Renderware - "Renderware = Rock" EP Review!!

To close the month, it's time for our 89th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene! With no new paid CD releases acquired for November, we're dipping into the archives, namely to take a look at defunct local alternative metal quartet Renderware's only EP  "Renderware = Rock"! As tied in with this month's surprise reunion of their successor punk band Talk Shit at The Live 705 Local Show, Renderware's only album was released early into their run on June 15th, 2004, though surviving details on it's original release are minimal, and remained that way even after the album saw it's Bandcamp re-release for it's 10th anniversary in 2014. Renderware are represented on this EP by singer and current stand-up comedian Jordan Foisy, Talk Shit bandmates Marc Lafrance & Adam Sauve on guitar and drums, fellow guitarist Thomas Whitney, and Adam's ex-Nebraska Arms bandmate Wayne Watkins (now of Northwest) on bass.

Note that we had considered reviewing an album by A Dire Setback frontman Larry Babic's old pop punk band A Fall From Innocence this month too, given that they debuted this month, but I only have their second album, so Renderware's debut won out on that basis (A.F.F.I. are still in the queue though!). Though long since out of print, "Renderware = Rock" is available on Bandcamp via a "name your price" model, but consider paying something to help support the guys' work! With six songs running at just over 12 minutes, let's kick things off for this review!

This EP begins with a 70 second "Intro", which features the raspy-voiced Jordan describing the band an their sound in largely spoken word while the band plays an upbeat and fast instrumental behind him. Renderware have often described themselves as "Motorhead meets Tom Waits", and the latter rears it's head here, but as it's an introductory track to set the mood, it doesn't have the substance of what's to come. Next is "The Halls", which at 2:59, is surprisingly the EP's longest track. It opens with slow and deliberate bass from Wayne with the band gradually filling in, eventually leading to a mid-tempo rocker that has a chugging riff and Jordan's first true sung lyrics, though still in his usual raspy and gravely drawl. The guitar work here is good and has a punk flavour, and the vocals do fit the material, but may be an acquired taste for some listeners. Still, this is a solid beginning though for fans of this unique quartet!

Third is "Washed Up Celebrity", which has a nice drum opening from Adam and a faster punk rhythm that genre fans will appreciate, but the verses are a little odd here, particularly from the often very artficial-sounding backing vocals and a verse cadence that doesn't always mesh well with the riff. I'd have dumped the backing vocals entirely, I don't find they add anything to the song. The brief guitar solo is a nice change of pace though, and punk fans should like this song while it lasts! Then we have "Baby's Momma" (spelled as "Babie's Momma" on MySpace), which is arguably Renderware's best known song, and one of their fastest yet. The song overdoes the drum fills during verses, and the break midway through where Jordan screams "Oh my baby's momma!" is an odd diversion, but this is a fun and catchy number that gets the job done musically, and I do wish they'd lengthened it a bit!

Second last on "Renderware = Rock" is "Breakin' Me Down", which is a slower, more hard rock-style number that doesn't play to the guys' musical strengths as well, but Jordan's singing is a nice & gritty match to the riff here, and the spoke word section where he talks with an uncredited woman does fit into the song a bit better here! The fade-out at the end comes out of nowhere, but in terms of structure and chemistry, it's an effective song with solid drumming and bass in particular! The EP closes with "Blue Collar Love Song", which seems like it wouldn't be a fit to Renderware's genre, but don't worry, it's no ballad! In fact, it plays like their other originals, and shares some structural similarities with "Baby's Momma", sans the mid-verse drum fills. The chorus is repetitive, but for fans of their gravely speed metal, it's a nice capper to their only EP, and plays it close to their comfort zone!

So, what are my final thoughts on Renderware's only EP? Overall, it is definitely an acquired taste compared to more traditional punk or metal bands, but if you can get into Jordan Foisy's raspy, Waits-esque singing, you'll get some enjoyment out of this one! While I admittedly found Renderware to have more of a punk influence than Motorhead, they have a good chemistry and talent levels, especially with Marc Lafrance & Thomas Whitney's solid riffs, Wayne Watkins' professional bass skill, and Adam Sauve's reliably aggressive drumming, and when most effectively used, Jordan's vocals were a unique asset to give these songs more of an edge! That said, the songs can have structural flaws that impct things more than they might otherwise given the songs' length, like abrupt endings, extensive drum fills, and odd backing & spoken word vocals. However, keep in mind that everyone in the band has grown and matured in music in the 12 years since, so don't be too harsh, all things considered.

