Our Recap Of Mike Haggith's April 2022 Live-Stream!!

After an almost four week delay, let's look at local/Thompson, Manitoba alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith's monthly live-streamed concert from April 2022 this afternoon! No word on if he's doing one this month or not, for the record, but last month's didn't occur until the 27th, so there is still time in theory. Technical issues meant that the live-stream did not air on Facebook despite best efforts, leaving it exclusive to Mike's YouTube channel. The 2 hours & 20 minutes+ live-stream begins with Mike acknowledging the Facebook issues, while also mentioning his upgrade in audio equipment, presumably to undo all of the dreaded halts and pops that had been prevalent in his live-streams since starting to use StreamYard. For the first time since Mike began interviewing outside musicians, last month's guest was not from Sault Ste. Marie, rather Nick Howell, a blues/folk musician from Waubaushene in Central Ontario's Simcoe County.

Admittedly, Saultite interest in this episode may be weakened, especially as I don't think Nick has played shows here, but he is a very talented musician whose recommendations of releasing solo albums through Kunaki's manufacture-on-demand process heavily influenced Mike's Thompson-era albums, so don't quickly bypass him on residence alone! After a lot of assorted loose conversation, the interview proper begins about 7 minutes in with Nick discussing where he comes from, their collective experiences releasing albums with Kunaki and dialing in the audio/packaging quality, and Nick's upcoming solo album. This runs until 28 minutes in when we get our first performance, Nick doing a new original song named "A Night To Remember". Mercifully, the audio hang-ups of Mike's prior StreamYard-infused live-streams are definitely improved here, and Nick has a Thom Yorke-ish quality to his singing that I didn't expect!

After some tuning, Mike played his first song next (on his 12 string guitar, no less), namely "MorningStar", which begins about 40:45 in. Again, Mike's audio upgrades have definitely helped on his end of the video too, so no webcam halts or pops! Still not sure what changed to force those when he started using StreamYard. More discussion follows about their experiences releasing albums through Kunaki, Nick's unique "Rock Odyssey" offered through his website (seriously, give this a look), both Mike and Nick's own experiences making their websites, Mike's then-not-yet-released Steeltown Sessions video, Nick's artwork for his studio album "Traveler", and Mike's own experiences with designing album covers. Nick performs his original song "In Love With The Bottle" at about 1:04:30, with Mike following with his new song "Twist of Fate" from his next album.

That leads off the second half of the live-stream at about 1:13:00, and the between song banter afterwards is shorter, looser, and more musical before Nick returns to play "Swift Turtle: at 1:22:40.  More of the same is next, plus discussion about unique plans to play with backing tracks in live concerts, with Mike playing another yet-unreleased original next at 1:33:25, namely "I've Seen It Before". After plugging and promoting the Your Music Live and You Rock! shows that Mike has often submitted songs for (I know I'm very behind on both), as well as Mike's aims to take his indie label MorningStar Records to the next level, Nick discusses his summer plans and the idea of maybe doing live-streams of his own, along with more "Inside Baseball" talk about their albums. The music returns next with Nick playing his original song "Angry Moon" at about 1:52:30, with Mike fittingly playing "Take Back The Moon" at 2:00:30 to close his musical portion of the stream.

Sadly, the planned mandatory cover from the share contest was not played due to the winner not being present and the lack of a Facebook stream like they usually watched via, so that will be held over for next time (as such, no new share contest was held either). The last 17 minutes is mostly devoted to casual conversation and final promotion, but Nick does close by playing one more original song ("Late Nights, Early Mornings") at 2:13:40. While Nick was new to me going in, he is a very talented and genre-transcendent musician who you should give a listen, and Mike and him has a fun rapport, so check out the whole live-stream for yourself below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: metalmaster666's Channel

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, continuing our monthly spotlight features on YouTube channels (all randomly selected from our YouTube subscriptions) in order to look at them and their public content for current readers to encourage views and subscriptions! This month, we randomly drew a channel with some interesting content for both metal fans of the era and former Eagles, so here's what you should know!

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metalmaster6666 (http://youtube.com/metalmaster6666)

Owner: Former Sindicate/Creatures of the Night guitarist Nick Rhodes

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 3rd, 2006; Videos posted from March 23rd, 2007 until September 18th, 2013

Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Nick originally posted videos here of Dunnplugged-related covers that he was involved in during his enrollment at Sir James Dunn Collegiate & Vocational School in 2007 & 2008. After graduation, he posted two more solo covers of Neil Young and Rodney Carrington songs in 2013.
 
