It's poll day at The Sault Metal Scene! Today, we'll close down last month's poll and launch a brand new one, and to start things off, we'll answer last month's poll question:
What was your favourite local metal concert in the first half of 2011? 52 votes last month, good total, thanks for everyone who voted! So, what did you guys choose as your favourite local metal or hard rock concert from January-June of this year? The results lie below!
The Dayglo Abortions at The Rosie on June 16th (19 votes, 36%)
Sneaky Pete at The Rockstar Bar on April 8th (16 votes, 31%)
Garden of Bedlam at The Rockstar Bar on June 17th (5 votes, 9%)
Fuck The Facts at The Roosevelt Hotel on May 9th (2 votes, 4%)
Dead & Divine at The Oddfellows Hall on April 29th (2 votes, 4%)
Sewer Swampstravaganja at The Oddfellows on April 9th (2 votes, 4%)
Woods of Ypres at The Roosevelt Hotel on March 10th (2 votes, 4%)
Unleash The Archers at The Roosevelt Hotel on June 4th (1 vote, 2%)
Farewell To Freeway at The Roosevelt Hotel on May 12th (1 vote, 2%)
Lion Ride at The Rockstar Bar on April 9th (1 vote, 2%)
Bring The Fallen at The Oddfellows Hall on Jan. 28th (1 vote, 2%)
Who Made Who at The Canadian on January 20th (0 votes, 0%)
Maximum RNR at Foggy Notions on February 19th (0 votes, 0%)
The Swamp Donkey Romp at Foggy's on February 26th (0 votes, 0%)
The Saigon Hookers at The Rockstar Bar on March 4th (0 votes, 0%)
The Great Sabatini at Foggy Notions on April 2nd (0 votes, 0%)
Crued at The Canadian Nightclub on April 30th (0 votes, 0%)
Blizzard of Ozz at The Canadian Nightclub on May 14th (0 votes, 0%)
The Isosceles Project at The Rosie on May 23rd (0 votes, 0%)
Other (0 votes, 0%)
What do you guys think? Well, the results are definitely in favour of two concerts in particular, but let's go up through the votes. Eight concerts (and "Other", surprisingly) all got no votes, which is surprising, especially for higher profile concerts like
Maximum RNR's show this year and
The Isosceles Project's show at
The Rosie. Hey, it's all in who votes, I guess! Of the four shows tied for 8th place with a single vote, I'm especially surprised by the lack of extra votes for the
Lion Ride &
Unleash The Archers concerts, but at least someone voted for them! Four more concerts tied for 4th place with 2 votes each, all higher like I expected, though maybe with less votes than I assumed.
Garden of Bedlam's return show at
The Rockstar Bar finished predictably high in 3rd place with 5 votes, showing their support well! In a sort of surprising second place finish, we had
Sneaky Pete's local concert debut at The Rockstar Bar in April. Nice to see the large fan support for them, though I'm surprised how far ahead they finished over most of the other choices! But the winner with 19 votes (and 36% of the total) was the
Dayglo Abortions-headlined Rosie metal night from this past May, which is a good choice given the buzz and crowd there for it! It was an awesome night, and a deserving winner of the poll! Thanks to everyone for voting!
So this month, what kind of poll are we having? This time, I'm going more for thoughts on the local metal and hard rock scene and your thoughts on it, specifically referring to one word:
More. With that said, I pose this question to you guys:
What would you like to see more of in the local metal scene? Simple enough question, I think. Be you in Sault Ontario or Sault Michigan, I'm sure the local scene could stand to have a few additions, but to what aspects of it? If you want to see something more to what we have, what exactly do you want more of? I have 14 choices below, so feel free to read on and pick one to vote for!
More all ages shows: It's known that concerts with no age limits can get larger attendances than those with age restrictions, be they shows with tons of bands at The Oddfellows Hall or major shows at bigger arenas or theaters. However, aside from Oddfellows shows and music festivals, all ages concerts aren't seen frequently. Do you want to see more all ages concerts more than any other possible addition or improvement?
More band reunions: Whether we're talking about one off reunion concerts, returns from a lengthy hiatus, or an actual band revival, fan support is sure to follow if a popular local band comes back from the dead or lengthy inactivity. I know for a fact that there's many local bands you guys would love to see back gigging locally, but is that what you want the most?
More bands playing live: The Sault area has a lot of good and talented local bands and musicians, but not all of them gig regularly, or at all. Blame work, distance, preparedness, or whatever you want, but some local bands are not visible at local concerts despite their own activity level. Would you want to see more bands hitting the stage that aren't?
