Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Hoist The Sails & The 12 Gauge Ready

After a day's delay to verify lineup information for one band in particular, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! Our monthly look at 1 or 2 randomly selected inactive local metal, hard rock, or punk bands takes us across both sides of the border today, uniquely and ironically both being bands whose main lineup each had six members in it! As the first band didn't have substantial information, we randomly selected the second band (similarly lacking for surviving details) to fill things out. With that said, read on below for this month's Defunt Local Band Profiles!
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Hoist the Sails

Genre: Metalcore/Progressive

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

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

Lucas Falkowski, harsh vocals
Travis Theel (The Highest of Fives), clean vocals
Nathan Switzer (Highway 63, Analog Defiency) guitar
Cody Reed (Analog Deficiency, The Eleventh Hour), guitar
Mitch Goetz (415E, The Highest of Fives), bass/guitar/clean vocals
Marcel Grengs (The Highest of Fives, Analog Deficiency), drums
Joe Niemi (Analog Deficiency), bass

Info/Analysis: Successors to the defunct Analog Defiency, the six-piece Hoist the Sails publically debuted in December 2011, and are one of the more recent visible attempts at an extreme metal band in Sault Michigan. Public activity was limited to studio work towards an unreleased debut EP, two preview videos of songs being tracked (here & here), this clip of Travis Theel jokingly recording vocals, and the departure of founding bassist Joe Niemi, resulting in Mitch Goetz moving to guitar & Cody Reed joining in his place. Only one song from the sessions ("Mind Over Matter") was officially unveiled in February 2012, and band activity slowed down after that April, with Travis, Mitch, and Marcel Grengs later joining forces in The Highest of Fives. Though Hoist the Sails never played live, they showed promise with their technical hardcore sound, powered with strong guitar work by Nathan and complimentary vocals by Luke & Travis, and it would have been very interesting to see where Hoist the Sails could have went! Give one of their tracking videos a look below!

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The 12 Gauge Ready

Genre: Ska Punk

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

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

Adam Hayward, vocals
Lucas "Dr. Sal Velinus" Schmiedendorf (Bankshot), guitar/vocals
Dave "Beano" Barrett, bass
Clint "Clinto" Wilson (Late Shift, Bankshot), drums/keyboard
Scotty "Lamar" Hill, keyboard/drums
"DJ Frosty" Jesef Monty Frost, turntables
Michael Wright, drums
David George, saxophone

Info/Analysis: Active from 2002-2006, The 12 Gauge Ready are arguably the biggest local ska punk band to come out of Sault Ste. Marie, and were a frequent, fan favourite sight at local concerts during the mid-2000s. Though information on their run is now minimal (to the point where surviving band pages don't even feature a band photo), they played many high profile headlining & opening sets at venues like Foggy Notions (opening for the likes of The Planet Smashers there), plus an appearance at Hempfest 2003, though the band broke up by the end of 2006. Their run in the local scene was largely before I became a concert regular, but I have heard many good things about The 12 Gauge Ready's live show, and their posted songs (5 across their CBC & PureVolume pages) showcase a fun, reggae-infused punk sound with catchy guitar work from Lucas & nice melodic vocals from Adam, so be sure to check out their material above & their track "Made In Canada" below!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! We will return to Sault Ontario for next month's random selection, and that is Punch, the recent but short lived hard rock quartet featuring members of Project 421 and The Suicide Kings! They'll have enough for a solo profile, especially thanks to the songs that Haggith and Project 421 later re-appropriated as their own after the fact, so look for that profile on or around August 10th, and stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Powerslug), New Videos, And More Assorted Updates!!

While we wait for fallout from the April Wine concert to trickle in, let's cover some recent stories in this evening's news post! Today, we have new archive videos from the band we profiled in this morning's Defunct Local Band Profile (in the post below this one), a new video from a newer Sault Michigan band, and more assorted stories, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Sault Michigan hard rock trio Powerslug will return to The Cozy Corners Tavern & Grill in Barbeau this coming Saturday! Normally, I'd only hear about this short notice due to the band's continuing lack of an online page to promote concerts in advance, but thanks to The Cozy Corners' Facebook page recently starting to put up Facebook event pages for their live bands, we know about this one! Fresh off a road trip to the Kewadin Casino in Manistique yesterday, look for Powerslug to tear up the stage on Saturday in this visibly one night only gig with plenty of hard rocking covers, as is usually the case! There's no announced cover charge, a 9:00 PM start time is advertised, and you must be 21 to attend. For more details, visit the above links! While I still wish Powerslug would launch a larger online presence, their talent and frequent local appearances bode well for this weekend, so take the drive down to Barbeau (40 minutes from the Soo, an hour from St. Ignace) on Saturday to chug your mug with Powerslug!