Why You Should Watch: This channel will be of primary interest to fans and alumni of the long-running Dunnplugged program at Sir James Dunn, and given that the school proper would close after 2011, late-period footage like this is extra notable, let alone of metal performances! The later covers won't appeal to metalheads (despite Nick's longer hair at this point), but they do show his musical skills were still being honed! Be advised that the Rodney Carrington song is lyrically not safe for work. As well, note that Nick has not visibly used his channel since then.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Iron Maiden-Phantom of the Opera(Cover): Nick's most popular video is his first, a March 2007 jam session cover of Iron Maiden's "Phantom Of The Opera" by what appears to be an early version of Sindicate (compare to this video of Sindicate covering "The Trooper" at Bellevue Park that summer). If so, their lineup here would include singer James Green, Nick and Jared Lambert on guitar, and Keith Gagnon (with a box on his head) on drums. There's no bassist present, but Keith's future Free Beer bandmate Ryan Gray would later join Sindicate, and the lineup was full on this actual Dunnplugged version of "Phantom Of The Opera" uploaded 8 days later, though the overall video quality is worse. The dark lighting & lack of a bassist here aren't ideal, and James(?) does struggle with some higher notes, but this isn't a bad rendition, and the audio quality is surprisingly decent for a 2007 upload!

Randy Rhoads- Dee (cover) Dunnplugged: Filmed at the main Dunnplugged stage in May 2008 with a much better camera and setup than the previous year, this video features Nick covering Randy Rhoads' acoustic instrumental "Dee" from Ozzy Osbourne's debut solo album "Blizzard Of Ozz". Very nicely done version, though it did seem to go a little fast, and Nick got some deserved applause at the end!

Patience-Guns and Roses (cover): Nick's final Dunnplugged video before leaving the Dunn saw him and former Sindicate bandmate Jared Lambert (with a 12 string guitar) covering Guns N' Roses' "Patience", with Jared on vocals. Despite a lot of background chatter from students, this cover is well performed overall, but Jared definitely isn't attempting to meet Axl's range in the home stretch. 

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around May 26th when we look at another randomly selected channel, namely that of YouTube user 62ndChamberMedia, featuring lots of local metal band footage from the mid-2010s. Look for that then, and for this month's CD review on the site next! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Solo Project & New Videos From Local Solo Guitarists!!

On the penultimate day of the month, we're keeping our daily post streak going, as we have lots of new video content to check out, including solo musicians on both sides of the border, one being a new addition to our band links! Here's what you should know!

We have a new-ish solo project to add to our Sault Michigan band links, courtesy of Heavy Lies The Crown guitarist Ted Olson! Much like his St. Ignace metal band, Ted's Facebook page flew under the radar for way too long, as he launched it back in June 2018. Despite that, Ted mentioned in January that this was his "new artist page", and his only prior updates related to Heavy Lies The Crown imagery and a riff lead video upon the page's launch. Ted stated that he plans to post "crappy idea videos" (his words, not mine), and self-deprecation aside, he has uploaded three short videos since then to demonstrate progressive guitar techniques. What he calls "a little thumpy poo" is embedded below. Ted's a skilled guitarist, and he shows it here, but these are short glimpses that don't give a lot away. He may be saving fuller compositions for Heavy Lies The Crown, after all, so definitely check them out as well, but hopefully he posts new song fragments or ideas on his solo page in the near future!



Next up, let's head to Sault Ontario for local hard rock solo musician Tym Morrison's eighth live-streamed concert, which took place on his YouTube channel last night! Tym's set starts 8:30 or so in with an original instrumental (not the Spanish guitar one), followed by covers of Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver" & Metallica's "Enter Sandman", before leaving to change his light setup to synchronize with his programmed drum tracks and check a phone message. After returning, Tym tackles Alan Jackson's "Chattahoochee", White Lion's "When The Children Cry", Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'", Little Texas' "What Might Have Been", The Beatles' "Blackbird", The Eagles "Desperado", and finally, an untitled original song. If this seems like a shorter set than normal, it's because his set didn't even run past one hour due to technical difficulties with the live-stream, as the video frequently has a choppy quality, which Tym blamed on his internet connection. Thankfully, the audio quality is not affected.

