YouTube Channel Profile Series: ThisIsTheEndGame

Now is the time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile installment, as we continue our monthly spotlight on YouTube channels whose content is at least 50% comprised of metal, hard rock, and/or punk concerts and/or musicians, in order to showcase them and encourage viewership and subscriptions of them! This month's randomly selected channel is from a prolific local musician that will be very familiar to metal fans of the mid-late 2010s, so here's what you should know regarding this month's selection!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ThisIsTheEndGame (http://www.youtube.com/thisistheendgame) 

Owner: Pillory frontman, Peach Thieves guitarist, Id Iota bassist, and Twistory drummer Robert Sartini, also previously known from the bands Crimson Crusade, Roadkill, Shadowthrone, and Gorrifier

Channel Timeline: Launched on July 9th, 2010; Videos posted from August of that year through July 2014

Channel Summary: Robert's channel is almost half devoted to solo guitar performances of his from the early 2010s, with remaining videos including jam session footage of Pillory and Roadkill, plus the 5 songs on Pillory's 2013 debut EP "Cringe at the Cross". The sole video on Robert's channel that doesn't feature him performing is it's first upload, his personal ranking of Metallica's top 10 guitar solos.

Why You Should Watch: Fans will most want to check out this channel if they were fans of early thrash-era Pillory and/or Robert's early years as a prominent local musician, with his talent and potential clear even at this stage! While Robert still uses this channel for personal needs, no footage has made it's way there from his current projects, nor from any past live concerts, in case that changes your mind on subscribing.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

Roadkill - Speed Therapy (Original): Before launching Pillory, Robert and drummer Jarrod Sachro performed together in a two man metal band named Roadkill, with four videos from mid-2011 jam sessions being posted to this channel at the time. These include a cover of Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?" and three original songs, namely "2083... E.D.I.", a self titled original, and, as featured here, "Speed Therapy". Sort of a prototype of Pillory's early sound, Jarrod hangs well with Robert on these instrumental jams, but the chemistry isn't quite there compared to with Bret, and the rough nature of the recordings doesn't help matters. Still, these are an interesting early look at Robert in action before he became a familiar presence!



Pillory - Shattered By War: In August 2012, Pillory launched to the public with 4 jam session videos on Robert's channel, including three early originals ("Onward To Death", "Fatal Woods", and "Shattered By War"), plus a cover of Megadeth's "Hangar 18". At this stage, Robert was joined by longtime drummer Bret Shuttleworth and former Bear Hunters guitarist Andres Duchesne, who suddenly passed away just four months later. While not an optimal look at Pillory's 2012-2014 run as a thrash outfit (partially due to the lack of a bassist at that time), these instrumental jams showcase the fast paced technicality that would come through so well in the live concerts ahead, and Andres is a solid presence! Studio versions of these songs from the next year's "Cringe at the Cross" EP can also be heard on this channel.



Putrid Pile - Blood Fetish (Guitar Cover): After previously posting nine thrash metal cover videos onto his YouTube channel from 2010-2012, Robert's uploads focused on Pillory until mid-2014, when he uploaded three covers of death metal bands, including Dying Fetus' "Your Treachery Will Die With You", and two Putrid Pile songs ("Food For The Maggots" and his most popular video, "Blood Fetish".) Though not labelled as such, these were likely intended to reflect on his then-death metal solo project Gorrifier, and they do foreshadow Pillory's transition to that sub-genre after their 2015 relaunch. The more brutal and technical renditions benefit from better recording quality, and the evolution of Robert's musical skill and proficiency is impressive when comparing these to his early uploads!


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! We're looking at multiple channels to end the summer with next month, as our first randomly selected channel only has one video, so we added a second channel with only two distinct videos to round things out. As such, the random choices coincidentally all focus on Kewadin Casino concerts, as we'll be looking at the YouTube channels of Jolene Barens (featuring a Theory of a Deadman video from last year) and Reckage35 (featuring videos from the Shinedown and Pop Evil shows here in 2013.) Look for these on or around August 26th, and stay tuned for this month's CD review next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Adelitas Way), New Local Band Videos, And More!!