Next up, here's a new video relating to newer Sault Michigan hardcore band The Eleventh Hour! Clean singer Cathy Burgos uploaded this video onto her YouTube channel in November of her playing a short piano composition named "That's Not the Wind Howling, It's the Wolves", which is apparently for an Eleventh Hour original song. Just 80 seconds long, it's nicely done, yet reserved, and it would add well to one of their tracks, even if she was a bit nervous when filming this! Also of note, this video is the first real confirmation that The Eleventh Hour will include keyed instruments in their material, while it also indicates that Cathy hasn't fully left the band (despite her removal from their Facebook page's lineup and her current residence in Indiana), so we'll have to see where this all goes! Check out Cathy's new video below, and keep an eye out for Eleventh Hour updates as the new year rolls on!



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

• Local death metal quartet Crimson Crusade's recording sessions are actually being done at the Smoke & Oak Room Studio with producer Dave Pihlaja, similarly to Late & Loud's recording sessions towards their EP. The band hasn't formally confirmed this, but the studio's Facebook page has mentioned Crimson Crusade a bit this past weekend. This is bigger than I was expecting, and I can't wait to hear what the guys have in store from this!
• Sault Michigan hardcore band Hoist The Sails quietly broke up late last year. A reason wasn't announced, but the news was confirmed in a comment reply on their Facebook page on December 13th, where they said that they're "not a band anymore." Featuring Analog Deficiency & Highest of Fives alumni, Hoist The Sails had promise early last year with some well recorded demo material, but best of luck to Travis, Luke, Mitch, Nathan, Cody, Joe, and Marcel in the future, and hopefully the guys all stay active in music!
• I can now confirm the full lineup of new Sault Michigan band Toast, as veteran local singer & drummer Bob Helsten is on drums with this band too, reuniting him with former Clownsack/Chord On Bluz bandmate Tony Rogers. The jury's still out on if they're essentially a successor to Swayze Train, or if they take a heavier or lighter slant from that band, but if I hear anything, I'll let you guys know! My source is recent personal Facebook photos from Bob's Powerslug bandmate Chris Leask.

Finally for today, I wanted to share a couple of new archive videos that I recently uploaded to our YouTube channel! As you may remember, we profiled late 2000s Sault Ontario grunge trio No Arrow in this morning's Defunct Local Band Profile, and I like I often do in this series, I wanted to post some new media of theirs on YouTube that wasn't there previously. As these weren't featured on the profile itself, they deserve a spotlight on here, so these are two early clips of No Arrow live at Madison's Pub! The videos are of them covering Nirvana's "Breed" on New Year's Eve 2006 (when they were still known as Murder Playground) and, as embedded below, them playing their original "Colder Side of the Sun" in April 2007 after their name change. I think both feature their "classic" lineup (Dann Pichette, Harley Syrette, and Joe Falco), and both had edits made to the video quality to fix poor lighting. The quality on both is mixed (though the audio is clearer for the original), but it's good to see these videos all the same, especially as clips from Madison's Pub metal/hard rock concerts aren't plentiful from my experience.

Both of these videos were uploaded to the band's MySpace page in early 2007 at this location, and NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for both of these videos go to No Arrow, I'm just trying to share these with a deserving wider audience! No Arrow are on form with their grungy alternative hard rock on both videos (despite patchy video quality), so check out these videos above & below, and our No Arrow defunct profile in the post under this one!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news this week, including hopefully some fallout from this past weekend's April Wine concert! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Hardcore Band, Buckcherry Concert Videos, And Hoist The Sails Lineup News!!

News is still slow to a point right now locally, but I've came up with a lot of updates from Sault Michigan lately, so that's the focus of today's news post! For the record, I've heard of nothing relating to metal & hard rock concerts in the area this weekend, though who knows what unannounced gigs could possibly be going on across the river tonight or tomorrow. In this post, we have lineup updates for a young local band, some videos from a recent major concert, and leading off, a brand new local band, so here's what you need to know!

We have a new band to add to the SMS links today, and they're a new Sault Michigan hardcore outfit named Angelic Genocide. Launched in February, they appear to be a younger band like some of the other recent harder edged acts across the river, and they feature a large lineup of six different musicians! Currently, they feature former Chained Memories frontman Sean Roush on lead vocals, clean singer Cathy Burgos, guitarists Cody Reed (Hoist The Sails, ex-Analog Deficiency) & Josh North, bassist Alex Boyer, and former 7/47 drummer Joe North (Josh's brother?), while Gus Burgos (Cathy's brother?) & Matt Randazzo were in the band's original lineup on vocals & bass respectively before Sean & Alex joined. As well, Sean Hanson is credited as being the band's mascot & cowbell player, but I don't believe he's an official performing member of Angelic Genocide. Since their Facebook page was created in April, the band has posted a bunch of band logos and song samples, including some vocal covers by Sean Roush of Suicide Silence & Hands songs (there's more on his personal page's video album) and a drum & bass sample, so check the above links to hear the new media! Other recent updates include a flirtation with entering a talent show earlier this summer, listing Asking Alexandria, Silverstein, and Miss May I as influences, and news that they would be focusing on originals full time as of August 10th, but check the above links for all you need to know!