I was worried the issues were on my end, but Tym started acknowledging them midway through the abbreviated set, and the last 5 minutes of the stream featured him trying (in vain) to improve the streaming quality. Hopefully he irons out the kinks come the likely next episode tomorrow, as the previous six episodes looked fine, and at least the audio is reliable and clear as ever! Give his solid sounding performance a watch below!

Also today, here's some new videos from Isolation Sessions/ex-Half Past guitarist Arthur Lacasse's YouTube channel! Unlike prior uploads there, these two videos do not feature Jordan, but he does have help on the one clip. One video is of Arthur covering Nirvana's "About A Girl" on acoustic guitar, and it's a solid instrumental rendition! No vocals of any kind, so no need to make a Puddle of Mudd comparison in this case, but I admit that I don't like the heavy filter he put on the video. Embedded below is a video of Arthur and his son Gage covering Three Days Grace's "Animal I Have Become", with Art filmed separately and filter-free. Gage is using an electric drumkit, so the percussion doesn't sound exact, and I think the original song is too loud, but the Lacasses seem to have a good handle on this one! Give it a watch below!



Finally for today, here's a new cover of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" by former Intrepid/Midnight Logic guitarist Nick Pavlat! This is the first upload on his YouTube channel since deleting his 2013 uploads there at some point in the late 2010s. As I recall, they weren't bad covers, and it's a shame they were taken down! That said, he has definitely progressed as a musician since then (he has moved out of Sault Michigan to further his music career), and I think this video is higher quality than those were. The original song is a little loud again, but he knows the song very well, so Chili Peppers fans will want to give this one a watch below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: matti7915, Anthems vs Oceans, and pearls666's Channels!!

Now's a good time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we're once again spotlighting 1-3 YouTube channels (three this month) whose content is at least 50% comprised of local metal, hard rock, and/or punk video content, be they from concerts or artists. This month's choices (all picked at random as usual) have given us a three-channel month again, as the first randomly selected channel only had a single video, as did the second, so we filled things out with a third for November. There's some missed and intriguing projects ahead via these channels, so read on below for this month's YouTube profiles!
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matti7915's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/matti7915)

Owner: Either ex-Dirty Virgin/Riverin guitarist Matt Clement or drummer Matt Hicks (I'd guess Clement, but I'm not 100% certain)

Channel Timeline: Launched on August 3rd, 2007; Only video posted on August 4th, 2008

Channel Summary: Matt's only upload here is a promotional video of his 2007-2010 glam metal/punk quartet Dirty Virgin, complete with a movie credits-style opening, a press quote, and 7 minutes of footage from their set at the Rock 2 Roll skatepark fundraiser concert at The Canadian Nightclub in July 2008. Featuring the band's original lineup (with the Matts alongside singer/guitarist Bobby Clement and bassist Lionel "Rocks" Quinton), the edited video features Dirty Virgin covering Joe South's "Games People Play", then playing their original "Take You Hard", before closing with a cover of The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K.". This video & channel are admittedly now redundant given that these clips (and much more) were uploaded in full on Lionel's YouTube channel in 2009, but if you can get past that and the scratchy audio, you'll find Dirty Virgin rocking out well in their element, giving the Soo a then-rare dose of glam rock with good energy!


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Anthems vs Oceans (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPG3jM3COCsENznSkWh_eXA)

Owner: Anthems vs. Oceans founder and ex-idioRECORDS head Dave Hunter

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 16th, 2012; Only video posted on August 22nd, 2014

Channel Summary: Originally created before Dave's solo project changed it's name from For July, this channel only features Anthems vs. Oceans' expletive-laden "Emo Song". Fans of pop punk should take to this song, which was nicely recorded at idioRECORDS, and has a catchy upbeat riff, but other For July/Anthems vs. Oceans pages will have this song and much more available to stream (I recommend their MySpace page.) Also, note that this channel has seen no new media postings since the name change, and Dave has hinted since that he may explore different genres on new material, so keep those in mind.


