Rotopsy Updates, Northwest's Searchlight Run, And Much More!!

Before we kick off this post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of former Foggy Notions owner & bartender Patrick Casey, who suddenly passed away this weekend, as per numerous personal Facebook postings yesterday. Details on services are likely forthcoming, so keep an eye out for more info where appropriate. Though arguably better known from his steady and friendly presence slinging smashlovs at many local concerts, Patrick (alongside Alec Colyer and John Doucette) bought Foggy's from Jon Ferguson in early 2007, maintaining it for the next year before it's first closure in March 2008, though it would re-open in late 2009 under a succession of new owners and names, currently as Coch's Corner. I admittedly can't comment on the original 11 year run of Foggy Notions, as it closed before I turned 19, but I did recognize Pat from his bartending work, and he was always a liked and welcome presence for concert-goers and bar regulars alike!

Just a week after losing Mike Case, it's a shame that another local music scene fixture has passed so soon, but with all of the good memories of Patrick as a friend, fan, or deliverer of shots to the stage, I'm sure he'll be in many people's thoughts for a long time to come. R.I.P. Pat!

Now, today's post will mostly help clear out some recent backlogged news items, including a local band's contest run and some assorted updates, but first, here's the latest from local independent goregrind duo Rotopsy's first full length demo "Sexual Assault Rifle" (they titled it, not me!) on Saturday, which was actually two days ahead of schedule, but it may have been intended for a Dank Fest II release before that show's cancellation. The album (whose cover art isn't embedded here due to potentially offensive content) costs $5 through band members, Blood Shed Productions, or at future concerts, while t-shirts with the cover are also now on sale for $10, so keep them in mind! Remember, two songs from it are now on their Bandcamp page, while a third ("Live at Oddfellows Hall 3") is new to their label's YouTube channel, though no word on when/if we'll see the rest of the songs in a digital format.

A Sudbury concert to be announced has also been hinted at for Rotopsy, and while I won't embed the new YouTube song here due to the cover art, fans of Rotopsy's bass-heavy grind action should enjoy every second, so give everything a look above, and message Tyler or Dylan A.S.A.P. if you want this disc before their next show!

Also today, local indie/punk quintet Northwest have made the semifinals of a national music contest, so what should you know? While a handful of local bands (like Jack Spades, Machines Dream, and Mannapool) entered, only Northwest have made it to the regional semifinals of CBC's Searchlight competition, which is looking for the best new Canadian music act. This fan-voted stage ends tomorrow at 3:00 PM, with Northwest among 25 bands in the Northern Ontario region at this stage, and among 545 national bands remaining in the competition. Finalists will be announced on Tuesday, so VOTE A.S.A.P. at their official CBC Music page to help them make the finals, as the top voted bands will get judged by a panel of Canadian music professionals for the top prize! If they win, Northwest will win $20,000 towards new Yamaha equipment, an opening slot at an upcoming CBC event, and a recording session with CBC.

Note as well that Gates of Winter guitarist Bryan Belleau plays & records with his new wife, Vancouver region semifinalist Melinda Belleau, so throw her some votes as well if you can, as she's a great singer in her own right! Hopefully Northwest can make the top 10 for Northern Ontario and keep the local cause going in CBC Searchlight, so vote for them A.S.A.P., and click here for the recent SooToday article on their run in this competition!

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

• Though announced on short notice, Kinross, Michigan hard rock trio Banned returned to The Northwoods Restaurant & Bar in Drummond Island (which is out of our coverage range) for a show on Friday night. Hopefully it went well, and don't miss them on the May 15th weekend in St. Ignace!
• Sault Ontario alternative/hard rock quartet Haggith will finally release their long anticipated fourth studio album "Apocalypse II" on May 10th (two weeks from today), as per new postings on their Facebook page. You can stream it beforehand on their YouTube channel, but no word yet on when we'll see their EP "XIV". Stay tuned for more as we approach the release date!
• The newest episode of Local2's music webseries Tuned with Donna Hopper went online on Thursday, but it entirely focuses on the recent God Made Me Funky concert at LopLops Lounge with no extra segments. G.M.M.F. have a fun sound and definitely have a solid local following, so give the new Tuned episode a look if you're a fan!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more as the week progresses! Thanks everyone!

Soo Band Roulette Review!!

