VM Radio Launch & Availability Information, Plus The New Tuned Episode!!

Today's post is very much focused on recent postings and launches from one major local company, but all of it is of note for local rock fans, including the contents of the newest episode of Tuned and the formal launch of a new online radio network, so here's what you need to know!

SooToday parent company Village Media officially launched all 5 feeds of their new internet radio network VM Radio on Thursday! After a successful pilot launch earlier this week, the full website and player are up along with each station's full current rotation, with the launch and related notes outlined in this SooToday news release. Joining the existing website player, there are now Apple iOS and Android/Google Play applications to stream the stations with, while all 5 are now among the internet radio stations listed on iTunes' own internet radio service and through the Apple TV digital media player. There are also widgets on both SooToday and Local2's home pages that list what's playing on all 5 feeds at the time of page visit (from my experience, they don't refresh unless you refresh the whole page), but it's great for extra convenience to listen! VM Radio also announced that they're now the exclusive music provider for the Mill Market and the Soo's Downtown Association, among future establishments to be announced.

VM Radio has also indicated that they want to expand into additional Northern Ontario markets with "increased specialty programming & content", though they didn't elaborate on that or potential on-air shows and genre blocks. They are definitely still looking for local CDs and music to add to the rotation on their five stations (VM Rocks for rock subgenres, VM Bounce for pop & rap, VM Indie for indie/alternative, VM Roots for roots/blues, and VM Y'All for country), so if you're interested in helping the cause, message the stations at radio@villagemedia.ca A.S.A.P.! In terms of my experience listening to the stations, I do like the full final look to the player and website, with all I'd change being maybe putting album covers up, or listing what's next to play on each station. Just since I started this post, I've heard a wide array on VM Rocks including Woods of Ypres, The Drive By Truckers, Green Day, The Police, and Led Zeppelin, and like in the pilot launch, you have a lot of Canadian content to take in, with few ads!

The online player works fine for me with no hang-ups that it started, but if you're hoping for a review of the mobile applications, I can't help you yet. The Android application isn't compatible with my tablet, and every time I tried to open VM Radio with my iPod Touch, it crashed (but to be fair, it's 5 years old now, so my iPod might be too old in general.) The above SooToday press release did note that "more listening options" will follow, so if the stations turn up on TuneIn Radio or something similar, then I can comment on the mobile experience! So far, I do give VM Radio (and VM Rocks in particular) a solid thumbs up, and it's nice to have the extra diversity in the local radio market! I will note that there was some online comment concerning both Energy Rock Radio and Mike Cliffe's Audiofumes preceding VM Radio in this area for Sault Ontario online radio, and while I like both a lot, E.R.R. moved to British Columbia in 2011, and Audiofumes is a podcast rather than a 24/7 radio station.

Be sure to listen to VM Radio's five online stations at the above links or through your Apple and Android devices, like VM Radio on Facebook, and when we have updates concerning the stations, their programming, or future availability, we'll let you know!

We'll close today's post with one more Village Media note, as the newest episode of Local2's music video profile web-series Tuned With Donna Hopper went online on Tuesday, and at last, this is the episode featuring last month's Rad Zone 30th anniversary concert featuring The Ripcordz at The Rockstar Bar! I wonder what took so long to get this episode online? The 18 minute+ episode features Donna's introductory segments hosted in The Rad Zone (naturally), while the concert footage begins with 4 minutes of video from The Ripcordz' set (including Jack Spades' J.D. Pearce joining in on "X"), before transitioning to interview clips with Ripcordz frontman Paul Gott and Rad Zone owner Paul "Monk" Muncaster. When interviewing Paul Gott, he talks about his views on being a "rockstar", how he got into punk music, what should change in the industry to help rising punk bands, and where to find new Ripcordz CDs, while the interview with Monk includes his surprising music past, and the impact of vinyl records and his connections with the music & this format.

Later elaborating on how The Rad Zone has grown in the past 30 years, his planned retirement in 10 years, the continued impact he gets from people who discover new music at the store, and his advice for vinyl collectors, Monk's interview is very nice, and you can tell how much he loves the music and what's he able to do and provide for our area (and Paul Gott's interview is also an informative listen!) After a brief concert calendar segment, the episode concludes with some more nicely shot video footage from last month's Gob concert at the same venue, and bloopers during the credits, though there's no footage of the opening bands at either show. Still, this is a great and extensive episode of Tuned with lots of quality concert & interview footage, so give it a look at this link! Remember, Local2's video host doesn't allow external embedding. That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes over the coming week! Thanks everyone!