On songs like "Baby's Momma" and "Breakin' Me Down", you get a sense of Renderware's enthusiastic punk/metal sound, and while those who can't get into the vocals may want to keep watch for Talk Shit's next concerts, I recommend giving Renderware a listen for a one-of-a-kind blast of speed punk, and it'd be interesting to see Renderware reunite at some point! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, but what's coming next month? A new CD if possible, and again, if we can obtain Telephone & Address' newest album "Are You Now or Have You Ever" via a physical album or a Bandcamp posting, it'd be likely to end the year with! For the record, The Apocalypse Afterparty's debut "Bufflesnort" is now tentatively planned to come out early next year, so that's likely not next. If we have to dip into the archives next, the aforementioned A Fall From Innocence's second CD could still come next, given that A Dire Setback will be playing live next month, but nothing's official yet.

Regardless, look for a new CD review to close the year next month, and stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!

Fall Punk Concert Updates, A Hard Rock Album Re-Release, And Recent Concert Fallout!!

We're back home, so let's get back to work on the SMS, so what's in store for today's news post? Lots of fallout from a recent concert, an archive EP re-release that you might want to check out, and first, lots of updates regarding a prolific local concert promoter's upcoming concert slate, so here's what you need to know!

We'll start today with new updates from local concert promoter J.D. Pearce's upcoming fall concert schedule, including the disappointing news that The Misfits' concert scheduled for The Kiwanis Community Theatre on September 13th has been postponed. J.D. cited scheduling conflicts (none of which were the fault of anyone local) for the postponement as per Facebook postings, with the event page also being taken down, and the show will try to be rescheduled for next year. Definitely a bummer, but J.D. has some other big shows coming up this fall, so what's on the horizon? For one, his promotional Facebook group teased a Misfits afterparty at The Rockstar Bar to be headlined by ska punk favourites K'Man & The 45s, but we're waiting for more finite information on the show before calling it on here, especially given the cessation of the Misfits show that would have preceded it. Shows to be headlined by The Dayglo Abortions, Montreal street punk band The Whiskey Shits, and Montreal metal standouts Endast are awaiting fuller confirmation too, and his annual Halloween party (which Frightlight will play a farewell set during) is awaiting full details as well, aside from taking place on Halloween proper.

As for the pictured concert poster, that relates to the previously announced Ripcordz concert at The Algonquin Pub on October 11th, but there's lots of new updates for it, mainly that the show will double as the 20th anniversary party for local record/skate shop The Rad Zone! Hard to believe it's been almost 20 years already, but kudos to Paul and all of the past and current staff for making this store a must visit for so long! There will also be product giveaways by skate company Vans, who are sponsoring the show. Very cool, so click here for full details on this show, and stay tuned for much more!

Next up, we have a "new" local album discovery to take note of on the site, though it's not technically "new". Last month, a member of the early-mid 2000s hard rock band Renderware posted their "Rock EP" from 2004 onto Bandcamp as a digital album on a "name your price" model, very similarly to the archive digital release of Downshift's "Before You Knew Me..." disc. Newer fans may remember seeing three of the songs on Renderware's MySpace page, but the EP also featured three songs not posted there (an intro, "The Halls", and "Blue Collar Love Song"), so if you didn't get the EP upon it's initial release 10 years ago, these might be new to you in studio form! Renderware's featured lineup on the EP included singer Jordan Foisy, guitarists Marc LaFrance (ex-Talk Shit) and Thomas Whitney, current Northwest frontman Wayne Watkins on bass, and Nebraska Arms alum Adam Sauve on drums. I honestly had no idea that Renderware actually released an EP during their original run (which ended circa 2007), but it's awesome to see one of the guys post the album online after so long!

