It's time once again for our newest entry in our Defunct Local Band Profile Series! To kick off 2011, we return to Sault Ontario for our eighth profiled inactive band and seventh post in this series, as we go glam for a day at the SMS with this band! Remember, in this series, we randomly select inactive or defunct local metal/hard rock bands to be profiled, with no special selection or preferences made beyond our predetermined schedule of Ontario/Michigan bands (2-1-3-1-2-1) and the necessity of online band pages for them! You never know who will be next, so let's see what you need to know for our next profiled band in this series!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nite Wülfe
Genre:Glam Rock
Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Members: (The band members' names here are almost certainly stage names. If you can verify the members' real identities, e-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com!)
Audio/Video:With a very short visible lifespan, Nite Wülfe still made the most of it by uploading three different audio files onto their MySpace page! All are short clips from acoustic demo covers of two Poison songs ("Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Talk Dirty To Me".) Two of the clips are around 17 seconds long, and are basically acoustic recordings of the opening riffs of both songs. The most substantial of the three clips is a 72 second acoustic recording of the first verse of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", which is also the only posted clip to feature J.J. Arden's singing. None are full songs, so I combined all three clips into one video that I have posted on The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel, so if you want to see what Nite Wülfe had to offer, or if you're a glam metal/Poison fan, check the above links or the video below!
Info/Analysis:Nite Wülfe launched their MySpace page on August 21, 2008, and last updated it that very same day. Citing their influences as Poison and Motley Crue, their MySpace friends are almost entirely members of those bands as well. A sole entry was posted on their old MySpace blog, where they called themselves the newest hair band to hit north of the border, with mentions of song updates, tour dates, and band photos to come. Their biography simply stated that "the Wülfe comes out at nite!", and that's about all for band information that I've found. It would make sense if members of other local glam groups like Dirty Virgin and Silver Dream were involved in Nite Wülfe, but I can't verify if there was any actual connection. The posted songs from Nite Wülfe are good for what they are, and the band members do have guitar skill! A couple parts sounded a bit messy, but you can tell they like Poison and are trying to do the songs justice! It would have been nice to hear electric versions though. J.J. Arden's singing suits "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", but I can't accurately assess his complete abilities without hearing a heavier audio clip from him. Nite Wülfe showed promise with their Poison covers, and it would have been interesting to hear their future material had they stayed together! I wonder what happened to them?
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Hope you guys enjoyed this month's profile! Next month, we dip back into the Sault Ontario archives for a defunct profile from another band, and coincidentally, they also have material but minimal information to go with it. With that said, I have randomly selected defunct experimental rock project Divinity Collapsed as our next band to be profiled, and watch out for that between February 10th and 16th! And remember, Sault Michigan metalheads, a band from across the river will be profiled in March, so stay tuned! That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon! Thanks everyone!
Greetings everyone, hope you were all somewhere last night for Algoma Hope4Haiti! As you probably would figure, I was at Nite-Life last night for their portion of the event, so here's my review and what you need to know from there!
Firstly, I should discuss Nite-Life Dance Club, which hosted just it's second metal show last night, so it's not a venue a lot of metalheads have hit since The Other Place was remodeled under new ownership. This was my first time there under any case, and I was impressed by it! Come through the doors and there's an upper level right in front, and the bar's right there on your left! The walls are mostly lined with mirrors, which is interesting decor, though the flash on cameras doesn't mesh well with them. The floor has those cool colour changing lighted strips, however you refer to them! There's lots of tables and chairs and a pool table too! And that thing on the wall with the spinning Budweiser bottle is an eye grabber...yeah, I'm odd. I'm impressed with Nite-Life, they've put a lot of work into this, hopefully it succeeds where The Other Place and GLOW failed! (Oh, and they have a new Facebook page, click here to check it out!)
Opening the night's concert festivities was Out Of The Mouth Of Babes, in their live concert debut! However, you'll recognize 4/5ths of the band from the defunct local hardcore band As It Stands, and as a unit, those 4 have not performed live in over a year! As such, As It Stands comparisons will be inevitable, but this is an entirely new band, they didn't even cover any As It Stands songs last night! New frontman Matt Maccarone (who replaced Josh McNally behind the mic) shown off his very good hardcore singing last night! I hadn't heard from him in a long while, nice to see him in a heavier band than his older more screamo stuff! Also, his stage presence was excellent, he kept everyone moving! Compared to Justin Pregent (As It Stands' singer), I think his screaming is a bit higher pitched, and he seems more at ease with clean vocals, which is cool! Though I still miss Justin, Matt should prove to be a great addition! The rest of the band were solid, Garrett Masters surprised me with his guitar solo, he should play those more often!
The set wasn't without problems though, as Angelo Huckson had some bass issues on two songs: It wasn't plugged in for one, and it came unplugged on another, but for a first show back after over a year, I'm more than forgiving! Even still, the band have really good chemistry, after playing together for so long, you'd expect that! They played mostly new songs (including an instrumental), along with (curiously) a Carrie Underwood cover, but their set ran short for me. I actually feel that they should cover some As It Stands songs, maybe some A Fall From Innocence songs too, it'd both fill in their set more, and draw in fans of both bands to see this new group if they heard old classics like "Bush Raids" and "Angles Of A Casket" were being played! Nice solid hardcore sound, you don't hear it much live anymore, so hopefully they'll be back soon to fill the void! Maybe we'll get an old school all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall? Those don't happen nearly enough. Thumbs up from me, and thanks for flipping me off Angelo, it makes a great picture!