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nick kainula (http://www.youtube.com/pearls666)

Owner: A Dire Setback drummer Nick Kainula, also known from prior bands like State of Misery, Stealing Kisses, and Unbound

Channel Timeline: Launched on July 10th, 2007; Only video posted on January 20th, 2013

Channel Summary: Though extensively used for personal playlists, Nick's only video is of his short-lived local hard rock band Unbound (later the second version of With Blood Build Character), whose public launch sadly came following the sudden death of singer Justin Fratpietro in January 2013. The only public video of the original Unbound is a jam session take of their song "Deep Waters", with Justin and Nick joined by Nick's ex-State of Misery bandmates Ray Cowan on guitar and Kevin D'Orazio (now of K.I.C.K.) on bass. Taking a darker yet more accessible slant than State of Misery had, the video is hampered by distorted audio, but Unbound showed decent potential here and a solid pre-existing chemistry, and it's a shame that they didn't accomplish more before Justin's passing (or after.)


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, we have randomly drawn ex-Nikkfitt guitarist Robert Ross' YouTube channel for our next profile, and though he only has three videos, they're all distinct and relevant, so look for that to close 2016 on or around Boxing Day! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and this month's CD review soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Pixo Control), A New Concert Video, And More!!

We're back on this Monday afternoon with our first news post of the month, so what's in store? Some assorted recent news and notes, a new concert video find, and first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and lots of assorted updates from the band in question, so here's what you should know!

Local alternative/hard rock trio The Pixo Control have announced a new local concert that will go down on Friday, February 12th at The Rockstar Bar! Announced on their Facebook page on Wednesday, the band didn't offer details on the show proper, but it's very likely that this is one and the same as the Valentine's Day-themed concert that Project 421 bassist Daniel Horton is promoting, though he hasn't officially revealed full details yet. If correct, this show will have 3 or 4 bands, and one will be local musician Jacob Quarrell's acoustic solo act Shit Creek Survivor (as seen at 2014's Sault Band-O-Rama), who confirmed his involvement for the same date and venue on his own Facebook event page last week. Nice to see him back out there! No word yet on the other band(s?) for next Friday, including possible involvement from one of Daniel's bands, but we'll let you know when there's a fuller announcement! Also, no word yet on a cover charge, but a 10:00 PM start time and 19+ age limit are to be expected. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more!

Staying with The Pixo Control, the guys have been busy as of late, so what's new from them beyond this show? Well, they've announced their second mini-tour, which will see them head back to Southern Ontario for shows in Toronto and Barrie over the April 14th weekend, and it'll be great to see them back down south again! These of course follow three February shows in the Soo, including next week's Sheepdogs show at The Machine Shop, and the Like A Pisces show during The Fishbowl Festival on February 20th, so keep those in mind (also, note that Honest Job's Mister Tahti is no longer listed as performing on the latter show. Hopefully nothing bad happened!) Also, The Pixo Control's debut album "Probably Not" is now on sale via on iTunes, so if you want a digital copy, they cost $9.99 there, with individual songs also available! Finally for today, the guys have posted three more videos to their Instagram page, so what should you know about these?

All filmed around their Sudbury concert last month, one video has the guys jokingly singing The Spice Girls' "Wannabe" in their tour van, while another video has bassist Dustin Goodall's observations of some... "ribald" art backstage at the venue they played at (it's not linked here in case some find it offensive.) Embedded below though is a short clip of The Pixo Control jamming an acoustic version of "Land of the Moles", which is apparently part of more Sudbury footage to be posted that they filmed with Sudbury's Here Kitty Kitty Productions, which will apparently include more performance clips, and "a salty surprise". Sounds good, so stay tuned for more above & below!

What a weekend. We spent a lot of time in front of cameras so get out the popcorn, ya fucks. #loveisintheair #orisitpoop

A video posted by The Pixo Control (@thepixocontrol) on Jan 24, 2016 at 3:00pm PST

Next up, here's a new video from November's fourth annual Toystock fundraiser concert, this time of one-off punk cover band The Rude-Offs! This was uploaded to Facebook in December by guitarist Christian Foisy, and shared on their full-time successor band Killer's Facebook page as a sample of Killer's likely sound, but we still don't know a whole lot on Killer apart from Rude-Offs media. It's of the band (with Treble Charger's Greig Nori on lead vocals) covering The Pixie's "Where Is My Mind" at The Grand Gardens, and it's a solid rendition at a good angle, with fans enjoying it from what I can see! Hopefully we hear more from Killer soon, but check out this new Rude-Offs video below!