There's a lot of unknowns with Angelic Genocide so far, but the members I'm familiar with have talent, and Sean Roush is a solid hardcore screamer (Chained Memories would have benefited if he'd stayed there!) I hope Angelic Genocide can make some local inroads, as a lot of the harsher Sault Michigan bands of late seem to have struggled in gaining footing in the scene, so I wish nothing but the best for them, and I'm curious to hear their originals and future plans! Check out Angelic Genocide at the above links, and they're now in our Sault Michigan band links!

Next up, we FINALLY have some videos from Monday night's Buckcherry/Fuel concert at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino to share on here! I wonder why there was such a delay to even get one from the show? None of these are of Fuel or local openers The London Gentlemen, but we have three Buckcherry videos to share, starting with this video of the Los Angeles hard rockers playing their single "Crazy Bitch" (with a bit of a surprise "freak out") on Monday night! Uploaded by YouTube user hoopy31 yesterday, the quality's pretty good (sans people's heads in the way), but why couldn't hoopy31 have filmed beyond part of Josh Todd's on-stage banter! Now, if you were curious, Josh's singing is hit and miss like I had heard from their show here last year, and with the higher quality, it's more noticeable (especially on higher ranged parts), but he and the band have good energy, and if you like Buckcherry, this video won't come amiss, so check it out below!



The other videos come from YouTube user Steve Ponch (who filmed a video from Ace Frehley's show here in 2009 as well), as he uploaded videos of Buckcherry playing their songs "Lit Up" and part of "It's A Party" on Wednesday! These are of much worse video quality than hoopy31's video, with muffled audio & a very strange & hard to explain colour filter on the camera, that almost looks like a sideways anaglyph 3D attempt. Is this intentional, and if not, what happened? Like on the "Crazy Bitch" video, Josh Todd's singing is patchy, but he does seem to have a good handle on talking to the crowd, and the performances are alright for what they are! I'm not a huge Buckcherry fan, but the attendees seemed to enjoy everything, and that's what matters! As it's the full song, here's "Lit Up", but check the above links for more!



Finally for today, here's some lineup news concerning another young local metal band, that being Hoist The Sails! Formal band updates haven't came since April, but at some point this summer, the band updated their lineup on their Facebook page, and a lot has changed in a short time. To start with, the band has brought back guitarist Nathan Switzer after briefly leaving Hoist The Sails in the spring (good to see him back!), while fellow guitarist Mitch Goetz has moved to the bass & clean vocalist position to replace Joe Niemi (who we already knew left) & Travis Theel respectively. Travis' exit is new to me, but hopefully everything was amicable, and best of luck to him in the future! Mitch is familiar locally for his singing & bass work in bands like Intrepid, so this should be a natural fit for him going forward in their new quintet lineup! Finally for the changes, Hoist The Sails have enlisted Angelic Genocide guitarist Cody Reed to replace Mitch on the second guitar, reuniting him with his former Analog Deficiency bandmates Nathan Switzer & drummer Marcel Grengs. Cody should be a solid addition to Hoist The Sails, and hopefully this new lineup can find success in the coming months locally, as like I mentioned above, hardcore/death metal bands in Sault Michigan lately need to gain some ground. Stay tuned for more from Hoist The Sails as it comes in!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news this weekend, and the results of last month's poll and our newest poll tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Local Band Lineup Changes, Another Band's Demise, And More Updates!!

Before we post our review from last night's Roberta Bondar Pavilion metal concert, here's one more news post, and it's got sort of a negative bent. I say that because most of the stories relate to band member departures, with one leading to a band breakup, but we do end happily with some updates to some of our feature posts on the site! Read on below for this latest news post!

First today, I can now confirm that Brimley metal band Half A Man have officially parted ways with singer Dillion Semasky. A public statement about the move hasn't been made, but frontman Erik Rintamaki confirmed that Dillion did indeed leave the band via e-mail with me yesterday. A full reason for his exit wasn't given, but the tone of what I've heard is not negative, and Half A Man do hope to possibly jam with Dillion at LemmaFest, seeing as he's playing there that night with Munising metal quintet Infathom already. Dillion had joined Half A Man in December, but was only featured in one rehearsal video before questions of his band status arose in the spring, thanks to statements about Half A Man's next projects as a trio. I figured that Dillion would add an interesting dimension to their sound with his extreme style of vocals, but this move is probably the best for all parties, and hopefully Dillion continues to rock the U.P. with Infathom! As recent postings have indicated, Half A Man are reverting to a trio for their upcoming album & LemmaFest set, with Erik back on vocals, but it's not uncharted waters for them. Remember, their first gig in the summer of 2010 was as a trio due to then-drummer Doug Reed's absence, so they should do just fine as a three-piece! Stay tuned for more Half A Man news as it rolls in!