Not long after, Bring The Fallen hit the stage, and they were awesome! This prominent death metal band brought the goods once again! They opened with their cover of All That Remains' "This Calling" before switching to a setlist full of their originals! Josh Stephney's vocals are still as brutal as ever, my throat hurts just watching him growl like that! Andrew Chiarello was awesome on guitar, his solos have always impressed me! Same for Dan Souliere, he was great on guitar and backing vocals, though I do miss his hair! Nolan Rainville has got to be the best on-stage headbanger among local musicians, and his bass work was solid as well, while Travis St. Amour kept up nicely on drums! Josh tried his best to get pits going, but for some reason, a decent sized crowd mostly stayed away from the floor. Are death metal and mosh pits that evil? Who doesn't want to mosh for a good cause?
Again, like with Out Of The Mouth Of Babes, I'd really have liked a longer set from Bring The Fallen, but for what I got, I enjoyed it immensely! Instead, the bands were done around 11:00 PM, with DJ Spruceau hitting the stage last. We all thought he was opening with the bands after, but hey, whatever works for Nite-Life! This has to be the earliest I've been done a local show since Three Days Grace, but for a great cause like Haiti, it was more than worth it! Hopefully both bands will be back real soon, I'll wanna see both live once again! As you can tell, I got photos from the whole concert, click here to check them out, or visit the SMS' Facebook page! And yes, I got video, so check these out! First, it's Out Of The Mouth Of Babes' cover of Carrie Underwood's "Last Name" (Personally, it's a vast improvement, even with technical difficulties!), and then, Bring The Fallen's awesome original, "Defiling Despondence"!
So that's what happened at Nite-Life last night! No word has emerged yet concerning how much money was raised, but I sincerely hope it's a nice amount, Haiti needs all the post-earthquake help it can get! FYI, the door prize at Nite-Life last night was dinner for two at Cafe Natura on Elgin Street. I don't know who won, but hopefully the winner enjoys their prize! I'm not sure when we'll get word on what happened at the other venues last night, but I'd expect that soon! As for Friday's Hope4Haiti festivities on Friday, I can tell you a bit about that, as there is an article on SooToday about what happened Friday night! Carol Martin from SooToday discussed the event, including the work Donna Hopper put into this event, and all that the locals did to donate for the cause! I can confirm that the silent art auction at LopLops went on as planned too. There's a photo album with the article too, including live shots of That's Chester & Kathy O'Neill, along with various photos of the fans and musicians that played, including Brian from Gates of Winter, and many more!
As for the ongoing saga of just what would happen at Coch's Corner, here's the timeline: At first, we didn't know who would be playing. Then we heard it'd be Sense of Truth and The Fury. Then Sense of Truth dropped out and were replaced by Caveman Morrison. Then The Fury were announced as not participating, after which Caveman Morrison cancelled. Then Coch's Corner announced it'd be a jam night, and that's what I last heard before the concert. Well, as it turns out, Coch's Corner instead played host to a Tym Morrison acoustic solo set! I bet that would have been fun! I likely would have swung by after Bring The Fallen wrapped up, had I known. The night was still young, after all! I guess I should apologize for missing the announcement of Tym playing there solo, but in all fairness, no one really knew he'd be playing a set until I was already at Nite-Life. Just figured you guys would wanna know. If you were there, I hope you had a great time!
Now I do have more news, but we'll let that be in my next post. All in all, I hope Algoma Hope4Haiti was a huge success, I wanna thank Donna Hopper and The Sault Youth Association immensely for putting all this work and effort in to help the Haitians out in their time of need, their hearts and minds were totally in the right place, and the work they put in should not be forgotten! If I hear anything else coming out of Algoma Hope4Haiti (especially concerning Turner Up or Tym Morrison), I'll have it right here for you guys! Thanks everyone, more news to come!
It's new poll day! But before that, something way more important, as there's a major concert event taking place tomorrow night and Saturday night! So here's everything I know and you need to know about what's going on this weekend! (There IS a metal-related cancellation, but we'll get to that when we come to the Saturday portion.)
As you likely are well aware, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti on January 12th. Thousands have died and many many more are injured or without a home. In response to this, SooToday's Donna Hopper and The Sault Youth Association are teaming up to organize a huge concert event this weekend to raise funds for The Canadian Red Cross to donate to Haiti relief funds. Called "Algoma Hope4Haiti", it's unique as concert events go in that it's not all in one place, like at 2008's Rock 2 Roll skatepark fundraiser at The Canadian Nightclub, for example. This event will be held simultaneously at 8 different local bars (7 of which are downtown) Saturday night, with a handful also holding concerts tomorrow night as well. Two (maybe three) of these venues will be hosting metal/hard rock bands on Saturday, but here's what to expect on Friday! (All my band/venue info comes from the official Facebook event page, unless otherwise stated)
Remember to click on all band names to check out their material and get more information!