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

• Local concert promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment announced last week that their Facebook page is "no longer active until further notice". The post followed their November declaration of a hiatus due to schedule conflicts, but no word what happened internally to bring about this newest update. H.N.E. have not promoted a concert since September's Fuck The Facts show at The Oddfellows Hall, but hopefully Tyler and company come back to the promotion game if/when "further notice" rolls around!
• Former State of Misery drummer Nick Kainula is again looking for musicians for his next local band project, and now, he wants to find a singer and bassist for his yet-to-debut metal band. Nick hopes to jam and play shows again, so if you or someone you know is interested in trying out, message Nick A.S.A.P. at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from yesterday!
• In a house cleaning note regarding a Sault Michigan area concert venue, we've moved Timmy Lee's Pub in St. Ignace from our concert venue links to our "Other Local Metal Links" section, as it hasn't been visibly used for hard rock concerts in well over a year. Though it's still open, it's website is no longer up, so we've also changed it's link to it's Facebook page. Hopefully we see more bands there again in the future!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post next! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Nick Pavlat

Here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we continue are monthly spotlights of randomly selected YouTube channels featuring at least 50% local metal, hard rock, and/or punk content! This month's choice is courtesy of a hard rock guitarist who may be familiar to Yooper readers of recent years, so read on below for what you should know!
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Nick Pavlat (http://www.youtube.com/darvocheevy)

Owner: Former Intrepid guitarist Nick Pavlat

Channel Timeline: Launched on August 30th, 2009; Videos posted from May through August 2013

Channel Summary: Rather than focusing on his band work from the turn of the 2010s, Sault Michigan's Nick Pavlat dedicated his YouTube channel around 13 solo performance videos, all posted over two years after Intrepid fell inactive. Among others, his channel includes solo guitar renditions of songs by Modest Mouse, Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Black Label Society, Chelsea Grin, and Franz Ferdinand.

Why Should You Watch: Give Nick's channel a look for some solid renditions of familiar metal songs, with even a bit of indie rock thrown in for good measure if that's your thing! Nick shows promise as a guitarist, as fans saw with Intrepid, but note that he has no videos of his band work there, and the audio quality is mixed given the home recording setup. Also, while Nick does still actively maintain this channel for personal use, he hasn't posted a new video in over two years, so keep that in mind if thinking about subscribing.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

One Day Remains by Alterbridge Cover: One of two bands to be covered twice on Nick's channel, Alter Bridge are the source for his renditions of "One Day Remains" and "New Way To Live", the channel's second & last respectively. The latter has scratchier audio, but both show Nick's skill level well, especially the solo sections on "One Day Remains", as well as a nice ease during his playing!



My Own Summer by Deftones Cover: Nick covered no band more frequently on his channel than The Deftones, including versions of their hits "Change (In The House Of Flies)", "Swerve City", and featured here, "My Own Summer (Shove It)", all among 7 videos with this camera angle of him performing beside his laptop. All featuring the original audio in the background, Nick seems to know these songs well, with "My Own Summer" particularly impressing, but I wonder why he walked out of view of the camera for the last stretch?



Stand or Walk Away by Hellyeah: By far Nick's most popular video (with 225 current views), his cover of Hellyeah's "Stand Or Walk Away" from August 2013 is also well done, but the camera angle is way too tight to him, and makes it very hard to see his fingerwork. Still, not a bad rendition!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Through completely random selection, we have chosen local hard rock solo musician and longtime Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's YouTube channel to be profiled next in this series, which should be a good & diverse way to end 2015, so look for that on or around December 22nd! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

New Eastern U.P. Concert Videos, Upcoming Album Notes, And More!!

After a few days of concert reviews, we're back to some news and notes today, including new concert videos from recent Eastern U.P. shows, some upcoming album notes, and some recent feature profile updates, so read on below for what you need to know!

No less than nine videos from Munising, Michigan metal quartet Infathom's set at The Nick Cam Jam at Bay Mills Resort & Casino on Saturday night are now on YouTube for you to check out! Uploaded by attendee Michael Cole onto his YouTube channel this weekend, the videos are of Infathom covering Godsmack's "Whatever" & "Straight Out Of Line", part of P.O.D.'s "Boom", Candlebox's "Far Behind", Drowning Pool's "Bodies", Avenged Sevenfold's "Afterlife", Buckcherry's "Crazy Bitch", Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, We're Going Down", and (as embedded below) Pop Evil's "100 in a 55", so click each link to see each video! Filmed at good angles (if occasionally jittery and blurry), Infathom handle each cover well and with nice energy, with Sault-area native Dillion Semasky impressing vocally, but the Fall Out Boy cover (already a clear outlier) featues bassist Keegan Nebel singing lead. Kudos to Michael for filming all of these, so check them all out above, watch their "100 in a 55" cover below, and hopefully the benefit helped Nick Cameron and his family a lot in this time of need!