As it's available on a "name your price" model, it's eligible for a review on the site, but when could we see it? Given that it's a re-release and not a brand new album, it won't be imminent, but if we come across a month with no new CDs in the queue, and a Northwest show to tie it in with, it could very well come then! Renderware's unique "Motorhead meets Tom Waits" sound deserves an audience, so check them out above, and consider buying the "Rock EP" to support their work!

Lastly today, here's some fallout from the Late & Loud farewell concert on Friday at The Rockstar Bar! We already knew that James White made his Haggith debut that night, but what else went down? Well, a correspondent from local music promotion & management company For The Music Inside was on hand to photograph the event, which is (I think) the first SMS-ranged show that F.T.M.I. have ever covered. While they've hyped that more photos are on the way, only shots of The Danger Cats' opening set are featured in their Facebook photo album from the show right now, but they're nicely taken (though the logo watermark can be a bit big.) The pictures showcase the girls' hard rocking set, including guest appearances from both ex-Sativa Rose singer Marisa Valois and Late & Loud frontman Jonathan Tiberi, though we await photos of the other bands, aside from a separately uploaded L&L shot from their setup. Also, if you noticed what appears to be "The Last Gig" added to Late & Loud's stage banner in this shot, then note that it was added in post, and wasn't present during the show.

In terms of public videos, we also only have some from The Danger Cats' set,  and if you're curious as to how they sound, these videos feature both of their special guests! As uploaded to their YouTube channel over the last few days, one video features The Danger Cats & Jon playing their original song "Give Me" and a cover of The Scorpions' "The Zoo", while (embedded below), you can see the girls and Marisa covering Bif Naked's "I Love Myself Today" and Lee Aaron's "Metal Queen", and click each song title to go straight to the original song! For the songs with Jon, it is a little odd to see a male musician playing with The Danger Cats, but he fits in well on these songs, and the presence of three guitars isn't overkill either! As for the video with Marisa, you could see this as a glimpse of what Sativa Rose could have been had they continued into 2012, though if you're not familiar with her recent solo work, she delivers a very strong vocal performance here, and her voice projects very nicely! For reference, she's moving overseas with Brendan Christie from Late & Loud too, but it's nice to see her play once more locally beforehand!

Very solid all around, and hopefully Marisa and Brendan stay active musically wherever their travels lead! We'll miss their talents over the next year! Check out the videos above, stay tuned for more show fallout when/if it comes in, For The Music Inside are now in our "Other Local Metal Links", and here's The Danger Cats and Marisa from this past Friday night!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow & Friday, plus a new defunct punk band feature soon as well! Thanks everyone!

Two Inactive Local Bands, New Grunge/Alternative Covers, And Some Deleted Links!!

Let's keep our recent busy stretch going at the SMS with another news post, but what's on the docket this time around? Along with some link deletions from the site, we also have new covers from a pair of inactive & linked grunge/alternative bands, but first, we have some bands to consider as now likely inactive, so here's what you need to know!

I've opted to move two linked Sault Ontario metal bands to our inactive band links, those being local hardcore/death metal acts March Into Regression & With Blood Builds Character. Neither has issued a public update since last summer, and most of their personnel have been busy in other projects lately (Ray Cowan & Christopher Neveau in Unbound, Josh Stephney in The Bear Hunters & Giwakwa, Jeremy Hannah with solo indie material, and Tyler St. Amour in Social Suicide), so both bands seem to be on the backburner, or worse. As you may remember, March Into Regression (formerly Bring The Misery in mid-2011) was relaunched by drummer Travis St. Amour last June with a new larger lineup & a looser jam feel for shows in Laird & at The Rosie, but they were essentially succeeded by With Blood Builds Character in July, who featured the same lineup (minus Josh & Travis), though all of March Into Regression's last members played in some form at W.B.B.C.'s only gig last August in Laird. Note that M.I.R.'s return last year coincided with Travis' return home from college last spring, but I've heard nothing about a similar resurrection of either of these bands in 2013 (at least, not yet.)

Despite the informal nature of their shows, I thought both March Into Regression & With Blood Builds Character had a lot of promise (their originals proved that), and I hoped that one of the bands would last longer than they did locally, but at least most of the guys are keeping active in the local scene. Best of luck to Jeremy, Josh, Ray, Christopher, Dan, Tyler, Travis, and other ex-members in the future, and here's hoping we see more from them all shortly!

