Hey everyone, it's time at last to review Friday night's Soo Art Rocks concert at The Canadian Nightclub, so what should you know on this ambitious hybrid event? Good attendance overall, and though it tapered off a bit late, the bands wrapping up the night did get more of a crowd on the floor. Most of the performers had merchandise on sale (Bizotic even had some artwork to go along with the theme), and in terms of the art vendors, they were set up on the far wall of the venue near the soundboard, save for Chandra Barnett, who got the pool table there for her photography display. She, Brenton Ellis, Aaron Knight, and photographer Josh Pace had lots of material to display, and though prices were largely on request, pieces were definitely moving, and hopefully they got some great exposure regardless! And true to the pre-event teasers, a print of a Josh photo of A Dire Setback was indeed the door prize. This show also saw the debut of local YouTube personality Kyle Foster as the apparent permanent MC for Live705 events, so how did he do?
Good, but he did come across as a little nervous, often talking a little too fast between bands. Also, he only introduced bands and discussed the show immediately after sets, rather than setting up bands before they began playing. Things should get ironed out with time though! And lastly before reviewing the bands, local death metal duo Them dropped out of the show early on Friday due to "personal reasons", as per promoters Live705 on the Facebook event page. Hopefully nothing bad happened, Tyler & Anthony have been missed on public stages!
The night opened with a set by artists from the Soo York City hip hop collective, marking the first time that I've seen an S.Y.C. branded set like this rather than a solo artist from there. Shane "DJ Seith" Erickson was on hand to mix tunes and program backing tracks for the rappers, and the set started intriguingly with him walking us through his selections of vinyl records to mix together and asking for crowd input. It almost felt like the mix originated on Friday.... did it? There were three rappers from Soo York City on Friday, namely Kodex, Rick-E, and St. James, who each got solo showcases with scattered backing rhyme help, while the guys also collaborated on a couple of tracks too. The guys have rap skill, and though there were some nerves at times, I liked the informal nature as they helped Seith get their tracks ready. Fun opener that definitely appealed to rap lovers in attendance, and hopefully they keep at it!
Seith also DJed between bands in the latter half of the night, starting after Pointless' set, with his turntable set up beside the stage. This would definitely appeal to fans of his solo DJing, and those who hate dead air between bands, but he oddly didn't talk to the crowd or act as a hype man for the show proper (possibly because of Kyle hosting.) Still, if you like DJ Seith's vinyl mixes, you were thrown a bone!
Next was Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci (a.k.a. Pooch) with a solo acoustic set, and while I have seen Andrew live multiple times fronting punk bands, I wasn't overly familiar with his own solo work. Largely, his solo music is more in the realm of alternative/indie rock, as seen on songs like "Won't Find Me" and "Time Machine", but he did bring out "Nobody" (which was written for Stereo North before their hiatus began), and his closer "Lust Or Lost" was actually heavy in tone, and is asking for full band input. He did cover an out of left field song too, namely Drake's "Hotline Bling", and yes, Pooch's version does sound better! I understand that Andrew is aiming to form a full band to play his solo material, and he does have a solid base so far to draw on, with his voice suiting the songs, and his guitar work was melodic and pleasant throughout! I do miss his punk band work, but Andrew's doing good stuff on his own, and hopefully he keeps on the upward path!
Third was local funk/alternative hard rock quartet Bizotic, and if you saw them at Live705's March Mash-Up, then their set will have been very familiar, with a largely similar set list comprised of songs like "Record Light", "Subway Delay", and "Dirty Time Machine". That said, they were tighter sounding this time around, and you could hear Louise Lamothe's trumpet playing better, so that all worked fine! B.J. Swire continued to rock the keytar as well as you can rock that instrument, and Travis St. Amour was a reliable presence on drums, but honestly, Brad Griffith seemed a little less confident, bantering less between songs and not introducing many of them. Bizotic are carving a good niche for themselves though, with a sound that's hard to pin down, but hard rocking enough to appeal to many listeners, so hopefully we hear much more from them soon!
In the middle of the night, we had the live debut of Pointless, the new band from Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle, Pillory bassist Jordan Leach, and Ashes To Dust drummer David Peredun, so what do we know about them now? Well, genre descriptions of "drone/noise/psych" were bang on, though those specific sounds were more of the sole genre of their songs rather than internal hybrids, so their songs all sounded different. That said, if you were hoping for something sounding like Treble Charger, you'll be disappointed, but certain Pointless tracks shared elements of Bill's indie band The Priddle Concern from what I know of that group. The guys are all talented musicians, and seemed to play off of each other well, but Bill could have been more confident and vocal on stage, only rarely talking between songs, none of which being announced by name. The "dronier" songs may be an acquired taste, but Pointless immediately stand out among local bands, and it'll be curious to hear how they progress!