Hey guys, I wanted to apologize for the lack of posts and updates this week. We seem to have hit a very quiet stretch for local metal/hard rock news, and while I've had some stuff to post, it wasn't enough to fill out a full post like usual. I did want to note before we get too deep into what I did compile today that two seemingly obvious topics won't have the updates you'd expect. One is for the Buckcherry/Fuel concert at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on Monday, as I've heard extremely little fallout from it. No local news coverage, no visible YouTube videos, nothing. You'd think there'd be some coverable items from it by now, but hopefully something will pop up! Also, if you were hoping for a Roosevelt Hotel metal night tonight, I don't believe there's one, even though this is next on the recent bi-weekly schedule. No Thursday nighters at The Rosie have taken place since July 5th (J.D. Pearce-booked gigs aside) or since recent promoter Stephane Vincent moved to Toronto as expected last month (best of luck to him!), so I'm unsure what's going on. Is the series on hiatus or dead? Is Mitch Sirie bringing it back at some point? I have no idea, but if I hear anything, I'll let you guys know!

That all said, we do have some stories today, including updates to one of our monthly feature series, new videos from a new local band, and leading things off, this notable LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this fall, so here's what you need to know!

As first announced on Monday morning on Rock 101, the next Allstar Promotions concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Kewadin Casino in Sault Michigan will go down on November 12th, and it does feature a couple hard rock bands! The headliners will be British Columbia post-grunge/alt-rock quartet Theory of a Deadman, who are bound to be well known for hits like "Bad Girlfriend", "Lowlife", and "Nothing Could Come Between Us", so they'll attract a sizeable crowd on their own in November! Though Theory of a Deadman aren't really heavy, the opening bands are definitely hard rock leaning, and they include Las Vegas hard rock quintet Adelitas Way, who are well known for mainstream rock hits like "Sick", "The Collapse", and the WWE Superstars theme "Invincible", and they have some nice energetic modern hard rock that should entertain the local audience! The concert will be opened by Baltimore hard rock quintet The Charm City Devils, who are slowly making a name on the national rock charts with songs like "Let's Rock & Roll" and their version of "A Man of Constant Sorrow", and they remind me of Shinedown at points, so I expect they'll make a solid first impression on November 12th! In fact, all three of these bands have never played locally before, which is notable in itself!

Tickets are just $28.50 for this ALL AGES show (which is a fairly good deal for this package of bands) and a 7:00 PM start time has been advertised. Seats are still available from the second row and back, so if you're interested, click here, hit the Kewadin box office in person, or call 1-800-KEWADIN! This should be an entertaining enough concert, and there's plenty of solid newer rock bands to entertain everyone in attendance! I find Theory of a Deadman to be too much of a "Nickelback-lite" group myself, but the other bands have some good material, and this show should find a good audience! Pick up your tickets A.S.A.P., and stay tuned for updates if they roll in!

We'll close this post with new videos, both relating to newly discovered local bands! In the last few days, I was alerted to this first band via YouTube postings, and they're a brand new thrash metal band from Sault Ontario named Pillory. Their lineup currently features guitarists Andres Duchesne (ex-Bear Hunters/Social Suicide) and Robert Sartini (more on him in a second) and drummer Bret Shuttleworth, and though they don't have an online page yet that I know of, they appear to be somewhat newer (but I've heard from Bret often that he's been starting or joining bands for a while now.) Robert uploaded videos of Pillory playing three original songs ("Shattered By War", "Fatal Woods", and "Onward To Death") to his YouTube channel last month, and I have to say, Pillory do show promise in these videos! We don't get a lot of straight thrash bands locally (mostly thrash/death hybrids if anything), and they have the thrash trademarks down with some fast heavy riffs and melodies, and if Pillory takes off and gets a bassist and singer, they could be a young band to watch! I've embedded the longest of these Pillory jam session videos below ("Shattered By War"), but definitely check the rest out at the above links!



And speaking of bands with Robert Sartini, this isn't the first band project he's tried to start locally. Though relatively a new sight on our coverage, he briefly led a band named Roadkill last summer alongside drummer Jarrod Sachro, and four jam session videos from their run were also uploaded to his YouTube channel! The videos include a self titled original, songs named "Speed Therapy" and "2083... E.D.I.", and a cover of Diamond Head's "Am I Evil?", so click each link to check them out! I don't know if Roadkill evolved into Pillory or were a separate band entirely, but these songs do show some thrash metal promise, though they are rougher & less complete, and the chemistry isn't as obvious. Interesting stuff though, so check out Roadkill's self titled song below, check the above links for more, and stay tuned for more from Robert's channel!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews (maybe?) and more soon! Thanks everyone!