Firstly, at LopLops Lounge, local indie band Kalle Mattson (featuring former Gates of Winter drummer Jimmie Chiverelli) will be playing there tomorrow night with special guest artists Kathy O'Neill and Craig West. If you like indie music, this will be a perfect spot for you to hit! Meanwhile, Foggy Notions will get rocked not by the previously announced DJs, but by these bands: local indie rockers Nebraska Arms (featuring two ex-members of Renderware), and solo artist Brad Example, who you'll likely recognize from Rock of Ages, and most notably, as the bassist for The Inner City Surfers! My source for the updated info at Foggy's is at the official event page, confirm your attendance there! Finally, if I'm not mistaken, local classic rock band That's Chester (featuring Greg Simpson from Stiffler's Mom & Sin Stereo) will be covering your favourite rock hits (and maybe some metal tracks) at The Rockstar Bar that night as well! Just in case you're not sure, tickets for the Saturday shows are good for Friday, so you don't need to buy two tickets. And despite what the poster for Hope4Haiti says, I don't believe The Algonquin Pub has bands on both nights.
Then on Saturday, there's shows at all eight venues, and we'll start first by mentioning a cancellation: I just got word from Sense of Truth drummer Ryan Haryett that they will NOT be playing at Coch's Corner on Saturday. They were scheduled to be playing there that night, but are off due to scheduling conflicts. To the best of my knowledge, The Fury are still playing that night, but a replacement for Sense of Truth hasn't been announced yet. If and when I hear an update on the replacement band, you'll find it here! Well, while we're on the subject of The Fury, you'll likely find them very unique, what with the no guitars and two bassists and all. Very solid band, you'll recognize ex-members of Out Of The Mouth of Babes and DOTH in their lineup! Oh, and remember, if you wanna see Sense of Truth, head to The Canadian on February 26th!
But for the metalhead in us all, one show will deliver all the goods! At Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, local death/thrash metal band Bring The Fallen will make their debut at the former Other Place on Saturday night! This will be their first concert since their short notice set at Foggy Notions earlier this month! The winners of 2009's YMCA and Algoma University Battles of the Bands, expect one heavy as hell set from these rising stars of the local scene! Joining them will be Out Of The Mouth Of Babes, the local hardcore band featuring what is essentially the final lineup of As It Stands, if you had Matt Maccarone from A Fall From Innocence singing in place of Justin Pregent! This is their first ever live concert, so I have no idea what to expect. Will we get all new songs, or maybe some AIS classics, or possibly some covers? We'll find out Saturday night after 9:00 PM! Rounding out the lineup is DJ Spruceau, who will mix some stuff on his turntables that night as well! That honestly does seem like a weird clash of genres, but I bet he's very talented! Get full details on this, the heaviest of the Hope4Haiti shows (and the one I'm attending) at this location! For a preview, check out this video of Bring The Fallen performing their original "Night Riders" from a show last year at The Oddfellows Hall!
Meanwhile, if you wanna rock out with some great covers of your favourite hard rock songs, you'll wanna be at The Algonquin Pub and Sports Bar Saturday night, when Turner Up rock out for Haiti! Just a week after playing at The Nicolet Tavern for Bon Soo, they'll be downstairs at The Quinn for a nice long set of rock favourites! Sure, you can go see them Wednesdays at Foggy's for jam nights, but why not go see a full 100% concert from these guys? Plus, they're hyping giveaways, and who doesn't love free stuff? They will be on at around 10:30 PM. I wish I could tell you guys more, but I haven't seen them live yet and there's no posted videos of their stuff yet, but by all visible accounts, they have the goods! Confirm your attendance for Turner Up's set at Hope4Haiti at this location!
Now for what's happening at the other 5 venues for Hope4Haiti on Saturday: That's Chester will be back at The Rockstar Bar that night, so they're playing two straight shows! I wonder who'll be louder, That's Chester upstairs or Turner Up downstairs? Confirm your attendance for That's Chester at this location! Also that night, local acoustic indie bands The Pine Cones and Broken House will hit The Bottoms Up Lounge for a night of more intimate music! If that's your thing, or you wanna mellow out, that should be a good bet, click here for the Facebook event page! Meanwhile, back at Foggy Notions, local indie band The Tenagens and punk rockers The Scary Uncles (featuring ex-members of SIGHdEFECT & Fitswitch) will hit the stage to rock out there! That should be a good show as well, especially for The Uncles! Confirm your attendance for that portion at the Facebook event page! The other show downtown will be at LopLops Lounge, when local funk band Big Wheel and The Spokes headline with special guests Shannon Moan and Honeythroat frontman Mark Kuntsi! And finally, local country band Thin Ice (featuring former Garage Inc. bassist Josh Donofrio) will rock out at The Canadian Nightclub, the only participating venue that isn't in the Queen Street East area! Confirm your attendance for Thin Ice by clicking here! None of the acts at the last two venues are genre matches for most SMS stuff, but they all have great audiences and have lots of talent, hopefully their sets are really successful!