Next up, here's a new video from Kinross classic/hard rockers Banned! Presumably coming from one of their dates this past weekend at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, this is of the guys covering Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive", albeit with a smaller lineup than we've seen in quite a while, with singer Tara Starr and guitarist Denny Smith absent. No word on Denny's status with the band, but I believe Tara (who replaced Mike Straw in the band earlier this year) is definitely out, as videos of songs she sang lead for Banned with (both country covers) have quietly been deleted from their YouTube channel in recent days, and though Banned haven't listed a full lineup on their Facebook page in months, she hasn't been present in public postings since the spring. A reason for her departure hasn't been announced, but hopefully things were amicable, and best of luck to Tara in the future! I would like to have seen Banned leave the videos up, as even if the country covers were an adjustment, that was a talented lineup. With that addressed, how does the new video sound?

If Denny is indeed out of Banned too (I'll let you know if I can confirm that), this marks a reunion of their late 2012 trio lineup, and Alex, Don, and Jim handle this cover well! However, like their earlier cover of "Lonely Boy" (their only remaining video with Tara), it's a cover of a very overplayed recent rock song, and I'd have liked to have seen Banned change it up a bit like Late Shift did this past weekend. Still, it's well performed and Alex Traynor's vocals work pretty good, so check out Banned's cover of "Radioactive" below!



Also for this post, here's some news on upcoming albums from two regional solo artists! First (and keeping with the Sault Michigan-area theme), Dafter solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton is already prepping his 8th solo album for early next year for a tentative March 2014 release date! To be titled "Ink!", 4 songs are already written for it, and some will be posted online as they're completed, but further details on titles, themes, sounds, and album length are forthcoming. Click here for current details, and if all goes well, it or "Cracks In The Wall" could be reviewed as soon as May! The other album notes relates to Strange Coyotes drummer Mike Haggith's next solo album "A Place Of Our Own" (still tentatively lined up for a February release), as Mike released a tentative track listing for the album (pictured) to his solo project's Facebook page yesterday! Six songs are listed with some creative titles relating to it's central concept, though Mike emphasized that like with his past solo albums, this is subject to likely changes. Stay tuned for updates as they roll in for both Mike and Ken's next albums!

Finally for today, here's the last of our recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles, mostly related to last week's Viva La Battle! On our Skid Row Battle profile, I edited references to third placers Free Beer's 2013 reunion under the name Sarah's Valley, as I've heard from a few sources (including guitarist Dustin Goodall in person) that they broke up earlier this year after only a few concerts. On our Humane Society Battle profile, I replaced Giwakwa (who no longer feature battle alumni in their active lineup) with new local hard rock quartet Punch (featuring then-Wishbone bassist Steven Flint) in the section on current bands featuring battle performers. Then in our profile of the Battle For The Blood, I added a trivia note to reference Viva La Battle, as even though they shared no common performers, both battles had the same promoter, judging method, and guaranteed opening slot at a major concert. Finally, I'll just add that while I could add things to 4 of our past battle profiles to note withdrawn competitors Keep It Lit, I'll wait until they reveal their identities publically, as they had planned to keep that secret until their debut.

Stay tuned for more updates to our monthly feature series soon (including a pile of Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile updates later this month), and of course, keep an eye out for more news and notes! Thanks everyone!

Nick Cam Jam & Biipiigwan Concert Previews, Plus New Sault Michigan Concert Videos!!

At last, here's our last weekend concert preview posts on this very busy weekend in the region for metal/hard rock concerts! Today, we're previewing a second cancer benefit concert featuring local hard rock acts, as well as an anticipated ALL AGES concert in Sault Ontario, but to fill things out, I've also included two new video discoveries from a pair of linked Sault Michigan bands, so read on below for what you need to know!