Rad Zone Anniversary Bash Fallout, Destroilet's Newest Member, And More!!

Here's our first all-news, no-previews/profiles post on the site in almost a week! Along with some assorted recent updates and new song uploads, we're leading off with the first fallout from this past weekend's concert that celebrated a great store's big anniversary, so here's what you should know!

We'll kick things off today with some long awaited fallout from Saturday night's Ripcordz-headlined Rad Zone anniversary party at The Rockstar Bar, including a new article and photo album from SooToday's Donna Hopper! Entitled "Some punk for Monk", the article (which went up on Wednesday) features a recap of the night's entertainment (though with no mention of DJ Seith's opening set, oddly enough), but mostly focuses on Rad Zone owner Paul "Monk" Muncaster, which reflects on his 30 years owning The Rad Zone and it's predecessors. The article does feature comments from Paul himself, including confirmation that he wants to retire from running the shop in around 10 years, saying that he wants to "sit & enjoy life with a fishing rod", and that he knows someone will pick up where he left off then. That will be a sad day when it comes, but make the most of his music and vinyl knowledge where you can, as he's been doing awesome work in this town for decades for the music & skate scenes (and beyond!)

Yes, Local2 video cameras were rolling too for a Tuned episode, but as of this writing, it's not online yet. We'll keep you posted when it's up! As for Donna's photos, which are all in black and white, she got 23 shots on Saturday, including 10 of The Ripcordz, 6 of Jack Spades, 4 of Destroilet (though none of DJ Seith), while Paul is the focus of three, one featuring the Rad Zone's birthday cake. Great shots as usual, so be sure to check them out above!

Next up, here's the big Destroilet lineup news that was publically revealed at the Ripcordz concert this past Saturday, as the band has added veteran local musician Brenton Ellis (a.k.a. Diamond Brent Panther) to their lineup as a co-lead singer, who will share vocal duties with Mike Hull going forward. Brent is well known locally as a singer and/or bassist from bands like Lion Ride, Detroit, and Tha Bombed Squad, and for out of town bands like The Labour Of..., The Sexual Vigilantes, and most recently Maximum RNR, who Brent parted ways with last month prior to moving back to the Soo. It's not clear yet whether Brent will sing alongside Mike during shows or will trade off for certain songs/verses, but he will debut with the band at the Rebel Spell concert at The Moose Lodge on Thursday. This is an intriguing surprise for the now six-piece Destroilet, and I just hope it's not considered a demotion on Mike's part. It's great to have Brent back in the area, and we'll have to see how things sound next week, so keep an eye out!

Also today, here's the first completed song from Haggith drummer Mike Haggith's next announced studio solo album "The Warinside"! Entitled "September", this was posted on his solo YouTube channel yesterday, and it's an instrumental track that's "of particular significance" to him, but is not similar to the rest of the album, which will be heavier, though with something for everyone (source here.) Recorded at Galactic Records in Windsor, Mike's hoping to have this album complete by early next year. I'll hold comment for now as a review of this album is likely, but give this short interlude a listen!



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

• Though technically not a metal or hard rock note, Staind frontman Aaron Lewis will return to our area on November 22nd for a solo country concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino. Fans may remember Staind's well received headlining gig here in April 2009, and while this tour is definitely focused on solo songs like "Country Boy", he is known to cover Staind songs in this setting too. For more details, click here!
• New local punk/grunge duo The Red & Black posted two new songs onto their Bandcamp page on Tuesday, along with a higher quality version of "The Army Song". The new tracks are "Put Up or Shut Up" and a yet-untitled song, and while the former is reminiscent of frontman Chris Shoust's Telephone & Address work, the latter is an experimental drum/piano piece that Spider Fingerz fans should like! Check everything out above!
• This is admittedly late, as the show took place yesterday, but local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver were added on short notice to yesterday's Northern Horde concert in Toronto alongside fellow local bands AlgomA, Bad Back, The Apocalypse Afterparty, and Crucify The Whore, plus non-locals Fox (replacing Ghost Daze.) Sounds like a very solid concert, hopefully everyone made a huge splash! Our source is the Facebook event page.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results and this month's new poll on the site TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

Garden Of Bedlam Updates, Shaw TV News, And Much More!!

Let's get some more news going on the site today, and it's a mix of things from changes to band links and profiles on the SMS to a new video from a local project to two very cool Garden of Bedlam-releated stories from the last little while, so let's get this post going!