Next up, here's the latest updates from Skeyes of Seven, the new local hard rock band featuring Sense of Truth, Half Past, and Tripod the Dog alumni! Updates have been quiet from them since their March inception, but in one recent development, it looks like they've parted ways with drummer Chris Thompson. A reason for his departure has not been announced, but Chris was quietly removed from their lineup on their Facebook page in recent weeks. As a result, the band is currently looking for a new drummer, as per a post by frontman Cory Murchison on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group yesterday. They're looking for an "experienced & dedicated" drummer, and to message either Cory or guitarist Alain Fletcher on Facebook if you're interested. Cory also added that Skeyes of Seven are hoping to become an all original band and release an album, but they are planning on doing some covers initially, with Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Tool, and Deftones covers in the works. Hopefully they get a new drummer soon, as we've missed them all on stage, and hopefully they find a perfect fit! And though I don't know why Chris left, he's still got Frightlight and Half Past (if they're even still alive) to fall back on, so best of luck to him for sure! Stay tuned for more Skeyes of Seven news as I hear it!

Finally for lineup changes, newer Sault Michigan metal band Hoist The Sails have apparently parted ways with guitarist Nathan Switzer, just weeks after we found out that bassist Joe Niemi had also left. Again, no public reason for Nathan's departure has been announced, but he's no longer listed on their Facebook lineup. I figure it has to have been a recent move though, as he's featured in the band's latest video from April 18th. This is really disappointing if true, especially knowing Nathan's talents as a guitarist, but hopefully he pops up in a new band soon, and in case there's an active search, message Hoist The Sails at the above links if you're interested in playing guitar or bass for them!

Now originally, we also had another lineup change, in that Kincheloe metal band Chained Memories had parted ways with singer Sean Roush on Sunday for personal reasons. However, the band confirmed on their Facebook page last night that "until further notice, we no longer exist. The band is disbanded." I assume this is partly due to Sean's departure, but no official reasoning beyond that was given. I'll note that their brief statement does leave open the possibility of a return ("Until further notice..."), but it may have needed better wording. I know that drummer Mike Rynberg has worked really hard to get Chained Memories off the ground since their late 2009 inception, and they've had promising lineups since then, but things have been visibly unstable for band membership and positions, and I don't believe they ever posted audio material. I personally don't know why things haven't moved forward much, but hopefully the guys stay active in area bands, and hopefully their next projects can succeed where Chained Memories couldn't if this is indeed their end. Best of luck to Mike, Sean, Ryan, and Mikaela in the future, and I've moved Chained Memories to our inactive Sault Michigan band links!

Let's end this post on a positive note, so here's some recent updates to some of our monthly feature posts! First, I've updated all of the entries in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series to reflect the results and finishes of the Humane Society Battle on April 20th, including the withdrawls of Cowboys & Indians and The Moves, both of which had alumni from many of the battles we covered in the series. In our Defunct Local Band Profile Series, I've added a minor reference to the Death Rise profile to note guitarist Johnny Belanger's current work as Caveman Morrison's drummer, while for the Life's Eclipse profile, I added a brief note that guitarist David Mills is also a member of the Eckerman metal band Moss, which is now linked there. I restored a photo to the Out Of The Mouth Of Babes profile, while the State of Misery profile has saw numerous changes to reflect their latest reunion, including a new photo of their current/original lineup, notes on their current status, and the departure of bassist Devon Overman. Because they're re-activated, their profile's title once again has an asterisk (*) at the end. Finally, I added a brief mention to the From The Ashes Of Angels profile about frontman David Waite's current Colorado-based acoustic solo project Jibber N' The Beanie. There's more updates to come, but check the above links to get caught up on these newly updated SMS feature posts!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for my review from last night's Roberta Bondar Pavilion all ages metal show later tonight! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (As It Stands), Hoist The Sails Updates, And New Videos

In what may be the last news post of the month (I stress "may"), we've got some notable news and notes to share with you guys today! We have new videos from a pair of local hard rock artists, the latest news from a rising Sault Michigan metal band, and a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for later this week, so here's what you need to know!

How'd you guys like an outdoor metal show in Sault Ontario for a change? Bear Hunters/Borderline Divine guitarist Mitch Sirie is promoting a metal show at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion THIS FRIDAY in cooperation with The Arts Council of Sault Ste. Marie and National Youth Arts Week, and though complete details aren't announced yet, the band lineup is now public! This show is slated to be headlined by local hardcore quintet As It Stands, with a local death metal three-for-all opening the festivities, including the aforementioned Bear Hunters, crust/grime standouts Shit Liver, and deathcore quartet The Valentine's Day Massacre, which adds to a solid lineup of local metal talent! This will mark most of the bands' first local concert sets since the Humane Society Battle of the Bands last weekend, but it will be Shit Liver's first show since the Ypres Metal Fest on April 7th. Plus, this is most bands' Roberta Bondar Pavilion debut (As It Stands aside), and it'll definitely be interesting to see metal rock the tent downtown for a change! Full details will be announced tomorrow when everything is finalized, but a 4:00 PM start time is tentatively being aimed for, and I can't see this not being all ages. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Mitch has been outdoing himself in recent days trying to bring local metal bands to more public and open areas (including his Rotaryfest campaign), and with hopes to make this just the first of many outdoor metal shows in the area, fingers crossed that this Friday concert event is a huge hit! Stay tuned for more official updates as they roll in, and also click here for more news and events for National Youth Arts Week this week!