Fifth were Live705's flagship alternative punk quartet A Dire Setback, and they kept on their steady upward momentum with a high energy set full of increasingly familiar songs! Their seven song set included songs like "Wasting Away", "Kicking & Screaming", and their cover of "Counting Stars", while their new self-titled song returned as their encore. I've seen A Dire Setback a lot lately, and while there isn't a lot new to say compared to their Easter Bash set, they had a solid set that showcased their enthusiasm and high impact sound, with Chris Nielsen a firecracker as usual on guitar, Larry Babic more and more confident on lead vocals, and Nick Kainula kept the rhythm nicely on drums throughout himself! Very solid set for punk fans, and definitely keep an eye out for much more into the summer!
Co-headlining on Friday were alternative/hard rock trio The Din, who kicked things off for their set by debuting their new original song "Give Me A Reason", which got a solid reception! Also playing familiar songs like "Alleyways & Apartments" and "Suburban Dream", plus a surprise rendition of "Potato" for an encore, The Din continued with their lively, freewheeling brand of alternative originals with verve and good humour, and fans definitely ate up their set, partly thanks to frontman Mike Haggith's dalliances into the crowd later on. His vocals were on point, Tammy Hill laid down some solid guitar solos, and Brandan Glew's drumming was a fine compliment as usual, so fans had nothing to worry about musically! The Din gave it just fine on Friday night, and you know to expect more of the same in the coming months, so don't miss out!
And finally, your headliners on Friday night were fellow local alt-hard rock quartet Id Iota, who welcomed ex-RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski as a guest performer for their set! Honestly, his input on songs could have been more substantial, as he was often hard to hear when playing, but when I'm used to seeing him play with one guitarist, (not two and a bassist) that may be a given. With the benefit of a visible setlist, I can confirm that they played newer originals like "Cop Drama", "Deep Empty", and "Blind Spots" during their set, and the guys kept up their varied styles within, dipping into funk, ska, alternative, punk, and hard rock at varying times throughout. Christian Lemay's lead vocals were just fine, and Dustin Goodall shined on guitar himself! I'm not 100% positive, but it sounded like Christian said that this was drummer Blair St. John's last show with Id Iota before moving to Ottawa. If true and I wasn't hearing things, best of luck, he'll be missed!
Id Iota delivered a fun set, so hopefully they're not off the stage for too long, and keep an eye out for more on their first full length CD! Overall, Soo Art Rocks was a very solid night of musical action for many tastes (not to mention some nice art on display), and everyone performed nicely for the occasion! Without rehashing certain events from the Easter Bash, there were no prolonged delays on Friday, so don't worry about that aspect. You can check out our photos at this link or via our Facebook page, and I did film all 7 musical acts, so what do we have? Below, you can check out a montage of the Soo York City collective's set (about 1 minute of each MC), Andrew Pucci playing "She Died First", Bizotic playing "Psychic Vampire", Pointless playing an original song (can you help name it?), A Dire Setback playing "Catastrophe", The Din playing their newest "Give Me A Reason", and Id Iota playing "Long D", though that title may be incomplete!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for our Alter Bridge preview and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
Here's another news post for your Friday, half devoted to updates from two bands with preview videos for their show TONIGHT, but to lead off, we have an intriguing LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this summer that, while having some unanswered questions, looks like a very interesting event, so here's what you should know!
Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck made their Reggie's Place debut last night, and will be back there TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Profuse apologies for the short notice (and for missing last night's show), we only heard about this triple booking via guitarist Terry Eaton's personal Facebook page last night, too late to rush a post on here. It appears that Soundcheck are picking up where their pre-merger predecessors Mourning Wood left off by not publically promoting Reggie's Place shows when booked there, but it will be nice for fans of that band to see Terry & Steven back at the downtown country-leaning venue TONIGHT & TOMORROW, plus last night if you knew! This would seem to imply that Soundcheck have adopted some country material post-merger, but their page still points to 1980s rock-centric sets (also, no word on if new bassist Paul Belair will miss these shows, as he often did with Mourning Wood.)
Also, the Sault Music Newsletter Facebook page lists these shows as belonging to The Jukebox Junkies, a short lived country rock sister band featuring Terry and ex-bandmates Robin Lee & Glen Thomas that played at Reggie's in February. With Robin & Glen's departures, it appears that Soundcheck took on future Jukebox Junkies gigs. In any event, TONIGHT & TOMORROW'S Soundcheck shows (and last night's) appear to be 10:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no announced cover. See above for more details, hopefully videos turn up soon, and apologies again, we'd have plugged these shows in advance had we known about them!