So that's the entertainment lineup for Hope4Haiti this weekend! Now, what else do you need to know? Well, tickets are $10 and are available at the following locations: Every single participating concert venue that I mentioned above, Top Hat Billiards, The Rad Zone at Wellington Square Mall (source here), MP Tony Martin's office on Queen Street, the Sault Youth Association office at Station Tower, and at the local Red Cross office on Allard Street! Your ticket not only gives $10 to Haiti relief funds, but it will guarantee you entrance to EVERY VENUE at no additional cost! So hypothetically, you could go see Out Of The Mouth of Babes at Nite-Life, then head all the way to The Canadian for Thin Ice, and you wouldn't need to re-pay! Also, your ticket entitles you to free pool at Top Hat Billiards all day on Saturday! To the best of my knowledge, every participating concert venue will be having door prizes and possibly more, so keep an eye out for all that! I also heard reports of a silent art auction at LopLops, but I haven't seen recent mention of it. For full details on Algoma Hope4Haiti, click here! If I hear anything else worth noting, I'll update everything for you guys!
And yes, my presence is very likely! Looks like I'll be supporting the Haitian earthquake relief cause at Nite-Life, though we'll have to see who's replacing Sense of Truth at Coch's Corner too. First time seeing what is now Out Of The Mouth Of Babes since 2008, long time coming! And Bring The Fallen? Well everyone could use more death metal, and I'm no exception! Afterwards, I'll have a review, photos, and video of whoever I'm seeing, so stay tuned for all that! And as for you guys, please make it to at least one show, Haiti needs all the help it can get, so why not pitch in? $10 can go a long way if you just do your best to help!
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AND NOW, it's time to discuss the SMS polls! As it is the 18th of the month, we have a new one up, but first, let's go over the results of last month's poll! If you remember correctly, the question I posed to you guys was this: What was your favourite new album release from a Sault Ontario metal band in 2009? A record 73 people voted, thanks everyone! Here are the results, going up from last to first!In dead last with no votes were the two non-studio releases from Woods of Ypres in 2009, the "Allure of the Earth" vinyl and their best-of CD "Independent Nature 2002-2007". Not too surprising, seeing as both weren't full of new material, and "Allure of the Earth" didn't have a widespread CD release. In sixth and seventh respectively were both of Sykotyk Rampage's 2009 albums, "22" (2 votes) and "Moments of Misery" (1 vote.) I don't think that's indicative of their support level (I'm a fan!), but their sound can be a bit polarizing depending on the person, I can see why both albums placed lower. Now here's what puzzles me: "Other" got 6 votes....what'd I miss? Or did some people vote for something from 2008 or earlier, or something non-local or non-metal? I never expected it'd get that high of a total, but hey, people had reasons, and I respect that!
In fourth place with 8 votes was Stillbroke's debut EP, "Never Enough", which doesn't really surprise me. I figured it'd be third or fourth, they are popular, but one could argue they aren't on a Garden of Bedlam-type recognition level yet. No matter, it was a solid EP and some great things are on the horizon! In third with 11 votes, which wasn't where I figured it'd place, was Woods of Ypres' new CD, "Woods IV: The Green Album"! I would have thought this would make first or second place! I know the album can be tough to get into without the right mindset, but it really is brilliantly done! Oh well, hopefully interest picks up in it in 2010! And in second place with 20 votes is the debut self-titled EP from Garden of Bedlam! I thought it'd be in the top two, and look where it was! Great first release, the future is super bright for these guys!
And finally, in first place, with 25 votes, a whopping 34% of the final total, is the new album from Detroit, "Brace For Impact"! I didn't figure this would place first, especially given that it's had the least time to make an impression on us due to it's late release, but I think we have some loyal fans over at The705Scene Forums for helping get the votes up for it! More proof that Detroit have a great following and a positive future, in my opinion! I liked the album myself, congratulations to Detroit on winning! So there's your results for last month's poll, and now it's time to discuss a brand new poll, which I promise is the last in the category of "best something in 2009", but it may be the best one yet! Anyone who frequents local concerts should feel right at home with this one! So I pose this question to you: What was your favourite metal concert in Sault Ontario in 2009? I picked 20 concerts for you guys to vote on, including the only 6 to get votes from my mid-2009 poll in July, and 14 more high profile shows from the latter (and busier) half of the year! Shows got in as a selection by the bands' popularity levels, attendance, show notoriety, and they must have had at least 50% metal bands on the lineup That explains why the Three Days Grace show isn't a choice, but "Other" is there for a reason! Here are your 20 choices for your favourite metal show of 2009, in order by date!
Bands: Blessed By A Broken Heart, As It Stands, Upheaval of an Exorcist, Breaking The Fourth Wall, and Deter
Venue: The Oddfellows HallDate: January 9thInfo: Headlined by Montreal's own Blessed By A Broken Heart, this show was one of the first major metal shows of 2009, and featured the last live performance by As It Stands. Northern Rocks Magazine were also on hand at this show for some promotion! Lots of hardcore fans were there, but how good do you think it was?
Bands: Ministry of Zen & Fingerbone (now Half Past)Venue: Coch's CornerDate: January 24thInfo: In their first local show since the Rock 2 Roll benefit, London's own Ministry of Zen rocked Coch's Corner! Also featured locals Fingerbone, now known as Half Past in just their second live performance, and last with John Barber and Charles Gibson in their lineup. I was there, it was a great show, and it won the mid-2009 poll, but was it your favourite of the wh0le year?Bands: The Undead Warriors (now Bring The Fallen), Dirty Virgin, Operation: Killdozer, Sue Inside, The Glass Statues, Train Junky, and Waterslide (YMCA Battle of the Bands)Venue: The Grand TheatreDate: March 20thInfo: In this showcase of local talent, the band now known as Bring The Fallen stole the show, winning first place, despite being undermanned for their performance! Dirty Virgin and Operation: Killdozer also took home prizes, while the other bands put on great performances! Also featuring an original YMCA rock opera, the battle was a success, despite no alcohol. What did you think?