Next up, here's the newest updates from newer Sault Michigan metal band Hoist The Sails, and first, it appears they have quietly parted ways with bassist Joe Niemi. A reason for his departure has not been announced, but he was removed from their lineup on their Facebook page at some point within the last two months. Disappointing, but Joe has talent, and hopefully he joins a new band soon! From what I can tell, he has yet to be replaced, but I'll let you guys know if anything is announced on that front. Aside from that, recent news has been sparse, but a new video has been uploaded onto Facebook indicating that they're still alive. Uploaded by singer Lucas Falkowski, it features guitarist Mitch Goetz showing us the band's recording area, where the other band members were at the time of filming, and a 22 second sample of a new original song is also previewed near the end of the 83 second long video. Click here to check it out! Hoist The Sails still sound like a very talented and promising new band, but hopefully updates pick up more than they have been in recent months, cause they definitely are off to a solid start! Check the above links for more, and stay tuned for more updates on Hoist the Sails' new material and bassist situation!

We'll close this post with new videos, starting with the latest song and music video from local electronic hard rock project Candle Hour! Well, this is more specifically credited to "Hugh Stephens, otherwise known as Candle Hour", but it's for sale and posted on Candle Hour's online pages, so I'll still count it as a band track. Continuing with the more downbeat tone from Hugh's last song "Azetta", this new recording (entitled "Missing Moment") is inspired by the idea that we've all lost moments in our lives that we wish we could relive. The song itself is an ambient orchestral instrumental with some piano accompaniment, and while it's not as heavy as some of Candle Hour's other songs, it is well performed! You can officially buy it at this location, but Hugh also uploaded it with a video of slowed down fireworks in reverse onto the band's YouTube channel on Friday, and the visuals add to the mood! Also note that before he posted this video, he deleted his most popular video from his channel, which was for Candle Hour's original song "March to the End". I don't know why he deleted it, but it's disappointing, especially as it was my favourite of his YouTube uploads for music quality! You can still see the video on other websites, but for now, check out "Missing Moment" below!



And finally, here's the latest solo video from ApocalyptiCDistroyeR frontman Jesse Middaugh! It's a "rough thought" towards a new original song that he's planning to use in his "new project". Details on that weren't elaborated on, but judging by the repeated use of the ApocalyptiCDistroyeR name in the video tags, it might just be a new version of that band. Uploaded to the band's YouTube channel on Thursday, it's reportedly planned to be a soft & catchy original, and he's going to make the final version less repetitive than in the video. It sounds alright, but you can tell it needs more variance and leads. Check Jesse's new video out below, and maybe he'll post some new heavier material sooner or later too!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of End of Existence's debut album by TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!

"Woods V" Release Updates, Studio Updates From Sault Michigan, And This Week's Classic Video!!

Here's some more news for this Monday evening for you SMS fans, so here's what's on tap! Tonight, we've got this week's classic video, new studio material previews from a couple of Sault Michigan bands, and leading things off, some cool news relating to Woods of Ypres, so here's what you need to know!

Let's kick off today's post with some Woods of Ypres news, and as this week's banner on the site would imply, "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" is officially on sale now.... well, it is overseas! Due to longer processing lead times over here, it won't be in stock for American markets until April, but if you order from Earache Records' European store, you can get your orders shipped right away so you can give David Gold's final recorded material a deserved complete listen! Click here to pick up "W5" on CD and/or vinyl from the European Earache distro, and note that there are still packages to get the album with a t-shirt or poster. I haven't heard anything about an iTunes release for "Woods V" yet, but I'd have to imagine it's coming soon. For the record, I haven't heard of either "Keeper of the Ledger" or Siegfried Meier's vinyl-exclusive alternate mix of "Finality" being up to stream online yet, but I imagine it'll only be a matter of time before both turn up in some fashion. Lastly on this CD, I know I haven't mentioned any reviews of "Woods V" yet, but I plan to feature many in an upcoming post. Without David to tell fans about the majority of them, they often slip my casual radar, which is why they haven't hit the SMS yet. Stay tuned for more "W5" news as it rolls in!