Next up, a pair of inactive projects from local musician Dann Pichette have some new audio uploads to check out via his YouTube channel on Friday! One is a cover of The Beatles' "I'm Not Sleeping", which is credited to his old grunge band No Arrow (though Dann played all instruments on the track), and while I'm not a scholar of Beatles material, Dann did seem to put in a good sound and effort on this cover, even if it's not that heavy! The vocals are somewhat punk-inspired & listless, but it gives it vibe similar to that of Dann's later SBD work. Check out his "I'm Not Sleeping" cover below!



Also, Dann also uploaded this cover of Syd Barrett's "Octopus" (credited to his most recent local band project, alternative/grunge trio SBD) onto YouTube as well! Featuring bassist Brad Griffith on drums in place of Shane Triplett, this is in line with many of SBD's live covers (lots of early Pink Floyd/Syd Barrett songs), and it shows more originality and a closer link to their sound than The Beatles one arguably did, so I like it more on that basis alone! Check out SBD's new/old Syd Barrett cover below!



Finally for today, here's some notes on deleted links leading from our recent layout changes. One deleted page was that of Andrea Gosselin Photography (who did lots of local concert photography and the photos for Garden of Bedlam's latest album), as her website is currently unavailable. No word on why this happened, but with no indications of it being temporary (or replacement pages), I've deleted it from our links... at least for now. The other deletions are inactive local metal-relevant message boards, as the forums for both defunct hard rock band Renderware & the former regional music webzine Northern Rocks Magazine have been taken down by their respective hosts. No reason was publicized for Renderware's forum, but the Northern Rocks forum was a casualty of the migration of old Forumer-hosted boards to the newer Yuku platform, similarly to why the old Sault Music Scene forums were taken down. It can be saved & completely migrated if requested by March 21st, but seeing as the magazine hasn't been produced since mid-2009, the odds are extremely slim. (I really wish the magazine was still around though, it had great content and a great purpose!)

With these closures, we're down to 5 active local metal-relevant message boards that I know of (Woods of Ypres & Gates of Winter's forums, Freq's Music Planet, SooNet Musician Central, and the 705 Video Magazine forums), but the 705VM boards are currently down (possibly due to spam issues), and only Freq's Music Planet has been otherwise maintained in the past year. This seems odd to see the dropoff, but maybe social media is diminishing the need for forums? I think there's still a place for message boards (even if my own attempts failed), and hopefully more will pop up soon!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes shortly! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Bret Michaels), A Local Author's Hard Rock Books, And More!!

Alright, I have enough news today to get a post up after a few days of very slow word from the metal scene, and luckily, we have a HUGE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to lead things off! We also have some cool news relating to a local author, this week's classic video, and some assorted other stories to get to, but for now, let's kick things off with today's top story!

Poison frontman Bret Michaels is coming back to Kewadin Casino! The hair metal legend and recent reality television star will make his fourth(?) local concert appearance on December 27th when he headlines a solo concert at The Dreammaker's Theater! This will be his first time headlining at Kewadin since last year's Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Summer Festival, but you may also remember his birthday show there in March 2008, and before all of that, he headlined a 2005 concert at the old Eastgate Hotel in Sault Ontario as well. This time however, you can go see Bret play solo material and Poison classics as a Christmas present, and if you love hair metal, isn't that a great idea? No word yet on possible opening bands, but most of his previous local stops have had at least one, so I'll keep an eye out in case something's announced. Local news sites (including SooToday and The Sault Star) have confirmed the news in articles, so click the above links for their coverage! As I like to do when major touring bands like this return to the Sault area, I like to share an old concert video from one of their last stops, so here's SooToday's video of Bret Michaels from his 2008 concert at Kewadin Casino as a preview of what to expect next month!