Next up, here's a pair of preview videos for TONIGHT'S Soo Art Rocks! concert at The Canadian Nightclub (also from Live705), and though they're not the advertised headliners, we'll actually start with local alternative/hard rock trio The Din, as they have an attached bit of news: They'll be among the openers for the Rock The Border Music Fest at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion on Sunday, June 18th! Promoters quietly confirmed their involvement on the Facebook event page in the past week, while also noting one more opening act, namely a duo act from Sudbury musicians Thea May and Kyle Robert Gagnon. Thea & Kyle have clear talent & strong indie material, even if they're definitely a genre jump from the night's other bands, so check them out above to see what they have in store for the Soo! One more band is to be announced, we'll let you know when they are confirmed. Things are shaping up for the Rock The Border Fest, so stay tuned for continued updates, and buy your tickets A.S.A.P. above!
As for the preview video for tonight's concert, this was uploaded to The Din's Facebook page yesterday, and it features drummer Brandan Glew in action (complete with tickets bouncing around on the drum head), before plugging the show, and as Mike Haggith learns from off camera, don't correct Brandan! Short but effective promotion, so give this video a look below!
Also, here's the preview video from headlining alt-hard rock quartet Id Iota's Facebook page on Tuesday, which confirms some details on tonight's set. In the clip, guitarist Dustin Goodall calls his bandmates and former RedD Monkey cellist Pete Mozarowski (who will return as a guest performer tonight) to assemble for the concert, and without giving anything away, let's just say he doesn't set up the conference call at an opportune time. Funny clip, and Dustin could be a monster truck commercial announcer if he talked quicker! A short clip from Id Iota's set (with Pete) at The New A last month is at the video's end, no word on if full footage will make it online. The description notes that this will be Id Iota's last concert "for a few months", presumably tied into recording sessions for their debut album, so given that (and Pete's presence), there's all the more reason to stick around for Id Iota's headlining set tonight at The Canadian! Check it out below!
Finally for today, here's a new jam session clip from one more band playing at Soo Art Rocks!, namely Live705's flagship punk quartet A Dire Setback! Posted to their Facebook page on April 26th (so not directly a teaser for this concert), this features the guys rocking out in a jam space that will be familiar to fans of drummer Nick Kainula's old bands State of Misery and Unbound, though only guitarist Chris Nielsen is captured playing on camera. This is more of a "song in progress" clip than anything, but you don't see something like this very often on public view, so check it out below, and look for the full song tomorrow?
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and concert previews in the coming days! Thanks everyone!
Another weekend of concert previews is upon us at the SMS, so let's cover all of that today, starting with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, one SHORT NOTICE, the others coming next month!
Local classic/hard rock cover quartet The 3 Day Millionaires will return to The Rockstar Bar for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the show was only announced via the venue's official Facebook event page on Sunday. Fresh off of their successful set at last week's Rock 4 Autism fundraiser, this will be their first stop at The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs bar in three weeks, and they should kick things up with their fan favourite covers once again, so keep their return in mind for TOMORROW! Note that this is a one nighter (as recently usual for The Millionaires) due to Saturday night's Obsession concert. You can take in The 3 Day Millionaires TOMORROW at around 10:30 PM, there is no announced cover charge, and you must be 19 or older to attend. For more details, check the above links, and for a preview, here's a new video to check out of The Millionaires!
Filmed by attendee Jessie Dawn at the aforementioned Rock 4 Autism event at The Canadian Nightclub and shared to the band's Facebook page on Sunday, this is of a much newer cover than you may expect, with the guys covering Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire" in this 49 second clip. I'm not a fan of the original song, but The Millionaires handle it well and with enthusiasm, and it's a shame that the whole song wasn't filmed, as the quality and angle are both pretty good! Give it a look below, and see much more TOMORROW NIGHT at The Rockstar Bar!
Next up, here's a couple more new show announcements for next month, as Marquette, Michigan hard rock quartet Spun will return to The Satisfied Frog in Sault Michigan for concerts on Friday, June 2nd & Saturday, June 3rd! After a successful Soo debut last week, the Nudge successors have already booked a return weekend at The Frog for less than a month later, which is a good sign that fans welcomed Spun just as if Nudge never left! Their hard rocking covers should provide a solid kick-off to the summer months, so keep these shows in mind for three weeks from now! Like last week, these Spun shows are 21+ affairs with no announced cover charges and likely 9:00 PM start times. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for potential updates if they roll in!