Before we completely move to our next story, I wanna note something about Woods of Ypres' planned European debut this past Saturday, where they would have opened for British thrash standouts Evile at the HMV Next Big Thing event in Manchester, England. At the show, Evile paid tribute to David by playing their 2011 song "In Memoriam" for the first time ever, which is an awesome gesture, and videos of the performance are now online! Click here to check out at least three videos of the performance, and kudos to Evile for doing this for David's memory!

Next up, Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids epic metal quintet End of Existence are keeping the anticipation up for their planned debut album at the end of the month, as they posted an album teaser video onto their YouTube channel yesterday! It's just 1:41 long, and the visuals are mostly effects over their orange globe logo, but it does feature a 70 second snippet of a previously unreleased original song named "12.21.12", presumably referring to the Mayan apocalypse theories centered around that day. It's definitely a promising and heavy clip, but I'll hold full judgement until we both hear the full album and I get a chance to review it. Little else is known yet about this 13 song release, but as we inch closer to the end of February, we should hear more, so keep an eye out! For now, here's a teaser, and as more comes in, I'll have it here!



Thirdly, here's some news and updates from new Sault Michigan metal sextet Hoist The Sails! Like End of Existence, this band featuring Analog Deficiency & Seeking Reverence alumni have been hard at work on new material of their own lately despite no announced live debut date yet, and we can now get some more tastes of their work thanks to a couple of new postings on their Facebook page. One is the first full original song from their planned EP recording sessions, entitled "Mind Over Matter", and you can now stream it at this link. How does it sound? Very good, actually! It has a catchy groove, excellent guitar work, and interesting dual harsh vocals in the verses, and the clean singing doesn't sound out of place either! These guys definitely seem to know what they're doing musically, and it's hard to believe this has came together so suddenly! The other new media on their Facebook page seems like it'd be another preview, but it's actually a comedic clip of singer Travis Theel doing some intentionally bad clean vocals with some band member reactions, and it shows that they have a good sense of humour about everything! I see big things from Hoist The Sails if they keep on this same path, and hopefully we hear much more from them soon, so keep an eye out for updates, and check them out at the above links

And finally for today, here's this week's classic video! After a three week run of videos not tied into an upcoming concert (thanks in part due to a lot of light weekends), this week's does tie in with a band at an upcoming show, that being local deathcore quartet (and this Thursday's Rosie metal night participants) The Valentine's Day Massacre! Before frontman Steve Rhodes joined the former View To A Kill, he made local waves as State of Misery's singer in late 2010 and early 2011, as you may remember, and some off-YouTube videos from their run are still floating around online. One is of them playing their original song that I think was called "Bleed" at a jam session circa December 2010, which was one of four posted to the band's Facebook group on January 3rd of last year. The quality's similar to the other three videos (two of which we've already put on our YouTube channel), but it shows State of Misery's original lineup doing what they did best, and the song is brutal with catchy elements! I may have the title wrong, as they had a couple songs with titles similar to "Bleed", so if I'm incorrect, please let me know! This video was originally filmed by attendee Ashley Lacasse, and you can see the original video at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=114911331914493.

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to State of Misery and Ashley for the work they did in this video & performance, I'm just trying to share this video with a wider audience like it deserves! It's a solid performance, and State of Misery definitely attracted a good local following in their brief run, so give this newest classic video a look below, and go see Steve's current band rock The Rosie on Thursday!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news as the week moves along! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Nudge), Weekend Concert Previews, And New EP Updates!!

Let's keep the news coming for this Friday morning, including for this weekend's local metal & hard rock concert previews! I only know of two metal shows this weekend, both in Sault Ontario within seconds of each other, but we'll get to them in a bit. We also have details on a couple bands' EP recordings, a quick note on the status of a Sault Michigan band, and leading things off, two more LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you need to know! (EDITED: 8:28 PM)

Marquette hard rock quartet Nudge will make their first stops in Sault Michigan of the new year on February 3rd and 4th at The Satisfied Frog! These concerts are replacing scheduled shows by local hard rockers NoXcape that were booked there last year, and I'll have more on what I know of their status in a second. These will be Nudge's first local concerts in almost three months and their first stops in Sault Michigan with new drummer Tim Rousseau, who replaced Eric Schlumpf in the band last month. If you're in the market for Nudge's brand of modern hard rock covers, you'll wanna be at The Frog in three weeks! These shows have no announced cover charges, 21+ age limits, and likely 10:00 PM start times. For more details, visit Nudge's Reverbnation page, and thanks to frontman Danzo McCracken for alerting me to the new concerts! It's great seeing Nudge back in town for some concerts, and hopefully they're big hits as usual, thanks to their exciting and hard hitting modern rock covers! Stay tuned for more on Nudge and any future local dates they may have as they come in!

As for NoXcape's status, I'm starting to really question if they're even an active band anymore. They last made a real band update in September, they never promoted their announced New Year's Weekend concerts at The Frog (which I doubt took place now), and we know about their shows next month being off already. I'll assume they're active until proven otherwise, but I have my eyes peeled in case anything about a possible breakup is said publically, which I haven't seen yet. Stay tuned!