That all said, what should you know about tickets? They'll be $42.50, which isn't too bad overall, and they will go on sale TOMORROW MORNING at 9:00 AM! For when they do go on sale, you can pick them up online at this location, by calling 1-800-KEWADIN, or by visiting the Kewadin box office in person. This show should be all ages too, and a start time of 7:00 PM is listed. Check the above links for more details! It's great to see Bret back in the area and in good health, and with just under two months to go, hopefully this is as big of a success as Bret's last local shows! Stay tuned for updates as they come in!

Next up, are you familiar at all with a local author named George Case? We've never talked about him on here, but I really should have a lot sooner than now. He's written 5 published books, contributed in two others, and has two brand new books now in stores. The reason why this counts for the SMS is that 2 of them directly relate to rock legends Led Zeppelin, and from what I hear, they're both extremely good and well researched! One is one of his newest books, entitled "Led Zeppelin FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Greatest Hard Rock Band of All Time", which explores and analyzes the lingering questions and rumours about Led Zeppelin and it's members. and the other is 2009's "Jimmy Page: Magus, Magician, Man", which was apparently the first published biography about the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist. These & most of his other books (including last year's "Out Of Our Heads" about the days of excess from '60s & '70s rock legends) are on sale on various online outlets, including through Chapters/Indigo, which means that you can also order them through Coles in the Station or Cambrian Mall if they aren't in stock at either local location. I wanna say that The Rad Zone has at least some of his books in stock too, but I may be wrong. Click the book titles above to pick them up online! None go for more than $16 in paperback.

Also, George contributed to another Led Zeppelin book named "Whole Lotta Zeppelin", so click that link for more details. With the release of his newest two books (including one on social & political issues), he's been back in the local news with very nice articles on SooToday, Local2, and The Sault Star, so click those links for more as well! I certainly appreciate Led Zeppelin's impact on hard rock & metal, and though I've yet to read George's books on them, I can tell from everything I've seen that he's left no stone unturned to make these books accurate & very informative! If you love Led Zeppelin, definitely pick up George's books at the above links, and support local authors!

Thirdly today, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Cheboygan hard rock quartet The Darwin Project are being interviewed TOMORROW MORNING on Rock 101! Their new single will also be played on air. Details are scant online, but I believe the interview will be during "Scott & Brian In The Morning", meaning it'll be between 7:00 AM & 10:00 AM if that's accurate. Awesome to see Rock 101 give some Northern Michigan talent some exposure, so listen to 101.3 FM tomorrow morning to hear the interview, and fingers crossed they play a local show again soon!
• I've edited our GarageBand Profile on Gates of Winter to remove a video I'd posted of their song "Burning Kingdom II: Heavenly Insurgence". I originally uploaded it because I thought it wasn't on YouTube already, but it actually was, so I removed it to avoid redundancy. Stay tuned for more news if it comes in!
• This is sort of foreshadowing for our final item, but I've edited our Defunct Local Band Profile on local hard rock band Renderware to note that original bassist Ian Robinson was later in the local punk band Talk Shit. Wanna know a bit more on them? Check our today's last item below!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! With Sativa Rose set to return from a four month hiatus on Sunday when they open for Skull Fist at The Canadian, it made sense to tie in this week's video in with them in some way, and more specifically, we'll tie it in with guitarist Andrew Angelic! You've likely seen him before in other local bands, and one of his more prominent ones was the local punk quartet Talk Shit, who played scattered live dates from 2008-2009, though I don't think they ever had an online page. Andrew memorably played in Talk Shit with three ex-members of Renderware, those being singer/drummer Adam Sauve, guitarist Marc LaFrance, and bassist Ian Robinson, which is an interesting pairing of talented musicians! Why are we featuring a primarily punk band for a classic video though? Because a video I came across is of a heavier sounding original, and it honestly has a Lion Ride vibe going for it! Entitled "Fuck Hugs", this comes from a concert that Talk Shit played at the now-closed Nite Life Dance Club (a.k.a. GLOW) when they opened for Toronto pop punk band The Artist Life on November 29th, 2009. Very nice video quality, and the song is pretty catchy with a clear metal flourish that not all of their live songs had, so it's definitely worth checking out!

