Local Metal Video Showcase!!

While I'm at The Rockstar Bar judging tonight's first night of the battle of the bands, I do have a special auto-post for you guys to check out, and it's a local metal video showcase! Mostly, this is devoted to solo videos from a trio of local metal/hard rock artists, but first, we have a new live recording from a recent concert, that being from local grunge quartet Haggith! Like their two most recent videos, this audio-only recording (and accompanying slideshow) comes from their Relay For Life set at Sault College last month, though this time, it's their unplugged cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"! Featuring just Curtis McKenzie and Daniel Horton, this was posted onto the band's YouTube channel yesterday, and the slideshow photos (which still include band members not on the track) have all been put through some type of effects filter. I'm not high on 1970s Pink Floyd material (I much prefer their heavier and more psychedelic 1960s stuff), but Curtis & Daniel do justice to this softer classic, and Curt's vocals fit the mood of the track, so check out Haggith's new cover below, and stay tuned to the SMS tomorrow to find out how Haggith did in tonight's first third of the battle of the bands semifinals!



Next up, here's some long awaited new videos from veteran local solo musician & Audiofumes podcast owner Mike Cliffe! Though he's steadily posted new material on his Reverbnation page (which often passes me by, apologies for that!), he ended a 6 month hiatus of new original music video postings on his YouTube channel yesterday, so I thought it was about time to plug Mike's prolific work again on here! The new videos include original instrumental songs named "Exodus", "Jaz-I-Lux", "Waltz of the Slush Bauchan", and "Dead Jig", so of course, click each link to check them out! Each is accompanied by trippy visualizations, save for "Exodus", which has them overlayed with footage of drummer Bill Ray, one of many out of town musicians that Mike has collaborated with on original material. The first two songs are jazzy progressive rock numbers, while "Waltz of the Slush Bauchan" has more of an atmospheric & intricate sound, and all are good for their styles! Embedded below though is "Dead Jig", which has a dramatic and almost orchestral intensity, and hopefully Mike finishes this sketch, so give it a look below, and hear more of Mike's recent solo work at the above links!



Also in new videos, Bear Hunters bassist Justin Lam has launched a brand new YouTube channel featuring his own audition videos for the vacant Machine Head bassist position! Oddly not uploaded to his prior YouTube channel (which I take it is now inactive), he posted 4 videos there yesterday, including an introduction relating to Machine Head's open auditions, and three Machine Head covers ("This Is The End", "Halo", and "Beautiful Mourning"), so click each link to check them out! I imagine the search to replace Adam Duce will be long and jam packed with capable bassists, but Justin's skills are far better than the audio quality of the video allows, and hopefully his videos pick up some steam and popularity no matter what! Check out Justin's awesome cover of "Halo" below, and don't miss The Bear Hunters at the last Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands semifinal in two weeks!



Finally for tonight, here's a couple of new video discoveries from AlgomA frontman Boyd "Darby Wigwaus" Rendell! Granted, these are old, but I only just came across them now, so why not share them? Apart from his past/present work as a singer & guitarist, Boyd does have drumming talent, and two videos give proof of that on his YouTube channel. One of the videos from 2010 features him (I assume) dressed up as Drumfoot (rather than Bigfoot), complete with Frightlight-esque body part props, while the other compiles two of Boyd's drum solo videos from 2008 & 2009. Both are fairly straightforward musically, but Boyd shows some solid drumming ability and some nice fills, and hopefully he'll post some more solo videos like this in the future, perhaps on guitar? Check out his first of the drumming videos below, and stay tuned for more from AlgomA as I hear of it!