FINALLY, we can get our review up of Saturday night's Soo Band Roulette at The Rockstar Bar, as the internet connection out of town has finally gotten it's act together, so our videos are now up in full and we can get this rolling! Without wasting any more time, here's what you need to know from this past Saturday's first ever event of this kind!

Though advertising for the event indicated an 8:00 PM start time, it kicked off much later than that, with the first band being announced a couple of hours later. As you may remember, the crux of Soo Band Roulette revolved around band members for each act being randomly drawn before they privately jammed, and promoter Steve Mozarowski and Smokin' Heroines member Amanda Brown drew the names on stage out of 4 hats, one each for singers, guitarists, bassists, and drummers. For the first band, the drawn names were Telephone & Address' Chris Shoust on vocals, ex-Late & Loud bassist Benn Garside, and ex-Winkstinger drummer Jonas Gasperas, while the guitarist was a relative unknown named Tyler Toews (any relation to Jonathan?) It eventually came out that Tyler is a member of the Nelson, B.C. indie/techno hybrid band Tofu Stravinsky, who some of you may remember as a late notice addition to last year's Creepshow concert at the former Roosevelt Hotel. Remember the name Tofu Stravinsky, as it will come up again!

Before their set, however, was the announced open mic set to fill time while the first band rehearsed and jammed out their short set, and while it was announced to be hosted by Northwest guitarist Greg Callaghan, he didn't make the event for unannounced reasons and was replaced by the aforementioned Steve Mozarowski. Deja vu from this year's Sewer Swampstravaganza, though unlike at that event, we had less performers on Saturday, with only 3 different musicians (all singers & guitarists) taking the stage. Steve kicked things off playing covers of everyone from Oasis and Radiohead to The Smashing Pumpkins, and handling each in solidly entertaining fashion for fans of his prior solo sets, before handing things over to Patrick Evans, who I'm largely unfamiliar with, but shown some grit and skill on country covers from the likes of Darius Rucker and Uncle Kracker. Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger ended the open mic set with his own acoustic punk covers, including the likes of The Vapors, Biffy Clyro, and Social Distortion, and fans of his recent solo appearances will have liked this too, but his vocals seemed a bit more monotone.

As for the first roulette band, their name was announced as Orgasmatron (presumably after the Motorhead song), and they broke from the norm by playing original alt/punk songs that they jammed, before ending with a cover of Pennywise's "Bro Hymn". For a band operating on under an hour of rehearsal, they sounded pretty good, and though I won't largely nitpick their stage presences given the format, why did Chris face the back wall throughout their set? Under the circumstances, everyone sounded good, and if Orgasmatron theoretically stayed together, I can see these songs working in a live setting with more refinement! After their short set, the next band was drawn, and their lineup would end up featuring Tofu Stravinsky singer Sarah Orton alongside AlgomA bandmates Boyd Rendell (a.k.a. Darby Wigwaus) and Jamie Vincent on drums and guitar respectively. A bassist was also drawn for their set, but they dropped out for unannounced reasons, so Jamie played bass on some songs as well to fill in the void.

Though there was supposed to be a performer before the second band's set, none played. For also unannounced reasons, John Mignacca's Dillinger techno project did not play on Saturday night, while the planned public debut of new rap/metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty also did not occur, In their case, time constraints got in the way, but you can see them live THIS SATURDAY when they open for IDNS at The Oddfellows Hall!  Despite The Apocalypse Afterparty's lack of a set, their Smokin' Heroines supporters were on hand for their public debut, with marshmallow gun in tow, though someone apparently stole the gun before night's end, so hopefully it's found and returned! As for the second roulette band, their announced name was Cat Sass (the placement of the first "S" is important), and they played a short cover set including a rendition of Sublime's "Santeria", and while Jamie & Darby have ready made chemistry, Sarah's smooth lead vocals added an extra dimension, and if this band theoretically stayed together, they'd have a unique sound of their own that'd be worth checking out! Also, given the makeup of the band, would Galgoma be a fitting name?