Bands: Cattle Decapitation, Psyopus, Beyond Within, and ThekillingfieldVenue: The Oddfellows HallDate: April 12thInfo: On Easter Sunday, more death metal invaded Sault Ontario for this concert, headlined by death metal legends Cattle Decapitation, along with Psyopus and Northern Ontario headbangers Beyond Within and Thekillingfield! Despite venue issues, slow ticket sales, and Rose Funeral dropping out, it was one hell of a show! But do you agree?Bands: Who Made WhoVenue: The Canadian NightclubDate: May 15thInfo: Who Made Who gave us their own brand of high voltage rock n' roll at this concert way back in May! The crowd loved every minute of it, and the band did a great job pulling off the AC/DC sound! I loved it, but did you, if you were even there?Bands: Today I Caught The Plague, Faceless Hulk, Norris, Constructed Apocalypse, and Loyalty Is Dead (now Lorax)Venue: The Oddfellows HallDate: June 11thInfo: More death metal bands hit The Oddfellows Hall in June on The Canadian Crusade Tour, including Thunder Bay's Faceless Hulk and Norris, and the locals now known as Lorax! It sounded like it was an awesome concert, but what do you think?Bands: Garden of Bedlam & Sense of TruthVenue: The Canadian NightclubDate: July 3rdInfo: In their first show of 2009, Garden of Bedlam celebrated the release of their first EP with a well publicized show at The Canadian, one of the last there before the summer renovations. Sense of Truth joined in as well, in one of their first shows since the addition of Ron Baxter on guitar! Always a treat to see both bands live, what'd you think of this show?
Bands: Woods of Ypres, Inflict, and Necropolis (now Bring The Fallen)Venue: The SpeakeasyDate: August 16thInfo: David Gold and company made their long awaited return to the our burial ground on August 16th for a night full of metal mayhem! North Bay's Inflict and the Sault's own Necropolis (now known as Bring The Fallen) set the pace nicely as well! This was one of my personal favourite shows this year, fans of the more extreme metal types wouldn't have wanted to miss it! Do you agree?
Bands:Lion Ride and Nebraska ArmsVenue: Coch's CornerDate: August 28thInfo: While in town for their slot on the last ever Hempfest, Lion Ride hit Coch's Corner for an energetic fast paced concert full of all their classics! A large and energetic crowd rocked out to them and Nebraska Arms, providing support with a solid set of indie rock! Lion Ride played here multiple times in 2009, was this your favourite?
Bands:UltraviolenceVenue: Coch's CornerDate: September 3rdInfo: Months before they hit the Sault twice in a two month span, Toronto "drunk n' rollers" Ultraviolence rocked Coch's Corner with a solid set of their AC/DC inspired classics! Always an entertaining band, how would you guys say this stacks up among this year's metal shows?
Bands:Garden of Bedlam & Bring The FallenVenue: The Canadian NightclubDate: October 17thInfo: When The Canadian emerged from it's top to bottom renovations, Garden of Bedlam and Bring The Fallen were there to greet it with a metal onslaught this past October! With great originals and covers from both bands alike, and a dedicated loyal turnout, it was as much of a success as it could be! The Canadian looked nice too! Where does this show rank?
Bands:Grady & DomenicaVenue: The Canadian NightclubDate: October 25thInfo: Though dogged by a low weekday turnout and a threatened boycott of the planned local openers, Grady and Domenica delivered a unique night of hard rock to the fans who did show up! Gordie Johnson and his Grady bandmates ruled with their brand of "country metal", while Domenica were great too and definitely displayed their talent! I know for a fact the people that were there had fun, myself included, but how about you?
Bands:Upheaval of an Exorcist, Garden of Bedlam, Bring The Fallen, and The FuryVenue: The Oddfellows HallDate: October 30thInfo: After June, metal concerts at The Oddfellows Hall seemed rare, but Big Voiced Records brought some great stuff there on Devil's Night, when Sudbury's Upheaval of an Exorcist made their long awaited return to Sault Ste. Marie, with loads of local talent in tow! The scene has been shifting to bar shows in recent months, so this sure was a great night for Oddies fans, and Garden of Bedlam followers too! Was this your favourite?
Bands:Frightlight, Half Past, and GlamoweenVenue: Coch's CornerDate: October 31stInfo: THE Halloween party (caps intentional) hit Coch's Corner when the horror-influenced Frightlight (featuring 3 ex-members of Fitswitch) made their live debut! It also marked the return of Half Past following months of inactivity, and featured the one-off local glam rock tribute Glamoween as openers! Lots of work was put into this special Halloween themed concert, did it work to make you vote for it?