Now let's tackle previously announced hard rock concerts for this weekend, as TOMORROW NIGHT is Live705's ambitious Soo Art Rocks! event at The Canadian Nightclub! Returning to The Canadian for the first time since their March Mash-Up, this concert will marry the promoters usual concert wheelhouse with live exhibitions by local artists and photographers, who will be on hand showcasing and selling their wares, and it will be very interesting to see how this angle is received tomorrow! The music lineup is Live705's largest yet, and includes a number of local bands playing one of their events for the first time, so who all is playing? In listed order, you'll see alternative/hard rock standouts Id Iota & The Din, Live705's own punk mainstays A Dire Setback, debuting "drone/noise/psych" trio Pointless, newer alt-quartet Bizotic, death metal duo Them (in their first public concert set in over a year), Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci's acoustic solo project, and unidentified performers from the Soo York City rap collective, likely including DJ Seith mixing the backing music.
Exhibiting artists will include former Lion Ride bassist Brenton Ellis, Aaron Knight, and photographers Josh Pace & Chandra Barnett, who have each done great concert shoots in the past. There's a little something for everyone, so don't miss out on all of this action! Admission is $10 (unless you have one of those $2 off vouchers attained from performers), this is a 19+ concert, a Josh Pace print is heavily implied to be a door prize, and the show will fittingly start at 7:05 PM. Soo Art Rocks! sounds like a great concert with a very unique pull that will be very interesting to see in action tomorrow, so check the Facebook event page for more details, and here's Id Iota live!
Finally for today, you can check out former Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison as his long term arrangement at Gliss Steak & Seafood marches on for two more matinee shows TOMORROW & SATURDAY! This prolific veteran singer/guitarist continues to bring entertaining hard rock covers to the local stage each week, and this next set of shows should be no different, so if you're up for some supper-time acoustic hard rock favourites at this downtown restaurant, don't miss out on either night's action! Note that the Sault Music News Letter Facebook page advertises a Tym Morrison show tomorrow night at The Barrelhouse as well, much like his show there last week, but Tym has not publically acknowledged this apparent gig, so we won't call it here unless Tym or the venue does. At Gliss, expect 6:00 PM start times, no announced cover charges, and no age limits, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post tomorrow, including extra Soo Art Rocks previews! Thanks everyone!
Here's a surprise second post for your Thursday, as one of the stories relates to a private event going down tonight! Today, we have a new video and promotion for an upcoming show, an apparently impending EP release (finally), and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for an ambitious concert in two weeks time, so here's what you need to know, and check out this weekend's concert previews in the post below this one!
Live705's next promoted concert goes down at The Canadian Nightclub on Friday, May 12th, as they host "Soo Art Rocks", a hybrid concert event and local art exhibition! If you were wondering what the teased "interesting twist" was, now you know! Returning to their most frequent venue after this month's Rockstar Bar trip, Live705 have enlisted their biggest music lineup yet, and it includes local alternative/hard rock quartet Id Iota (in their Live705 debut), fellow alt-rock standouts The Din (more on them in a second), Live705's own punk quartet A Dire Setback, newer alternative quartet Bizotic, death metal/punk duo Them (in their first public concert appearance in over a year), Stereo North frontman Andrew Pucci's current acoustic solo project (which finally has a Facebook page), and unidentified performers from the Soo York City rap collective, which has boasted familiar faces like Conika and DJ Seith in the past. As for the art side of things, what should you know?
Credited artists will include photographers Josh Pace (of recent A.D.S. events) and Chandra Barnett (who snapped pictures like this at the Fishbowl Festival's garage show), plus art from Aaron Knight and Lion Ride/Detroit alum Brenton Ellis, who will all be displaying and, in some cases, selling their wares on May 12th. Very intriguing, it will be interesting to see if the art angle is a hit! There will be a door prize as well, strongly hinted to be a print of one of Josh's concert photos. A 19+ show with doors opening at the conveniently specific time of 7:05 PM (get it?), this show is the third straight from Live705 to have a straight ticket & admission price ($10) with obtainable $2 off vouchers instead of $8 advance tickets, so this must be a working formula for the promoters if they've stuck with this experiment this long. If you're so inclined, you can get your vouchers from performers, and tickets are on sale at The Canadian Motor Hotel's front desk. For more details on Soo Art Rocks, visit the official Facebook event page!
From the art show angle to the wide ranging genre lineup to the continued voucher usage, Live705 aren't afraid to try new things and push boundaries with their events, so whether you're in it for the music or the art, there's a little something for everyone! Check the above links for much more on Soo Art Rocks, and stay tuned for updates if they come in!