A very special event is going down at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley, Michigan (a rare metal-featured concert there) TONIGHT, as Munising metal quartet Infathom and young local metal standouts Tantrym Tyme will be among the bands playing at The Nick Cam Jam! The event (which will be held in the casino's Horizons Conference Center) is in honour of Bay Mills resident Nick Cameron, who's currently battling cancer, so a number of performers are gathering together on Saturday to raise funds and support for his fight, which is awesome of them! Performers will include the aforementioned Infathom (featuring former local metal frontman Dillion Semasky) and Tantrym Tyme alongside local cover rock quartet Chump Change and duo performers Adrian & Taylor Hatfield and Candy & Larry Fultz (unsure of how they sound), while Phoenix Sounds Entertainment (a regional live sound/DJ company) are credited alongside the bands. Admission will be $10, with 50/50 draws and other raffles on hand to raise funds, there is an 8:00 PM start time, and this event has a special younger age limit of 18+.

For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I don't know Nick, but hopefully the Nick Cam Jam helps him and his family out a lot at this time of need, and there's a solid entertainment lineup in store for what should be an interesting event at a venue we don't cover a lot! I wonder if this will help jump start hard rock shows there? It's awesome to see Infathom back in the area for a second show this year too, so hopefully everything goes well on Saturday, and for a preview, here's Infathom covering Alter Bridge!



Finally for this weekend, a rare public metal concert will hit The Moose Lodge at 543 Trunk Road TOMORROW NIGHT, where Ottawa sludge metal quartet Biipiigwan will finally rock the Soo! Last seen in the district as headliners of a F.A.T.I.L. event in Thessalon in 2011, Biipiigwan (Ojibway for "flute") have a strong local following thanks to their hard hitting extreme metal sound and proud Ojibway heritage, so you know they'll devastate the local stage on Sunday night! The local openers have completely changed since originally announced, but there's solid stuff to go around even still, including local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters (replacing Giwakwa) in their first concert since winning Viva La Battle, and they're definitely riding a wave of momentum right now, so be sure not to miss their brutal set! The opening band will be local grunge duo Bad Back (replacing promoter/frontman Jamie Vincent's sludge trio AlgomA) in their first show in 3 months, and their unique (yet minimal) attack should be a solid fit tomorrow, so come early to see Jamie & Nathan rock out!

Promoted by Jamie and Oh! Right Arm! Promotions, this ALL AGES concert will begin at 8:00 PM tomorrow night at The Moose Lodge (just seconds from The Wellington Square Mall), and admission costs just $5. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to finally have Biipiigwan in the Soo tomorrow night, and hopefully there's a solid attendance despite falling right before the work week! Note as well that The Bear Hunters opened for Biipiigwan at the aforementioned Thessalon show, so this could be seen as a partial make-up date if you missed that event! Check the above links for more details, I'll see you guys there, and for a preview, here's Biipiigwan live in Halifax last year!

We'll close today with some new Sault Michigan video finds, starting with a few new Power Slug video discoveries (nice to finally have a few more in good quality!) Courtesy of YouTube user Ernesto Marquez's YouTube channel, these are from one of the pageless hard rock trio's concerts in July at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird), and they're of Power Slug covering Puddle of Mudd's "She Hates Me" and (as embedded below) Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak". Very solid audio quality on these videos, and the band sounds good on each, with Chris Leask making nice use of his vocal range, and he, Bob Helsten, and Chris Gurnoe know the songs well, but the lighting isn't fantastic, and it's hard to make out faces or details of the members (especially Bob.) I can't to be too critical though, as it's been so hard to track down Power Slug footage in general, so I'm just glad to see any! Check out Power Slug covering Thin Lizzy below, and catch them at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TONIGHT!



And to close this post, here's a new hard rock cover video from Power Slug drummer Bob Helsten's other recent band project Toast, courtesy of singer Melissa Strand's YouTube channel! Though Toast haven't played live since the summer (with Melissa moving to Ishpeming), a handful of live videos from an acoustic show at (I believe) The Corner Pub Bar & Grill were posted onto her channel in early August, including covers of R.E.M.'s "The One I Love", The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army", and (as embedded below) Seether's "Gasoline"! Note that as these were acoustic shows, Bob isn't featured, with Melissa joined by guitarist Mike Libertoski & bassist Tony Rogers only. The Seether cover's an interesting adaptation, but they handle it well, and Melissa still has a nice singing voice! Again, the video quality's the problem, as it's from a far dark angle with no attempts to zoom or move, so keep that in mind. Check out Toast's latest videos above and below, and keep an eye out for Mike & Tony's new acoustic band with Tony's former Shift bandmate Amy Beairl on vocals!