Filmed by former Infrastrate guitarist Patrick Webb and uploaded onto Facebook the next day, you can see the original video at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=357895575603. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Talk Shit and Patrick, they did the hard work here, I'm just sharing this song with a wider audience like it deserves! So, give this week's classic video a look below for a heavier turn from Talk Shit, and hopefully they return in some form in the future!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news likely on the weekend, as I'm honestly low on stories at the moment. We'll probably have a new post on Saturday, as I've gotta preview the Skull Fist concert, so keep an eye out then! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Renderware

We're back in Sault Ontario this month for our latest Defunct Local Band Profile! This is our 11th profiled band in the last 10 months, and this month, we have a bit of a change of plans. Originally, we were going to profile Route 69, featuring alumni of local bands like Aftersight & Wishbone. However, the band announced on their newly redesigned MySpace page that they're working on a comeback this summer! Full details aren't known yet, but the above links will hook you up. Nice to see them back, I've always wondered how they sounded, but that kinda disqualifies them for a "defunct" profile on the SMS. So I had to pick a new band this month, which wasn't hard, I just did what I do in any case where the band I randomly select is still active: I picked the closest defunct band alphabetically, and now we have a new band to profile! Let's begin! (Edited on February 11th, 2012)
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Renderware

Genre: Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last lineup in italics.)

Jordan Foisy, vocals
Marc Lafrance (The Mark Rand Band, Talk Shit), guitar
Wayne Watkins (The Small Town Rivals, Nebraska Arms), bass
Adam Sauve (The Business Suit Trappers, Nebraska Arms), drums
Thomas Whitney, guitar
Ian Robinson (Talk Shit), bass

Audio/Video: Renderware have three songs posted on their MySpace page, those being the original songs "Washed Up Celebrity", "Babie's Momma", and "Breakin' Me Down"! All three are streamable there, but if you click the above links, you'll find YouTube uploads of each that I have made to The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel! "Babie's Momma" was an old upload, but the other songs are brand new to go along with this post. As for video footage, the only video I know of comes from YouTube user M4RRC's channel, and it's from Renderware's debut performance at a Bon Soo Battle of the Bands in 2004, featuring the band's original lineup playing an original song, name not known, that wasn't posted in studio form on MySpace. Decent quality, but too short, only comprising of what sounds like that song's latter half followed by the crowd's reaction. Good stuff though, give it a look below!



Info/Analysis: Renderware formed in 2004 or earlier, debuting at that year's Bon Soo Battle of the Bands, but didn't launch a MySpace page until 2006. They played scattered live shows in the mid-2000s, as openers and headliners, and were last seen live in July 2007 as openers for Lion Ride in their own debut concert at the former Foggy Notions. To my knowledge, the band went inactive after this show, possibly due to frontman Jordan Foisy moving to Toronto, though members of Renderware later reunited in bands like Talk Shit & Nebraska Arms. Renderware's sound was really unique, with the band saying they sounded like "Tom Waits meets Motorhead". That's accurate, as Jordan's vocals have that gritty harsh Tom Waits-esque tone, but the music is straight up hard rock! The songs are fairly straightforward and simple, but they do have a nice hard rock quality with a bit of punk flavour, and you can tell the band has talent! I also like the sense of humour they show with their material, giving each song a lighter amusing feel while still bringing the rock! Though it's a shame their planned CD never seemed to come out, their music has a unique effectiveness to it, though I imagine they won't be everyone's cup of tea, especially vocally. Give them a look though, and see what you think! Also, check out their official forum (free membership required) for some old band news!
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Hope you guys enjoyed this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! I wasn't prepared to change the band so closely to when I planned to post it, but luckily Renderware had enough information to make it interesting (their old Geocities page would have helped though), and Route 69's return is welcome! But what band will we profile next month? The band I randomly selected is The Harsh Heads, the defunct Sault Ontario hardcore band featuring members of Destroilet & The Billy Bastards! Watch out for this profile between May 7th and 13th! That's all for now, but stay tuned for our news Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on The Heatseeking Moisture Missiles tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Crash Karma/Desperate Union Concert Review, Plus More News!!

As promised, it's time for my review from last night's Crash Karma/Desperate Union show! That's the main story today, but I have some extra shorter news to include at the end, so stay tuned for that! But now, here's my review!