Bands:Garden of Bedlam, Lion Ride, Nixxon Dixxon, Sense of Truth, Bring The Fallen, Caveman Morrison, Dirty Virgin, Stillbroke, Sykotyk Rampage, The Billy Bastards, Blues Harvest, Flat Stanley, Gsis Murphy, Huckster, Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska Arms, Stiffler's Mom, Tiny Trebuchet, and Wishbone(Kiss Battle of the Bands)Venue: The Canadian NightclubDate: November 30th-December 2ndInfo: This needs no introduction, it was so huge! 20 local bands, 10 of which were metal/hard rock, played to a packed Canadian Nightclub all for the right to back up Kiss at their concert here in the Soo, now postponed until this summer! The energy was intense, the club was packed, and the emotions were running high in an event that lived up to all the hype! Oh, and Garden of Bedlam won, by a single point over Lion Ride! Despite short setlists, would this be your favourite local concert of 2009?
Bands:Garden of BedlamVenue: Madison's PubDate: December 5thInfo: To celebrate their Kiss battle victory, Garden of Bedlam made their way to Madison's Pub to party with their fans for the first time since claiming the top prize! Lion Ride's Marc O'Lion joined in for a memorable rendition of "The Trooper" at this show as well! Another fun show, where does this fit on your favourite shows list of 2009?
Bands:Caveman MorrisonVenues: The Rockstar Bar & Foggy NotionsDate: Various datesInfo: Since his local return, Tym Morrison began booking shows for both his acoustic solo act and his main metal cover band, Caveman Morrison, and after a return show in August, the Caveman and company got back into regular gigging mode in December, playing shows at The Rockstar Bar and Foggy Notions, notably at the Foggy's VIP party prior to the grand opening! I'll group these shows together in this unique case, were any of them your favourite?
Bands:Sense of Truth & The Scary Uncles
Venue: Foggy NotionsDate: December 18thInfo: After many long months, Foggy Notions held it's grand re-opening on December 18th, with entertainment from hard rockers Sense of Truth and local punk rockers The Scary Uncles! I know there was a huge turnout for this, as both bands are very popular and it's Foggy Notions! Couldn't make it, but I know both bands knocked it right out of the park! Was it your top 2009 metal show?
Bands:Lion Ride & Nebraska Arms
Venue: The Rockstar BarDate: December 27thInfo: A few weeks after their heartbreaking one point loss at the Kiss battle, Lion Ride returned for a concert at The Rockstar Bar with Nebraska Arms! A packed house of devoted fans followed, so really, who needs Kiss? Great show, the band were on fire as they always are, what do you think?
Bands:Detroit, Destroilet, and Talk Shit
Venue: Coch's CornerDate: December 29thInfo: A night of metal influenced punk and hardcore was the spectacle at Coch's Corner on December 29th, as Detroit celebrated the release of their new CD, "Brace For Impact"! Destroilet made their live debut with a solid set, while Talk Shit kept the 100% punk fans entertained as openers! The show seemed like a big party, with band members guesting on each other's songs and the beer flowed readily! Great sendoff to 2009, what say you about this show?
Other: Many other Sault Ontario shows happened this year, including the various punk/indie shows with metal bands on the bill, Three Days Grace, Garden of Bedlam at Foggy's on Boxing Day, the various out of town bands at Coch's Corner, the Algoma Battle of the Bands, and many more! Is your favourite not listed? Vote for it here!
VOTE TODAY!!!! Let's see this hit 75 votes, it'd be awesome to break the record on this poll! Stay tuned tomorrow for my next post, which WILL have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this April, an update to this month's Garden of Bedlam/Papa Fogals Chair show, any updates for Hope4Haiti that I come across, and hopefully more! Stay tuned, and VOTE IN THE POLL!!!!
It took a while, but we finally have updates on most of the lineups for the Algoma Hope4Haiti benefit concert event taking place on February 19th and 20th! As you're likely aware, this event is being set up by SooToday's Donna Hopper and The Sault Youth Association to raise money for The Canadian Red Cross towards relief in Haiti after last month's devastating earthquake. Eight local bars will host concerts on Saturday, February 20th (with some also hosting bands on the 19th), with all proceeds going to the Red Cross, and for just $10, you can get into all venues! Now I did say when reporting on this event in earlier weeks that metal bands were likely, and I was right! With that in mind, here is a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!
Local death/thrash metal band Bring The Fallen will be headlining one of the Hope4Haiti concerts, this one at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, marking their first ever performance at this venue! Nice to see Nite-Life involved, I hadn't heard they were in my earlier reports on all of this! They'll be rocking out for Haiti on February 20th, the Saturday of that weekend! But there will be support too, starting with, in their live debut, local hardcore band Out Of The Mouth Of Babes! Yes, the band featuring the instrumental members of As It Stands and Deter/The Fury's Josh McNally on vocals will finally play their first live concert at the Nite-Life Hope4Haiti concert! This sure has been a long time coming to see them live, huh? And though not metal, DJ Spruceau from The Level Vibe Sound Tribe will be performing as well. Hey, it never hurts to give a show some extra flavour, I'm sure he's a great DJ! I'll get to ticket and time information in a second when I go over all the shows, but check out each of the bands performing at Nite-Life on the 20th by clicking on their names! (Also, I love the poster! If it was black and white and photocopied, I'd swear it was a classic 1980s/90s local poster of some type!) Confirm your attendance for this part of Hope4Haiti at this location!
But as you may have guessed from earlier reports, this is far from all that is scheduled next weekend! Now the above show at Nite-Life is, as of 3:30 PM Friday, the only concert with metal bands confirmed for Hope4Haiti, but seeing as all the shows tie together in the same event, it'd be ignorant of me to leave any out. So here's what's confirmed so far at the other 6 bars, in alphabetical order by venue name!