If you're still anxiously awaiting the release of Garden of Bedlam's full length album "Everything Will Die", maybe this image will build some more anticipation! It was posted onto their Facebook page last night, and though not a lot is said, it seems self-explanatory. I'd assume that the image either is the album's cover or contains elements of it, and the date of December 26th seems to imply what you're probably thinking it implies. That said, if "Everything Will Die" does indeed come out on Boxing Day, what are the specifics? That, I don't know. I'd assume that the album will come out on CD format with a likely mp3 release on iTunes or similar stores around the same time, and it should have at least 9 songs. The Rad Zone would be a likely local retail outlet to sell it, and a CD release show tied in would make sense, but all we have publically available is this image and the date upon it as of right now. I'm definitely excited to finally have Garden of Bedlam's first full length album in my possession after over a year of waiting, but there's still details to come, so stay tuned for the SMS as soon as more official word on it's release comes out, but circle Boxing Day on your calendars!

Also in Garden of Bedlam related news, the band (save for Josh Belleau) are featured in a new Shaw TV interview piece by Christian Lemay (who previously did pieces on As It Stands & Dismembertainment), and this time, it focuses on local music/collectibles store The Rad Zone in the Wellington Square Mall! The bulk of the interview focuses on Rad Zone owner Paul Muncaster, who talked in detail about The Rad Zone's beginnings, it's connections with the local community, and yes, their support of local music and what they do and offer to local bands, and it's great to see him show this much support so well over the years! He seemed friendly and humble, and the Shaw TV crew got some great interior shots of The Rad Zone, along with comments from local photographer Rob Majury (who's done photography work for them) and members of Garden of Bedlam (including bassist & Rad Zone employee Evan Belleau.) They outlined their support and praise of Paul and The Rad Zone for what they've done for the band and the local music scene, along with some news relating to what Garden of Bedlam merchandise you can buy in-store. It's a very nice and complementary interview with all parties, so definitely check it out wherever you can!

So when can you see this interview? As of today, it's running about once every 24 minutes, so it's not rigidly placed enough to give a real time to see it. For reference, it comes on after a piece on a local 102 year old woman and a Shaw TV commercial, and it's about 5 minutes long. Apparently, it's been running on channel 10 (Shaw cable users only) since Monday, but I only just heard about the interview the other day, and I sincerely apologize for being late to get the word out on the SMS. It's a great video on an awesome store that gives 110% to the local music community, and definitely check it out while it's still on rotation! I believe it will be off air by Monday, but it should be posted on Shaw TV's website early next week for about a week, and hopefully for the Christmas season, I'll have a copy to post on YouTube for a present! Stay tuned, and check out the Rad Zone/Garden of Bedlam interview video on channel 10 A.S.A.P., and kudos to Christian for another quality piece!

Next up, ApocalyptiCDistroyeR frontman Jesse Middaugh uploaded another solo performance video onto the band's YouTube channel yesterday, and it's basically a more refined version of his acoustic song "You Mean The World To Me" that he posted last month. The lyrics are still a bit repetitive, and Jesse's tone is grittier than the song probably needs, but it's not a bad softer track, if atypical from much of ApocalyptiCDistroyeR's past output. Give it a look below, along with much more solo and band material at the above links!



And finally for today, here's three assorted shorter stories related to site changes and band link adjustments, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• I've removed the defunct Sault Ontario hardcore band BeeFMoutH from our Inactive Local Band Links because the page I linked them with (a YouTube channel under the BeeFMoutH name) isn't really a "band page", so to speak. They were entertaining with a unique edge though, so check out some of their posted videos at the above link!
• I'll likely be moving Sault Michigan solo metal project BlisteringBane to our Inactive Local Band Links tomorrow due to a year's inactivity. Bandleader Jordon Jones hasn't updated the project's MySpace page since a year ago tomorrow, when he implied a hiatus for the project anyway due to losing "the stuff" to make more music. Disappointing, but hopefully Jordon reemerges musically down the road!
• I've edited our Defunct Local Band Profile on local hardcore quartet Detroit to reflect the fact that guitarist Curtis Faux has since joined frontman Brenton Ellis in the active Toronto hardcore punk band Maximum RNR, a fact I alluded to on the site last month as well. Not a huge change, but I thought I'd mention it, and check out Maximum RNR at the above links for an extension of the Detroit sound!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our next Defunct Local Band Profiles on Garage Inc. & Savage Roar tomorrow, and more news this weekend hopefully! Thanks everyone!