Next up, it appears to be happening at last: The Apocalypse Afterparty's debut EP "Bufflesnort" will finally have it's initial soft release TONIGHT at a private concert at Mellow D's Underground! Their sister band The Noochin' Lanterns will reportedly have copies for sale at this show, which will have an open mic block too, and while there's no other confirmation of performers, I don't think The A.A. proper are on the band lineup. As per their Facebook page on Sunday, The Apocalypse Afterparty will have "Bufflesnort" available on USB thumb drives and a to be announced "variety of other media" (CDs not among them), with plans to unveil vendors tomorrow where you can buy your own copies. If things line up as planned, then it's great to finally see "Bufflesnort" released, as the EP has been teased to come out for months now, and has been in the works in varying forms for well over 2 years. Assuming it does come out as scheduled, look for our review of "Bufflesnort" this weekend, and inquire above if you want to check out the action at Mellow D's tonight!
Finally, here's some updates from the aforementioned Din, and yes, we will touch on their recent full concert video in the coming days as well! Today's updates all relate to their set at next week's second annual Sky's The Limit mental health fundraiser concert at The Tech, starting with a pair of new lineup confirmations, both returnees from last year who successfully auditioned again last week. One is Electric Church, the rising young blues/hard rock trio who first came onto our radar at last year's event (stay tuned soon for a new video of theirs as well), and Christian rapper Tristan "Bold Noize" Goslow, who performed as White Noize last year. Great to see both back for year #2 and the causes it supports! No word yet on the other performers, but remember that promoters never publically unveiled a performer lineup last year. As for The Din, they posted this new video onto their Facebook page on Tuesday, so what should you know on it? The video features The Din hyping the show and what you should know as attendees, before realizing that Tristan is also there unannounced. The video ends with a parody "endorsement" from a public figure, and while I won't turn the site political over it, I'll say that it's funny, though not a perfect impersonation. Give it a look below, see above for info on how to attend The Sky's The Limit II at The Tech, and stay tuned for that full Din concert video!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and this month's CD review soon! Thanks everyone!
Today's post is very much focused on recent postings and launches from one major local company, but all of it is of note for local rock fans, including the contents of the newest episode of Tuned and the formal launch of a new online radio network, so here's what you need to know!
SooToday parent company Village Media officially launched all 5 feeds of their new internet radio network VM Radio on Thursday! After a successful pilot launch earlier this week, the full website and player are up along with each station's full current rotation, with the launch and related notes outlined in this SooToday news release. Joining the existing website player, there are now Apple iOS and Android/Google Play applications to stream the stations with, while all 5 are now among the internet radio stations listed on iTunes' own internet radio service and through the Apple TV digital media player. There are also widgets on both SooToday and Local2's home pages that list what's playing on all 5 feeds at the time of page visit (from my experience, they don't refresh unless you refresh the whole page), but it's great for extra convenience to listen! VM Radio also announced that they're now the exclusive music provider for the Mill Market and the Soo's Downtown Association, among future establishments to be announced.
VM Radio has also indicated that they want to expand into additional Northern Ontario markets with "increased
specialty programming & content", though they didn't elaborate on
that or potential on-air shows and genre blocks. They are definitely
still looking for local CDs and music to add to the rotation on their
five stations (VM Rocks for rock subgenres, VM Bounce for pop & rap, VM Indie for indie/alternative, VM Roots for roots/blues, and VM Y'All for country), so if you're interested in helping the cause, message the stations at radio@villagemedia.ca A.S.A.P.! In terms of my experience listening to the stations, I do like the full final look to the player and website, with all I'd change being maybe putting album covers up, or listing what's next to play on each station. Just since I started this post, I've heard a wide array on VM Rocks including Woods of Ypres, The Drive By Truckers, Green Day, The Police, and Led Zeppelin, and like in the pilot launch, you have a lot of Canadian content to take in, with few ads!
The online player works fine for me with no hang-ups that it started, but if you're hoping for a review of the mobile applications, I can't help you yet. The Android application isn't compatible with my tablet, and every time I tried to open VM Radio with my iPod Touch, it crashed (but to be fair, it's 5 years old now, so my iPod might be too old in general.) The above SooToday press release did note that "more listening options" will follow, so if the stations turn up on TuneIn Radio or something similar, then I can comment on the mobile experience! So far, I do give VM Radio (and VM Rocks in particular) a solid thumbs up, and it's nice to have the extra diversity in the local radio market! I will note that there was some online comment concerning both Energy Rock Radio and Mike Cliffe's Audiofumes preceding VM Radio in this area for Sault Ontario online radio, and while I like both a lot, E.R.R. moved to British Columbia in 2011, and Audiofumes is a podcast rather than a 24/7 radio station.
Be sure to listen to VM Radio's five online stations at the above links or through your Apple and Android devices, like VM Radio on Facebook, and when we have updates concerning the stations, their programming, or future availability, we'll let you know!