The Bottoms Up Lounge: The bar above Vincenzo's Restaurant on Queen Street East will play host to local indie band The Pine Cones, with special guests Broken House on February 20th. I can't tell you much on either band, neither has an internet page, but they appear to be talented at their genre, and popular among indie circles! No concert on the 19th is scheduled.
The Canadian Nightclub: The only participating venue not downtown, The Canadian will be featuring local country act Thin Ice! You may recognize bassist Josh Donofrio from his work in inactive local metal band Garage Inc.! A frequent sight at venues like Docks and The Canadian, country music lovers should find a lot to like on February 20th, click on their name for more info! No concert on the 19th is scheduled. Coch's Corner: No bands have been announced as of 3:30 PM Friday. They will only be featuring bands on February 20th. If I was a betting man, I'd put money on Coch's Corner as being likely to get a heavier act, though we'll have to see. I shall keep you guys posted!
Foggy Notions: On February 19th, Foggy's will be headlined DJ Seith, who'll mix some cool tracks for you dance music lovers! He'll be joined by two other local DJs, Aries and DJ Damaging D! Then on the 20th, Foggy's will feature The Tenagens and local punk band The Scary Uncles (featuring Justin Langlois from SIGHdEFECT & Andrew McDonald from Fitswitch), with a band to be named later. Both shows sound promising as well, I'm a fan of The Scary Uncles especially!
LopLops Lounge: The local art gallery/concert spot will host bands on both days of Hope4Haiti. As previously announced on here, Kalle Mattson (featuring ex-Gates drummer Jimmie Chiverelli) will headline the February 19th show with special guests Craig West & Kathy O'Neil. The next night, local funk band Big Wheel & The Spokes will headline at LopLops, with special guests Shannon Moan and Mark Kuntsi from Honeythroat. A silent art auction was also in the works for this location, but updates on it have not came recently.
The Rockstar Bar: Local classic rock band That's Chester (who have been known to cover some AC/DC and Iron Maiden along with INXS and The Kinks-kind of stuff) will be playing at The Rockstar Bar on February 19th AND 20th! You may recognize frontman Greg Simpson from his work in Stiffler's Mom & Sin Stereo! One of the better local cover bands, though not metal enough for the SMS, I do enjoy their metal covers when they throw them into their sets! Definitely worth hitting!
So there's what we know so far bandwise! Start times for each venue's shows will vary by location, I can tell you that the Bring The Fallen concert is scheduled to begin at around 9:00 PM, but I don't know general start times for the rest of them. There will be door prizes at all seven venues! And if you were wondering what happened to Top Hat Billiards, they are just hosting the free pool for ticketholders, there's no concert there. Speaking of ticketholders, tickets are now on sale at these locations: All of the participating venues (including Top Hat), MP Tony Martin's office on Queen Street, the Sault Youth Association office at Station Tower, and at the local Red Cross office on Allard Street! Call 946-1299 or contact organizers on the Facebook event page for more details, and to confirm your attendance! Remember, tickers are $10, but they're good at all venues next weekend, and will give you free pool at Top Hat all night! Of course, I will keep you guys posted as I hear more on Algoma Hope4Haiti! Looks like I might be at Nite-Life on that Saturday, though we'll have to see how the other lineups look first!
News and updates and everything else worth discussing are in the near future! Stay tuned, one and all!
Hey guys, time to update the local metal universe once again! There's three metal concerts this weekend, and more local radio-related news, fans of The Bear and supporters of the fired 99.5 DJs might wanna check that out. But first, here are your local concert previews for this weekend!
We'll start in Sault Michigan for something NOT related to the radio stations: There's two concerts this weekend! Local hard rockers Riot! By Night are back this weekend for a pair of shows at Dondee Lanes! Nice to see them somewhere other than The Frog! No cover charge has been announced, both shows (tomorrow night and Saturday night) have a listed start time of 8:00 PM. If you like some modern rock with feeling, Riot! By Night should fit the bill, they have a bunch of really good musicians, and though we still don't have audio to share, they've played live enough times to pretty much guarantee a good show! Check out more from Riot! By Night at their official MySpace page! If I had more to say on these two shows, I would!
And finally, back in Sault Ontario, a popular tribute band are returning to the area! Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC will be playing the Soo for the first time since May of last year when they rocked The Canadian Nightclub! This time, they'll be at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, which you may remember under it's prior monikers GLOW and The Other Place! Actually, this might be the first metal show at what is now Nite-Life since Lion Ride played there in December 2008, but don't quote me on that. But now it's all fixed up and different, so look out for some new stuff if you go! And really, who doesn't love a hard hitting night of AC/DC classics? Tickets are a touch pricey as far as bar shows go, $10 in advance or $15 at the door, but considering their show last year, it'll be worth it! A start time of 9:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page (confirm your attendance there!), but I'd expect they wouldn't play until later.
I'm not sure if I'll be at this concert, but all signs point to a really fun show! They are quite a solid cover band, the guitarist pulls off Angus' look and mannerisms really well, the band sound enough like the real thing, and they'll get a crowd moving! I saw them in May, I felt really young amongst the older crowd, but meh, I had fun! Hopefully a big crowd turns out! Check Who Made Who out at their official website, and for a preview, here's a live clip of Who Made Who playing "Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)" at a Toronto show in 2008!
