in short supply nowadays, but Moss recorded a handful of demos and cited influences as diverse as Pantera and The Beatles at the time. After ending their 7 year breakup, Moss began work on a planned new EP, and saw four new songs posted to Werehold's YouTube channel (3 for their Friday the 13th music events), but have not issued a new public update in almost 2 years. The band's now-deleted songs with vocals (like "Undefeated") had a solid hardcore punk vibe, but their recent instrumentals had a nice mainstream hard rock groove with quality guitar riffs. Check out Moss' newest song "The Bright Lights Of Anywhere" below, and don't miss the Mills brothers in Life's Eclipse!
Neno Jovanovic
Info/Analysis: Previously performing under the project name Metallurgy, local guitarist Neno Jovanovic manned his own solo project from 2009-2012, primarily posting original demos and covers to both his Reverbnation page and his YouTube channel, though all solo performances have since been deleted from the latter for unannounced reasons. It's a shame that Neno hasn't been musically active lately, as he was a talented guitarist with a good ear for original metal compositions and solid covers of everyone from Rob Zombie to The Police(?!), though playing alongside the original track at that volume can mask his contributions. As seen on tracks like the death metal number "Cryogenic Freezer Department" (which you can hear below), Neno has some harsh vocal ability too, albeit underutilized on posted files. Most of his surviving clips are under 3 minutes long and/or visibly incomplete, but give his entertaining tracks a listen above, and hopefully Neno returns to music at some point!