Firstly, I want to thank Jay Perron for the complimentary tickets for the show! Very nice of him! Despite doors opening at 9:30 PM last night at The Canadian Nightclub, nothing got started until an hour later, and while I waited for some friends that I promised tickets to, I believe I overheard some troubling things about the show's status from some staffers near the tour buses. I don't know specifics, but nothing bad happened, except maybe a bit of a delay. Your openers were Desperate Union, and they weren't bad at all! For kids this young, they show a lot of talent and are sure to grow into something special as time goes on! Their sound reminds me of a lot of radio hard rock bands, but they put their own melodic spin on things, and it works out well for them! Singer/guitarist Alen Worsoff has a nice voice that works well in heavy and soft ways, though I imagine he'll get better and deeper with age! Good stage presence too, and he seemed very grateful and happy to be there, along with the rest of the band! Drummer Jason Pierce, despite an odd stage placement on the far left, really impressed me with his movements and energy on the drums, while guitarist Adam Spears and bassist Kyle Teixeira both performed well on their respective instruments!

I especially liked their songs "Don't Forget Me (Angel)" and "Black & White Lies", but I do think they could stand to ramp up their heaviness and include some guitar solos. Even still, they performed a solid concise set, and they show tons of promise! Big things are likely to come to these guys, and their radio hard rock style will find lots of fans, including hopefully lots of people at last night's show!

Your headliners were Crash Karma, the Toronto pop rock supergroup featuring a number of 1990s Canadian rock veterans! Former I Mother Earth singer Edwin, ex-Our Lady Peace guitarist Mike Turner, and Tea Party drummer Jeff Burrows joined together with bassist Amir Epstein of Zygote to form this supergroup, and they delivered a good set, though I do have reservations. Their set included ten songs from their self-titled debut album, along with four classics from the members' past bands, and you know something? I honestly enjoyed their covers more than their originals. This is NOT a case of me liking what's familiar, but the Crash Karma material seems a bit too light and standard compared to what I was hoping. But when they busted out "Superman's Dead" and "Temptation", I was right at home, and they delivered on all accounts! But the new songs didn't do as much for me, though they were all very well played. I admit I was more into the Brian Byrne era of I Mother Earth, but Edwin's voice was in top form last night, as was the rest of the band! Amir Epstein deserves credit as well, his bass work was really good, and his playing style (high on his chest) was unique too!

Good stuff all around, but I wouldn't really call them "hard rock" on the basis of the Crash Karma material. But these guys are very talented, and this truly is a supergroup, so they are worth checking out! Good solid alternative pop rock, and you'd have missed a good show if you weren't there! My metal tastes did lean slightly towards Desperate Union though, but it was fun! Yes, I got photos, so click here to check out my Desperate Union shots, or visit the SMS' official Facebook page! Note that the Crash Karma picture above was NOT taken by me, I'll replace it with one I took tonight when I get home. And yes, I have a Desperate Union video, so here's the band playing their song "Black & White Lies"!



To cap off today's post, here's three smaller news stories that I've missed over the last while! As always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Garden of Bedlam have launched a brand new Facebook page! This is separate from their Facebook group, and is pretty sparse for updates so far, but it does feature a cool lengthy biography on the band and a full resolution copy of the poster for their concert on FRIDAY at The Rockstar Bar! Become a fan today by clicking here!
• When going through band links on the SMS the other day, I discovered that the website for defunct local metal band Renderware has been closed. This doesn't appear to be the band's doing, as it was hosted on Geocities, which has been shut down. The same thing happened to The White Knights' old page. Never fear, as I've replaced the link with their MySpace page, so they won't be deleted from our listings! Make note though if you notice it's gone.
• I received an e-mail recently from Riverin singer/drummer Matt Hicks. Apparently, the call for live backing musicians for their upcoming debut concert has not produced a whole lot of interest, so he was wondering if I could help get the word out again. If any of you guys play bass, drums, or keyboard, or you know someone who does, contact Riverin's members at this location for details and song previews! They deserve some great musicians, and the sooner they get them, the better!
  

That's all for today, but I have more assorted news to come very soon, so be on the lookout! Thanks everyone!