As for the third band, their lineup was drawn to feature Tofu Stravinsky's Jon Perry on guitar, former No Arrow bassist Brad Griffith on bass (pictured from an older show), The Apocalypse Afterparty's Paul Stanghetta on drums, and.... me on vocals?! See, I had suggested at the sign-up area earlier that if singers were slow to add their names, I could add mine to help out, and I insisted not to add my name early. They added my name early, and I was drawn as "Rob You-Know-Who". I went along with it though, and we all went to the secret jam area to knock out a three song set to end the night, which ended up including Neil Young's "Keep On Rocking In The Free World", Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", and Blink-182's "All The Small Things". All things considered, I thought we did alright given the time limits and lack of time to get to know each other, and everyone was very nice and accomodating to each other! The set itself got a good response, and no one lynched me over my singing ability (or lack thereof?), though like with the other two bands, things would no doubt sound better if we had more than a half hour to prepare.

As for our name, I suggested Some Metalhead & The Talents, lightly playing off my lack of band experience and how I was referred to on RedD Monkey's Facebook bio. Also, before our set, DJ Seith played a set of his own DJ and turntable mixes that seemed to go over well, though to be fair, I only caught the last 5 minutes or so of his set. After our set, Steve returned to the stage to announce the winner based on crowd reaction, who would recieve $100, and after a number close calls regarding who got the loudest cheer, the winner was..... CAT SASS! If counted as a "battle of the bands", this was all 3 members' first of recent memory in the Sault, and all the more impressive given that they played as a trio rather than as a quartet, so congratulations to Sarah, Jamie, and Darby! As for my final thoughts on Soo Band Roulette itself, I thought it was a great and unique concept, but there are a lot of bugs to work out, mainly concerning timing and delays. The between-band gaps were often longer than the given half-hour, and the show itself didn't begin until well after the 8:00 PM start time that was announced.

Had things been tighter ran for timeslots, we could have saw bands featuring the likes of Johnny Belanger, James Watterworth, Kevin Campbell, and most of The Danger Cats, among others that signed up, and hopefully for next time, there will be room for 4 or more bands! Also, it'd be nice to see an actual wheel for a roulette to decide bands, and I've offered the services of my own stand-up casino wheel for a second band roulette if need be. Due to my performing involvement with the last band, and largely missing DJ Seith's set, I didn't get any videos of the last two acts, but I have media of everything else, so click here for my photos from Soo Band Roulette, and as for videos, here's a compilation video of the open mic acts (covering New Order, Darius Rucker, and NOFX), Orgasmatron playing an original jam, and Cat Sass covering Sublime!







That's all for now, and I'm just glad to finally get our Soo Band Roulette review online! Also, thanks again to Sarah, Tyler, and Jon from Tofu Stravinsky for participating in the roulette, it was nice to see some out of town flavour, and hopefully fans who enjoyed their talents on Saturday give them a listen! Stay tuned likely tomorrow for weekend concert previews, with some more big news to come soon as well! Thanks everyone, and thanks again for your patience over the last few days!

Updates From Woods Of Ypres, Jason Mapes, And The Fresh Magazine!!

Hey guys, I have lots more updates to share today in the local metal scene, including new songs, videos, a tour blog, new band pages, and an open letter! Lots of stuff to get to, so let's not waste any time!

We'll start with updates from local doom/black metal quartet Woods of Ypres, as their North American tour continues through the American Southwest! Bassist Shane Madden has uploaded his second tour diary onto Decibel Magazine's website, which details the band's tour dates between Calgary and San Jose! Like on Shane's first posting, the diary mostly deals with the road trip itself and not the individual shows, including the scenic mountain drives, post-show parties, the surprising ease of crossing the American border, the fall-out of a cancelled Los Angeles show, and much more! Good read, interesting seeing how a tour unfolds for an independent band like Woods of Ypres! Click here to check it out! Also new on the Woods of Ypres front: New concert videos! YouTube user caraface has uploaded three new videos from the band's show last night at The Nightmare in Dallas onto their YouTube channel! Nice camera angle, you get a good view of the entire band, though it could stand to be a bit closer. Interesting choice of giving the video sepia toned colour, makes it look older! Audio's not bad either! There's uploads of "Suicide Cargoload (Drag That Weight)" & "Halves & Quarters" and Everything I Touch Turns To Gold (Then To Coal)", but I'm embedding the video of Woods performing "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)" below, check it out, and click here for more!