That's all for tonight, but stay tuned for our recap of tonight's first night of the Rockstar Bar Battle Of The Bands! Did Late & Loud move one step closer to their second straight battle win, or did Haggith or Sarah's Valley make a larger impression in their first battles? We'll find out tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Happy December, everyone! Let's kick off the final month of 2011 in style with a local metal video showcase, as we've got lots of videos to share today, including two cool full concert videos I recently came across, some now-on-YouTube videos from Half A Man, and a brand new track from a highly anticipated new album! Firstly though, I do want to apologize for missing a concert, as apparently, Sault Michigan hard rockers Powerslug played a concert at Golanka's Bar (The Bird) the day before Thanksgiving, along with at least two out of town gigs in Manistique. The band doesn't update pages anymore, and The Bird's pages never confirmed who was playing that Wednesday, so I couldn't reliably cover it (or the Manistique shows.) I'm sorry, I'll make it up! Now though, let's get this all video post going!

A brand new Woods of Ypres song from the upcoming "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" is now online! The second full track to be posted from the album, it's entitled "Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)", and it was uploaded onto their label Earache Records' YouTube channel on Tuesday. How is it? I won't give my full thoughts yet, but it's a slower doom ballad of sorts with some orchestral touches, and it contains perhaps the lowest clean vocals that David Gold has ever sung on a Woods of Ypres track. Stay tuned to the SMS and band pages for sure over the next two months for more details on "W5", which is scheduled for release through Earache on January 30th (with our review pencilled in for early March!) Also in band news, Woods of Ypres have apparently found a new drummer to replace the departed Evan Madden (as alluded to on their Facebook page), but his identity has not been revealed yet. The hunt's still on for a bassist, so check the above link for details, and when I hear more on any new members, I'll be sure to let you guys know! With that all said, check out the brand new Woods of Ypres song "Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)" below!



Next up, did you miss the Shit Liver/Winkstinger concert at Feedback on Saturday night? Well, this might make up for it, as Shit Liver's entire set was filmed by YouTube user and local filmmaker Boyd Rendell! He posted this on Sunday right after the concert, and it includes all 15 songs that Shit Liver played in their 40 minute set. Inin order (and hopefully correctly labelled), their setlist included their cover of OBCD's "You Speak of Weak & We Don't Care", followed by their originals "Shit Liver", "You're Scared", and "Fabricated Nonsense", their new tracks "Shit Will Prevail" & "Helen Keller", their older originals "Survival of the Shittest", "Shift Liver", "Friendly Old (Uncle Joe)", "Contribute or Perish", "Hateroleum", their anti-breakdown song (didn't catch the title), "Drowning In Shit", and "Sewer Livin'", capped off by an encore cover of Macabre's "The Unabomber"! Nice quality video at a good angle to capture the band (though not much of the crowd), and kudos to Boyd for filming their set! I wonder if he got any footage of Winkstinger? Check out Shit Liver's full set from this past Saturday night below!



Boyd has other videos on his YouTube channel too, including some of his old band work from groups like Nullfied Youth & BeeFMoutH, and last week, he posted three songs from BeeFMoutH's second concert onto his YouTube channel as well! This took place at the old Koolie's & Cues (now Breakaway Bar & Grill, I think) in the winter of 1999, and though the video quality isn't great (mainly due to washed out colour), it's a nice look back at late 1990s hardcore punk! The video featueres BeeFMoutH playing the songs "I Guess I'm...", "Three(Five)", and "Ewe-Buh-Buh-Bah-Buh-Buh" with some nice intensity & unique vocals, and this was part of a full 50 minute-plus video that Boyd uploaded this portion from. Solid stuff, so take a trip back 12 years to see BeeFMoutH live below!



Finally for today, we've already touched on these videos on here before, but they're brand new to YouTube, so I thought I'd make sure they got some real attention on the site. Brimley hard rockers Half A Man posted some new videos on their Facebook page last month, but they were deleted and later posted onto their YouTube channel on Friday. I won't go into a lot of detail again (I talked about these videos already on the 23rd), but they're solid instrumental samples of new songs, so definitely give them a look! Here's the longer of the new clips, but click here for their other new rehearsal video!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post over the next little while! Thanks everyone!