We'll close today's post with one more Village Media note, as the newest episode of Local2's music video profile web-series Tuned With Donna Hopper went online on Tuesday, and at last, this is the episode featuring last month's Rad Zone 30th anniversary concert featuring The Ripcordz at The Rockstar Bar! I wonder what took so long to get this episode online? The 18 minute+ episode features Donna's introductory segments hosted in The Rad Zone (naturally), while the concert footage begins with 4 minutes of video from The Ripcordz' set (including Jack Spades' J.D. Pearce joining in on "X"), before transitioning to interview clips with Ripcordz frontman Paul Gott and Rad Zone owner Paul "Monk" Muncaster. When interviewing Paul Gott, he talks about his views on being a "rockstar", how he got into punk music, what should change in the industry to help rising punk bands, and where to find new Ripcordz CDs, while the interview with Monk includes his surprising music past, and the impact of vinyl records and his connections with the music & this format.
Later elaborating on how The Rad Zone has grown in the past 30 years, his planned retirement in 10 years, the continued impact he gets from people who discover new music at the store, and his advice for vinyl collectors, Monk's interview is very nice, and you can tell how much he loves the music and what's he able to do and provide for our area (and Paul Gott's interview is also an informative listen!) After a brief concert calendar segment, the episode concludes with some more nicely shot video footage from last month's Gob concert at the same venue, and bloopers during the credits, though there's no footage of the opening bands at either show. Still, this is a great and extensive episode of Tuned with lots of quality concert & interview footage, so give it a look at this link! Remember, Local2's video host doesn't allow external embedding. That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes over the coming week! Thanks everyone!
With a new week in full swing, there's news and notes to touch on now that we're fully out of the Halloween weekend, and hopefully everyone had a fun time seeing The Brains last night! Today, we have plenty of assorted recent updates, and first, your first chance to sample a new network of regional radio stations, so here's what you need to know!
SooToday parent company Village Media's new digital radio network VM Radio is now in it's pre-launch pilot phase, so we can now check out samples of each! Though originally planned for a September debut with 3 stations, it's better late than never, especially as there's actually 5 feeds, so what's available to check out? SMS readers will likely be most interested in VM Rocks, whose description says will feature modern rock, alternative, metal, and classic rock, citing bands like Gob, Seether, The Black Keys, and locals Garden of Bedlam & Jack Spades among it's playlist, so click above to hear the current stream! The other four stations include the previously announced VM Roots (for folk, roots, and blues rock), and in lieu of the originally hyped "Mix" station, VM Bounce (for hip-hop, dance, and club music), VM Indie (for indie, pop, and electronic music), and VM Y'All (for country music.) All streams are available to check out right now with less commercials than on terrestrial radio, but a full launch involving news and weather broadcasts is expected for later this week.
The idea of a full new network of local internet radio stations is a sound one, especially as Sault Ontario only has Country 104 and Kiss 105 for locally produced FM stations (and even with Sault Michigan stations, there aren't any FM indie or roots stations here.) Also, with Energy Rock Radio moving out west a few years ago, it's nice to have a full local internet radio presence based out of here again! For my own experience checking out the pilot streams of the stations, I've had no problems with the audio quality or speed of the playback, though the player's own page is very plain looking. For potential listeners of VM Rocks, today's rotation included artists like Big Wreck, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Steely Dan, Crash Karma, and ZZ Top, so it will cover a wide gamut of rock genres, with lots of Canadian content! That said, plans for potential programs or genre blocks with live DJs haven't been publicized yet, so I can't say with certainty if metal or punk fans will get a dedicated show on VM Rocks, but it'd be cool to see!
I'm very curious to see where VM Radio (and VM Rocks) go from here, including on if there will be other ways you can listen (i.e. through TuneIn Radio), so stay tuned for more updates on the full launch as they are made, be sure to check out all of the stations at the above links, and VM Rocks is now in our Sault Ontario internet radio/podcast links!
Finally for today, here's _ shorter assorted recent news items from the last few days, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, website, or company name:
Local concert promoters Oh! Right Arm! Promotions have launched a sister promotional company named GFC Promotions that will specialize in shows outside of Sault Ste. Marie, specifically in Garden River like next August's Das Bunkerfest II, related private house parties, and perhaps future attempts at Echo Bay concerts? No word what "GFC" stands for, but like them above, and GFC Promotions are now in our "Other Local Metal Links"!
In his latest local band search posting on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on October 30th, local bassist Jordan Leach is now looking for a singer, guitarist(s), and drummer for a horror punk band he's launching, though "other interesting instruments" are also welcome. The band would mostly play originals with some covers. With Frigtlight's demise, there is a horror punk void now, so hopefully this takes off, and message Jordan at this link or above for more details!