Next up, Bad Side guitarist Jason Mapes has launched a new Reverbnation page featuring a brand new original demo! The page has lots of information on his new solo project, including band members, profile information, the revelation that his album is scheduled to come out this fall, his Kiss cover video, and of course, that new demo! Entitled "Love Again", it's an acoustic demo where he shows off some good guitar skills and a nice soft singing voice, definitely better suited here than on his cover of "I Was Made For Lovin' You". Not bad, though I'd love to hear heavier than this! Check out more of Jason's solo stuff at the links above! Also to note: Bad Side drummer Jonah Brockman also has a few solo pages of his own for his solo projects! Though not metal, I though that was worth mentioning, click his name to check out some of his own solo material!

And finally, the new issue of The Fresh Magazine is now out at numerous local establishments and online at this location, absolutely free! Lots of stuff this week to interest youths in Sault Ontario, and there's a few things that should interest metalheads! Len Ward from Turner Up & The Rad Zone's newest installment of "Len's Corner" is in this issue, with a playlist of what he's spinning on The Rad Zone's stereo (good selections!) and there's a one page photo collage of shots from the Downtown Showdown Battle of the Bands from May 28th, which is captioned on the cover as well. I hope that isn't the culmination of the promised photo shoots and cover features for the winning bands, cause the prize claims sounded misleading if this is all we get. Aside from that, it's a great issue with lots of interesting articles and pieces, but one in particular struck me that I feel I should mention on here. It's an "Open Letter to Rock 101" by freelance contributor Patrick Webb, the former guitarist of local hard rockers Infrastrate (Does anyone have a copy of their CD that I could get for an SMS review?!) Anyway, Patrick penned this open letter to address his criticisms of our only locally based rock radio station, which boil down to what he feels is a repetitive out-dated playlist of songs, which is helping contribute to an isolated feeling that many youths in Sault Ontario have. I won't detail everything he's criticizing, but it's a well written article, and you can read it by clicking here and scrolling to page 22. Now after reading this, I felt compelled to offer my own take on Patrick's open letter, but read his piece first!

Now I listen to Rock 101 a lot, and personally, it's my absolute favourite local FM radio station. I hate very little of what they air. That being said, I do agree that Rock 101's playlist does get repetitive, and I think it's worse than it could be because the vast majority of Rock 101's schedule is just normal DJ rotation, with only 9 hours a week set aside for special programs, like "Eddie Trunk Rocks" & "Flashback". Those air different stuff, but they're only on weekends. If Rock 101 just had constant 30 minute rock blocks 24/7, it'd be even worse than is claimed. It's not just newer artists and lesser known songs either like Patrick suggests, I could easily add Canadian bands to the list. Local bands on normal rotation would be a help too. I don't know if Rock 101 knows of these criticisms, and it's not just Patrick that has them, but I will submit this: The stuff that Rock 101 does air is good stuff. Repetitive, maybe. Same selection of bands, maybe, but it's not horrible. Rock 101's playlist rotation DOES need to be punched up, but at least they know stuff that a general rock fan would like, even if it's not the most current list or the best selection for a diehard fan of some bands. Myself, I'd love to hear Iron Maiden in normal rotation, but only weekend programs ever air them. That's one of many examples you could offer. But is Rock 101 really a contributing factor to isolation of the youth? I don't know if I'd give it that much credit, it's just a radio station, and if a young Saultite doesn't find it a relevant musical window, I'd hope they'd put a CD in or listen to their mp3 player rather than use it as fuel for a reason to leave town.

Rock 101 is still my favourite local FM station, and unless the unlikely day comes where a new local one pops up, it always will be. I admit that no station is perfect, but Rock 101 has the best odds for good music locally, especially with The Bear's local departure. But where Patrick says that Rock 101 is the "only viable option" in his open letter, I will openly and respectfully say he is incorrect. We pick up three other rock stations locally from the Mackinac Bridge area, including Real Rock 105.1, KLT: The Rock Station, and the new Mackinac City feed of Classic Rock: The Bear. All pick up locally on a good radio and all air different stuff than Rock 101. Real Rock in particular seems to be the best example of what Patrick's looking for. Add WLSO: The Sounds of Lake State to the list too if you know when a metal block airs. I do hope Patrick's opinions get addressed by Rock 101, and I respect his opinions on the situation even though not everything I agree with. I still listen to Rock 101, but like many listeners, there are things I'd like to see adjusted too. Maybe with time, we'll have to see!

That's all for today, but I have lots more news on the horizon! Tomorrow will be solely for weekend concert previews, my GarageBand Profile on Mike Cliffe will be on Friday, and at some point during or after, I have much more news to get to! Stay tuned for all that, and more!