Now to this weekend's concert previews, and first is Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's second Saturday afternoon show in his current weekly arrangement at Bossy's Pub N' Grub! After a successful launch to his new weekly solo series last week, Tym will be back at the Pim Street bar/restaurant TOMORROW AFTERNOON with a set full of acoustic hard rock covers for his fans, so if you've missed his Service Grill gigs (or Caveman Morrison), definitely take note of tomorrow's entertainment! There's no cover charge, I don't believe there's an age limit given the time of the show, and unlike his Bossy's debut last weekend, tomorrow's concert will reportedly start at 2:00 PM, not 1:00 PM like last week. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a fun set of acoustic metal covers, and with Bossy's being close to my place, I believe I'll swing by tomorrow afternoon to give Tym's solo show a long overdue review at the SMS! I haven't seen him live solo since 2009, it's been waaaaaay too long, so this is as good a day as any! Hope to see some of you guys there, and for a preview, here's Tym covering Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" at what's now Feedback in 2010!



Also tomorrow on Pim Street is some hard charging punk & metal action just seconds down the road at The Canadian Nightclub, and opening this concert is local horror punk quintet Frightlight! This will be their first concert of 2012, and their first show in almost three months, but there's some extra differences tomorrow as well. Reportedly, their set tomorrow will be entirely comprised of Misfits covers, with no originals, which should be interesting, and you know from their past gigs that they do Danzig and Graves-era Misfits songs really well, so there's nothing to fear! Also, Frightlight's lineup will look different tomorrow as well, as new drummer Chris FreakNStein will not be with the band for this concert. A public reason for his absence hasn't been made, but hopefully nothing bad happened! That said, his spot behind the drumkit will be filled by guitarist (and Caveman Morrison/Redundant drummer) Rick Styles, which should work out well! On guitar in Rick's place tomorrow will be frontman Johnny Pints' T. Rex Manning bandmate Tiffany Stocco, who should do well tomorrow, but check out some of her solo guitar covers at this location! My source the above information is Rick's personal Facebook page. That all said, Frightlight are opening for a notable band with a prominent local musician in their Soo debut, that being Toronto-based Ramones tribute band The Merves, who are fronted by Mikey Hawdon of Lion Ride fame!

Rocking alongside Maximum RNR, Teenage X, and The Doubts alumni, picture Mikey fronting The Ramones and you'll get a good idea of The Merves' entertaining sound, so if you like Lion Ride or The Ramones, you'll definitely wanna stick around for their headlining set! Admission is $5 at the door, you must be 19 to attend, and doors open at 10:00 PM tomorrow night. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Sure, this is more of a punk leaning show given Frightlight's setlist tomorrow, but The Misfits can be very heavy, and there's plenty of talent to go around! It's great to see Mikey back home for a concert, and you know that The Merves will deliver a high energy set of Ramones classics, and Frightlight will be sure to set the tone well in their return! Plus, this concert is just seconds from Bossy's, so if you live in the area, you'll have no trouble getting to both concerts, like I plan to do tomorrow! I'll see you guys tomorrow night at The Canadian, and for a preview, here's Frightlight covering two Misfits songs at The Rosie in June!



Finally today, here's some updates on a couple local bands' EP plans. First, remember how Sault Ontario death metal quintet The Bear Hunters began recordings towards their debut EP named "Bloodthirst" in May? Well, they finally mentioned said plans again on their Facebook page on Tuesday, announcing plans to actually begin recording demos. Why did things stall last year after announcing "Bloodthirst" eight months ago? I don't know, but according to guitarist Mitch Sirie's personal Facebook page, the band wants to set up an online store of some type to sell the demo when it comes to that point, with hopes to use it to get a grant to record professionally in the future. As more updates come out on their EP/demo, I'll let you guys know! The other update that I have is that new Sault Michigan metal quintet Hoist The Sails have already begun work on their own debut EP, and have kept fans updated on it via their Facebook page. An honestly very promising 63 second clip of an original song was posted at this location that indicates a death metal sound, and from what I can hear, they sound proficient and brutal! I can't embed it here (it's a Facebook video), but check it out! Apparently, at least one song is finished and needs to be mixed, but it will be posted online when that process is done. Sounds good to me, so stay tuned for updates on Hoist The Sails' planned EP, and much more at the above links!

That's likely all for today, but I'll see you guys TOMORROW at Bossy's & The Canadian, and if there's enough news for a new news post before our next concert reviews, I'll make sure to get it up! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Garden Of Bedlam), Two New Local Bands, And More!!

Here's a new news post for your Sunday evening needs, and there's a lot to say for tonight, including two brand new local bands, a new video from a prominent local band, and leading things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT with a big tie-in release you guys should be excited for, so here's what you need to know!