Just as a side note, I will likely be pulling two local concert venues: The Grand Theater and The Verdi Hall, from the venue contact info on the left of the page and moving them to the "Other Local Metal Links" soon unless bookings pop up for either venue in the next few months. The Verdi hasn't hosted a local metal show since Stillbroke's big show there last April, and The Grand (much to my puzzlement) hasn't had a metal band playing there to my knowledge since Sense of Truth played that free Skate4Cancer show last May. Hopefully both get back in the swing of things, they're very nice venues!
Now, radio time! The uproar among Yes FM fans has been stealing most of the thunder, but I fear that the fate of 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear is getting lost in the shuffle, so I'd like to bring that to everyone's attention again, plus some new stuff I've seen. Now when Sovereign Communications (Rock 101's parent company) bought Yes FM and the 10 other Sault/Iron Mountain/Marquette stations from Northern Star Broadcasting, they didn't pick up one, and it was The Bear. Apparently if Sovereign bought The Bear from Northern Star, they'd violate FCC laws about regional radio monopolies. According to David Helwig's story on SooToday, Northern Star wants out of local radio, but we haven't seen any official statements confirming that.
Here's what else we know about The Bear's fate so far: Northern Star Broadcasting fired 16 employees, including The Bear/Yes FM DJs Jason Mapes (Bad Side's guitarist) and John Gilbert, just before the sale. When Sovereign hired on 10 of those 16 employees, John got his job at 99.5 back, Jason did not. Because The Bear wasn't part of the deal, neither are affiliated with The Bear anymore. Jason changed the name of what was previously The Bear's Facebook group to simply "Classic Rock", with any vestiges of 97.9 removed. John Gilbert posted this on his Facebook page as his job description as on-air DJ with The Bear, ending February 2010: RIP Bear . . . you were a good friend . . . today was my last day, will miss you, Alice, but I hated those bats. No wonder I have no hair . . . Sounds kinda grim for The Bear, doesn't it? Last I heard, The Bear was still broadcasting with Bob and Tom and Alice Cooper still running as scheduled, but I don't know how long that will last. The optimistic side of me hopes a buyer picks it up and saves it, cause even if the reception was patchy, it was still a very good station! But the realistic side of me isn't so sure. If I hear anything more on 97.9 The Bear's future, you'll hear it here! Just in case, listen to it as much as you can now while you can!
Just as a personal comment, it's stuff like this that makes me wish Sault Ontario had it's own FM rock station. If The Bear does die out, we'll just be left with Rock 101 and, IF it's the right block/show, WLSO, as the only full area rock stations. Both are great, but sometimes you like to change the station if a song comes on you don't like, or something. There is Energy Rock Radio, which is awesome, but you need a computer to listen to it. The twin Saults both have country, adult contemporary, oldies, and Christian stations, why can't we both have a rock station each? The Canadian content regulations don't bother me at all, it'd just be nice to have options, and there'll be less for us rock lovers and metalheads if The Bear leaves us. Who's with me on that? (And before someone suggests Sirius XM satellite radio, what local connection does THAT have?)
As for the Yes FM fiasco (which does have a metal connection, as two of the fired DJs are Melissa and Jason from Bad Side), the Facebook group dedicated to boycotting Yes FM until they and the other fired DJs get brought back now has a grand total of.....1,154members!!!The 99.5 lovers are pissed now, and rightfully so! There's now talk of boycotting everything from 99.5 sponsors to EVERY station that Sovereign owns until they're brought back. Also, most local news outlets have picked up on this story, including SooToday, SooNews.ca, The Soo Evening News, and The Sault Star, click on each to read the articles! Most notable though is an interview that Craig Huckerby of SooNews.ca conducted with one of the laid-off employees (identity hidden), which you can read here! If anything else major comes up, I'll let you guys know! But just as a final note, I've seen some people ignorantly blaming Rock 101 for this mess, like they went in themselves and took over 99.5. No they didn't, their bosses did. Don't drag Scott & Brian and all them into this, blame the higher-ups!
That's all for now, I hope to have lots more news and updates real soon, keep your eyes peeled! Thanks everyone!
Nite Wülfe
Info/Analysis: Nite Wülfe launched their MySpace page on August 21, 2008, and last updated it that very same day. Citing their influences as Poison and Motley Crue, their MySpace friends are almost entirely members of those bands as well. A sole entry was posted on their old MySpace blog, where they called themselves the newest hair band to hit north of the border, with mentions of song updates, tour dates, and band photos to come. Their biography simply stated that "the Wülfe comes out at nite!", and that's about all for band information that I've found. It would make sense if members of other local glam groups like Dirty Virgin and Silver Dream were involved in Nite Wülfe, but I can't verify if there was any actual connection. The posted songs from Nite Wülfe are good for what they are, and the band members do have guitar skill! A couple parts sounded a bit messy, but you can tell they like Poison and are trying to do the songs justice! It would have been nice to hear electric versions though. J.J. Arden's singing suits "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", but I can't accurately assess his complete abilities without hearing a heavier audio clip from him. Nite Wülfe showed promise with their Poison covers, and it would have been interesting to hear their future material had they stayed together! I wonder what happened to them?