More battles of the bands: Over the past few years, we've seen a number of local battles of the bands featuring varying band numbers, prize amounts, and local prominence. Though generally popular and well remembered, we haven't had a noticeable one in Sault Ontario in almost 15 months. Though support for them isn't universal, do you want battles of the bands to happen more frequently in the Sault area?
More concerts in general: We're definitely seeing more consistently booked metal and hard rock shows in the area than we have in some prior recent years, but I'm sure some of you aren't happy with the amount we do get. Simple enough choice, if you want more metal and harcd rock concerts locally more than any other option, vote here!
More Essar Center/Kewadin Casino concerts: Major concerts with high profile bands are likely to come to either
The Essar Center in Sault Ontario or The Dreammaker's Theater in
Kewadin Casino across the river. Kewadin bookings still come frequently enough, but we haven't had a non-contest won hard rock concert at The Essar Center since 2009. Are you in the mood for some more larger metal acts at our two highest profile concert venues?
More local music festivals: By this, I mean ones catering to metal and hard rock tastes. We have a few that do (
Rotaryfest,
Hempfest,
Sugar Island Music Festival), but most of the others that run yearly don't tend to have metal or hard rock bands. Do we need more festivals with metal bands, or an integration of them into other local festivals? Vote here if you think so!
More new albums from local bands: Picking this choice could mean a desire for bands to release recorded or partly recorded CDs, or just a desire for more bands to release albums in general. The talent is there, but in recent months, there hasn't been a lot of new metal and hard rock material to buy. Do you want more local CDs from bands of those genres more than the other options?
More new local bands: Do you think the scene could use some new blood in the form of some brand new local bands? We get lots of new bands yearly (including this year), but are more warranted? Simple enough choice, vote here if you think so!
More out of town headlining bands: Thanks in large part to
Dismembertainment, we get a lot of out of town metal bands playing locally, but outside of their shows, there isn't a ton of local concerts on either side of the border featuring bands outside of Algoma District or Chippewa County coming here to rock a headlining show. Do you want more of that locally?
More support for the scene/bands: Luckily, we have good support for our bands and shows in the local scene, but do you think we could have more? Larger concert attendances? More likes and fans on band pages? More album purchases? If you think we need more support over anything else, vote here!
More variety: There's a little something for everyone in the Sault area, but maybe you find that there isn't as much of a variety in the bands and shows as there could be? We get death metal, hardcore, and classic metal a lot, but do you long for a wider genre expanse in the bands and concerts in the area? This would be your choice if you do!
I like the scene as it is: Simple enough, if you like the local metal & hard rock scene just fine the way it is, with no need for a drastic change or addition, vote here!
Other: Did I miss another element of the local scene that you'd want to expand on, see more of, or make more prominent?
"Other" is the option for you if your ideal choice isn't present above!
VOTE TODAY!!! You have until September 18th to vote in this month's poll, so do so at the poll on the left of the page! I'm curious to see what wins, so hopefully we get lots of votes for a clear answer! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon! Thanks everyone, and get voting!
Elements of Madness
Info/Analysis: Originally named ThatOneBand, Elements of Madness were a short-lived hard rock band from Sault Michigan that was active for roughly a year between June 2011 & mid-2012. Influenced by everyone from Les Claypool to John Mayer, information on their run is minimal, but it doesn't appear like they got very far off the ground, despite optimism towards songwriting sessions & a potential open mic night appearance at Zim's. There is surviving media of their songs courtesy of guitarist Cody Rosebohm's YouTube channel, which features solo acoustic portions of their songs "Falling" and "The Beast Inside", and while they're generally well performed, they're raw unplugged takes and would probably differ greatly from their forms with the full band (though they're more similar to Cody's current band All The Dirty Words In One.) I'd be curious to hear expanded recordings of Elements of Madness, but hopefully the members find larger musical success in later projects, and here's a longer clip of Cody playing "Falling"!
No More Landmines
Info/Analysis: Active from roughly 2007-2009, No More Landmines were a comedic metal project from Sault Ontario featuring then-Sir James Dunn students. Despite their lack of public material and live concerts that I can source, their online biography is quite detailed & often amusing, outlining members' numerous stage names, instrument roles, and fictional back stories that painted members as Mexican immigrants who formed the band while locked in jail. There's a likeable absurdity to No More Landmines' posts and fake albums, but it's hard to get a bead on how they would have sounded as a full band, especially with the minimal local music credits for their members aside from this project. Comedic metal isn't something we get a lot of in the Soo, but hopefully media of No More Landmines will turn up at some point, as I have a feeling their music may have had some humour value, if nothing else!