On his solo Facebook page on October 15th, Haggith drummer Mike Haggith revealed the tentative setlist for his upcoming 49th studio album "The Warinside", and while most of the 10 songs are new, the CD will apparently include a re-recording of his 2009 song "Lay My Body Down To Rest" (which Mike and The Din have played live recently.) Intriguing titles, so stay tuned for updates on this and his other upcoming solo plans!
Though not a formal review of the show, a new SooToday article from Donna Hopper on Halloween costumes and parties in the Soo from this past Friday does feature photos of Frightlight's headlining set at The Algonquin Pub during frontman Johnny Pints' annual Halloween party (in colour too!), and they're excellent as usual, so click here to see them and all of the great costumes from Halloween 2014 at four different downtown bars!
In the first finite info regarding this year's third annual Toystock fundraiser concert, promoters Maxx Entertainment revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that the event is still slated for Sunday, November 30th at The Canadian Nightclub, will feature 10 live bands once again for a roughly 10 hour duration, admission will be via a toy or food donation (money is accepted too), while the band lineup will be revealed shortly. Great to see Toystock back once again, and stay tuned for confirmation of this year's bands!
Sault Band-O-Rama promoters, Mourning Wood bandmates, and local metal band alums Terry Eaton & Steven Flint have launched a new live event sound company named Twin City Sound that are available to book for various types of events, presumably including concerts (like Sault Band-O-Rama at the Primavera Hall on November 21st.) Though the "Twin City" name implies that they'll cover Sault Michigan too, nothing is explicitly stated regarding cross-border bookings. This should be interesting, and Twin City Sound are now in our "Other" links section!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates as November rolls along! Thanks everyone!
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!
Today's news post should be interesting, because all of the stories today relate to stuff from the past we've either missed or hoped to find! So today, we have some link updates, the discovery of pages (finally) for a local concert venue, a defunct local band's page, and this week's classic video, but first, here's some big news from Sense of Truth!
We're now 11 months removed from Sense of Truth's most recent local concert, and through that time, the rumours of their debut EP's eventual release have been ongoing. We know that there's been holdups due to band member work commitments, the issues related to the album artwork, and now, their guitarist search, and over that span, the most we've publically heard are some scattered radio airplay and the samples on their MySpace page. With that said, I was browsing the newly redesigned website of Stereo Soul Studios, where they recorded their EP with Miguel Gauthier in February before he moved to Los Angeles. Since the last time I've been there, I found some interesting stuff on the recording studio page: Two full songs from the EP and it's apparent artwork! The songs posted are "Push & Pull" (a current preview track on MySpace) and one new track unavailable on other pages, "Vicious Cycle"! Nice to see that on the EP, I was thinking it'd make the cut! This reminds me of when Woods of Ypres' "Our Union (In Limbo)" was posted by Miguel in 2009 before the band acknowledged it. I won't give detailed thoughts on either "Push & Pull" or "Vicious Cycle" yet, as I am waiting to review the full EP, but they're solid tracks, click here to listen! (third band down.)
Oh, and the artwork? Kinda plain, but it works well! As you can see by the picture, it's likely a self-titled release, and I still love their ambigram wordmark! Odd that this type of album cover could be so problematic, but really, I don't know much concerning album packaging. Nice stuff though, I'll keep you all posted!
Next up, here's a new band to add to the SMS listings! Well, not really "new", they broke up in 2009, but the page was only just added. Do you guys remember Operation: Killdozer? They were the local metal group from the spring of 2009 that featured notable local musicians like former Fitswitch bassist Jason Bourcier on vocals, WinkStinger drummer Jonas Gasperas, and Bear Hunters bassist Justin Lam, among others. I believe they only played two shows, the YMCA Battle of the Bands and at that year's SNFU concert, both taking place at The Grand Theater. I enjoyed them, but they didn't last too long, and for almost two years, I had no page for them.... until now! They in fact did have a Facebook group, which Jonas started, but the thing that threw me off was the self-deprecating tone of it, that featured fans and band members alike trashing Operation: Killdozer on levels that made the group look like it was anti-band. Well, it's in fact Operation: Killdozer's page, and it has some photos, amusing statements, and not a whole lot else. Still, there's enough to include them on the SMS, so click here to check out their Facebook group! If you wanna hear them, click here to check out a video of the band playing a song named "Pieces Of You"! Quality aside, it wasn't a bad performance!