That's probably all for today, but I'll hopefully see you guys at The Canadian TONIGHT for the Amy Ellis benefit show featuring The Suicide Kings, the returning Havadder, and the debuting Late Shift! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Infathom), Haggith Updates, And New Concert Videos!!

As we slowly clear out our news cache, we have another full post to touch on today, including new videos from two big metal shows this fall in the Sault Ontario region, and some updates on a band breakup and members' next plans, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this month!

Munising, Michigan metal quartet Infathom will play their second Soo-area concert of the year when they headline a special benefit event on Saturday, November 23rd at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in nearby Brimley! A rare metal-featured concert at this regional casino, the event (entitled "Nick Cam Jam") is to help raise funds for Nick Cameron, a Bay Mills resident who is currently battling cancer. To help the cause, there will be a 50/50 draw and maybe a raffle, and admission will be $10 at the door, so it's nice to see promoters and the featured artists helping Nick and his family out! Infathom (featuring ex-Half A Man singer Dillion Semasky) will be joined on the lineup by local cover rock quartet Chump Change, young local hard rockers Tantrym Tyme, and duo acts Adrian & Taylor Hatfield and Candy & Larry Fultz, neither of which I'm overly familiar with. The Nick Cam Jam has a special 18+ age limit, and a 9:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Hopefully the bands can raise lots of money for Nick and his family, and it'll be nice to have Infathom back in the area again! Them and Tantrym Tyme should give this event a nice heavy kick, so keep it in mind in three weeks, and if updates come in, we'll have them here!

Next up, here's the latest updates relating to the impending (and still surprising) breakup of Sault Ontario grunge/alternative quartet Haggith, courtesy of their Facebook page on Friday! Though a public reason for their coming end still hasn't been made, most of the band's external plans are becoming clearer, and in their most recent Facebook post, they did note that they hope to release their fourth & final studio album on December 7th at their last show at The Algonquin Pub! Entitled "Apocalypse II", it's likely the sequel to their zombie-themed second album from last fall, and it's likely being/already was recorded at PaperClip Productions under the same non-mainline technique, but the only public indication of it prior to Friday was the album cover's reveal in May (it's on your left), so I don't know if sessions are done or still ongoing. The other new news relates to drummer Mike Haggith's next plans, which include preliminary work on his 48th solo album "The Tower", and that he may be drumming with James Watterworth & Chase Wigmore full time going forward, though it's not clear yet whether this is with Project Legion and/or James' solo project.

The post also noted the launch of new local quartet Punch (featuring 2 members of Haggith & The Suicide Kings respectively), though nothing new was stated there beyond what was already public. It's nice to see most of the band staying busy (no word on Caleb Cachagee's next music projects), and Haggith do seem to be going out with a bang on December 7th (similarly to how Bring The Fallen released their EP for their farewell show), but I have to imagine fans still have a lot of questions as to why Haggith are disbanding. Hopefully things are working out how they're intended to, and that the band are doing what's right for them going forward, so stay tuned for updates, and don't miss their second-last gig at The New A on the 22nd!

We'll close today's post with new videos, starting with new footage from last month's Big Loonie Bus Show at La Cucina in Echo Bay, and it's another clip from headliners AlgomA's set! Uploaded to their YouTube channel yesterday, this one actually has two of the sludge/doom trio's songs from that set ("Go On, Git!!!" and "Fell Down A Well"), capped off with a thank you note to the bands who played with them that night, along with a tease that they hope to put on a second Big Loonie Bus Show in Echo Bay in the first quarter of 2014 (i.e. between January & March.) This video shares the same recording quality and angle as most of the other videos from this show, albeit with less intercut photos like in the "Tertiary Syphillis" clip, but the guys sound very brutal and sludgy as we've come to expect this year, so check out AlgomA's newest live video below!



Finally, here's some new videos from Wednesday night's all ages Blood Shed Productions-promoted concert at The Oddfellows Hall! Uploaded to the label's YouTube channel on Friday, these videos (both under 2 minutes long) come from porngrind duo Rotopsy's set, as filmed by an attendee on a cell phone camera, though sadly on the tall vertical angle. These capture their expanded, heavier, and freer flowing live set well, though the lighting can often be dark, so if you missed the show (or prefer Rotopsy live to in studio), check these out! The first (and longer) video is below, the second can be seen at this link, and stay tuned soon for some Facebook exclusive videos!



That's probably all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!