Garden of Bedlam are returning to the stage for the holiday season with their new album in tow! As previously hinted at on their Facebook page, their first full length album "Everything Will Die" is indeed coming out on Boxing Day, but it's now official that the album will be released on December 26th at a CD release concert, which will be their first local concert in 5 months! For the occasion, the prominent local metal band will return to The Canadian Nightclub for the first time in almost 21 months to launch this CD in style, and knowing the significance of The Canadian to some of their bigger moments as a band, it's a fitting place to release the new album! Full details on this concert (including admission prices, times, CD price details, and potential opening bands) are not known yet, but this concert is official, as cited at the above links. I'd assume that this is a 19+ event though, and I'd expect a cover charge of at least $2. Until an event page is launched, check the above links for more details! This should be a huge event, and hopefully tons of fans turn out to reap the rewards of this new album! It's been over a year in the making, and you know it'll be worth the wait, so be sure to head to The Canadian on Boxing Day for Garden of Bedlam's CD release party!

That said, will "Everything Will Die" be our next CD review on the SMS? Maybe. I'm actually gonna be out of town for family Christmas commitments from Christmas Eve through the 27th or 28th, so I regrettably can't make this show. If I can get an advance copy of the CD, or get it before New Years' Eve, I'll definitely try and review it this month, but time will tell. If I don't get it until next month, then I WILL 100% review "Everything Will Die" in early January, so a review is coming, but when is up in the air at the moment. I'll keep you guys posted, but in the meantime, click here for studio previews of two songs from the CD!

Next up, we have two new local bands that recently came to my attention, both of which are from Sault Michigan, so here's what you need to know! The first one I've found is named Hoist The Sails, a new local metal sextet (yes, 6 members) that seemed to form earlier this month, though they do feature a few familiar faces in their lineup. The band includes singers Travis Theel & Lucas Falkowski, guitarists Nathan Switzer (Traces) and Mitch Goetz (Seeking Reverence, The Highest of Fives), and Nathan's old Analog Deficiency bandmates Joe Niemi on bass & Marcel Grengs (also from Mitch's old pop rock band Focus) on drums, so there's a lot of young local talent in this band! Hoist The Sails describe their genre as "an undefined form of metal", though they list influences ranging from Protest The Hero & The Devil Wears Prada to Lamb of God and Meshuggah, so there's definitely a lot of sound possibilities for this new group. There isn't a lot of updates to their Facebook page yet, so a lot is unknown about them at the moment, like how Lucas sounds as a singer, but we'll find out more as time goes on, I'm sure!

There's promise in Hoist The Sails, as Nathan and Mitch have solid guitar skill (though I thought Mitch moved out of town for college?), Analog Deficiency seemed to have a bright future when they were together, and Travis has a good singing voice judging by the acoustic videos he's posted on his YouTube channel, but time will tell how Hoist The Sails develop, so become a fan at the above links and stay tuned for band updates at the SMS as they roll in!

The other new band I've recently came across is a hard rock quartet named Elements of Madness, so here's what you need to know on them! Based out of Sault Michigan and Newberry, the band has been active since roughly June of this year, and their lineup features singer/guitarist Cody Rosebohm, singer/bassist Tyler Fox, guitarist Joe Pine, and drummer Kyle Hummelgard. I'm not familiar with any of them musically, and I believe they're younger on the whole, so that could be why. Initially known as ThatOneBand, their Facebook page heavily hypes the members, and though a specific genre beyond "rock" isn't listed, the descriptions and influences hint towards at least a hard rock sound. Updates on their page are sporadic, with nothing new posted since last month, but we do have a slight glimpse of their sound thanks to Cody Rosebohm's YouTube channel, which has three solo acoustic riff videos towards Elements of Madness originals named "Falling" and "The Beast Inside"! The videos don't amount to a lot yet, just some short riffs, but there's some heaviness present, and hopefully these are built into fullet tracks sooner or later! Check out more from Elements of Madness at the above links, Cody's new version of "Falling" below, and both Elements of Madness & Hoist The Sails are now in our active Sault Michigan band links on your right!


And finally for today, Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids epic metal quintet End of Existence have posted a new 15 minute video onto their YouTube channel called "The Making Of 'End Of Existence' (Part 1)" featuring a lot of random band goings on from the last while! Uploaded earlier today, the video features everything from frontman Bob Helsten reading various radio voiceovers to a number of radio stations to band rehearsal footage to just random conversations and joking between the band members, and if you're a fan of tour vlogs or "making of" videos, this should be an entertaining glimpse into End of Existence's rehearsals and time together as a band! A "Part 2" is hyped to follow this video soon, so if you enjoyed this video, there's definitely more to come! Give End of Existence's new video a look below, and stay tuned for more news and material from them very soon!



That's all for today, but hopefully there'll be some more news on the site by Wednesday! Things might slow down this week due to my exam week, but I'll try to stay on top of things! Thanks everyone, stay tuned for more!!