Thirdly, here's some notes on a popular Sault Michigan bar/concert spot. Since we started covering Sault Michigan bands and shows in the summer of 2007, The Bird on East Portage Avenue have been a recurring sight when discussing local shows. However, we've never had an internet page for them... until now! As it turns out, they've had a MySpace page since at least April 2009, but it's not in use anymore. That's not all though, as they have no less than two Facebook pages! This one is a standard "fan page", while you can check out their page formatted like a normal Facebook account by clicking here. The latter page has been around since December, while the fan page was launched in February. What do they tell us about The Bird? Well, for one, that's not even technically it's name. Their official name is Golanka's Bar, a reference to the owner, but nowhere do people seem to call it that officially, as The Bird seems to be the casual use name for the bar (a'la The Rosie & The Frog.) Neither page has much in the way of concert news, though a past Splitshot concert weekend had a connected event page for it. Still, check the above links for photos, drink special news, and more! If anything metal concert-related pops up on a Bird page, I'll let you all know!
Now, here's some assorted updates to some of the links in our "Other Local Metal Links" section, where we store metal-relevant links that don't fit in other categories on the site. Firstly, I switched links for the defunct Northern Ontario music publication Northern Rocks Magazine, as their website has now expired, presumably due to a failure to renew the domain name. Shame, it was a good site, and the back issues were fun reads! I replaced it with their inactive Facebook group, so we didn't have to remove it! I did have to delete the MySpace page for Woods of Ypres' defunct independent label Krankenhaus Records, as it has no relevant information anymore, and the new MySpace layout crippled it's theme. Odd that there's no page for it's successor Practical Art Records yet, I'll let you know if I find one! Also, I deleted the link for SooNews.ca, which is now completely dead with all old archive news also shut down. I replaced it with it's successor site, LOCAL2, which is bound to have metal news eventually! Two more pages were deleted, those being the inactive local music forum The 705 Music Scene (which had all of it's threads taken down in lieu of it's replacement, the 705 Video Magazine) and the defunct concert venue Arcadia Coffeehouse, whose website was made private, so we can't view it anymore without an invite. For more, check the above links!
And finally, here's this week's classic video! I actually had two reasons for picking this one: A. The band in question is playing this weekend, and B. This video is being deleted from it's original site on April 29th. What do I mean? Well, Google recently announced that they're planning to delete all of the videos hosted on their old Google Video service, which basically became obsolete when they purchased YouTube. As such, this would cause the permanent deletion of all videos originally uploaded onto Google Video, unless you transfer them to YouTube or physically download them and re-post them elsewhere. I contemplated doing a miniseries of local metal-relevant videos from there on the SMS, but aside from the Gates of Winter videos that are now completely on YouTube, there's little there that would fit on the SMS. However, I did find one classic video on there, and it's a live video of As It Stands from before their initial breakup! This is of the band playing an original song (name unknown) at what I believe is the March 31st, 2007 Oddfellows Hall show where they opened for Dead & Divine the first time around! The band's current lineup is intact here, and the band sound good, but the audio's fairly scratchy. Despite the quality, you can tell their sound's really evolved since then, but it's still a good performance!
Uploaded by an uncredited Google Video user in April 2007, this video can be viewed through April 29th at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3172072824223605483, when it (and all other Google Video uploads) will be deleted. So I ripped it from there to post on the SMS' YouTube channel, and NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED! This video would be gone from the internet next week if I didn't grab it anyway, so give it a look below, and make sure to check out the much improved As It Stands TONIGHT at The Rosie!
That's all for today, but I will see you guys at The Rosie TONIGHT! Thanks everyone!
In the middle of the night, we had the live debut of Pointless, the new band from Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle, Pillory bassist Jordan Leach, and Ashes To Dust drummer David Peredun, so what do we know about them now? Well, genre descriptions of "drone/noise/psych" were bang on, though those specific sounds were more of the sole genre of their songs rather than internal hybrids, so their songs all sounded different. That said, if you were hoping for something sounding like Treble Charger, you'll be disappointed, but certain Pointless tracks shared elements of Bill's indie band The Priddle Concern from what I know of that group. The guys are all talented musicians, and seemed to play off of each other well, but Bill could have been more confident and vocal on stage, only rarely talking between songs, none of which being announced by name. The "dronier" songs may be an acquired taste, but Pointless immediately stand out among local bands, and it'll be curious to hear how they progress!
Co-headlining on Friday were alternative/hard rock trio The Din, who kicked things off for their set by debuting their new original song "Give Me A Reason", which got a solid reception! Also playing familiar songs like "Alleyways & Apartments" and "Suburban Dream", plus a surprise rendition of "Potato" for an encore, The Din continued with their lively, freewheeling brand of alternative originals with verve and good humour, and fans definitely ate up their set, partly thanks to frontman Mike Haggith's dalliances into the crowd later on. His vocals were on point, Tammy Hill laid down some solid guitar solos, and Brandan Glew's drumming was a fine compliment as usual, so fans had nothing to worry about musically! The Din gave it just fine on Friday night, and you know to expect more of the same in the coming months, so don't miss out! 
