LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Gnaeus), New Sault Michigan Videos, And More!!

Let's launch a new news post for you guys on this Monday afternoon, so what's on tap? Some assorted recent updates, plus some long awaited new cover videos from a pair of Sault Michigan artists, but let's kick things off with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month!

Local post-punk/garage-wave quartet Gnaeus will return to the stage for a solo headlining concert on Friday, November 18th at LopLops Lounge! The band hasn't confirmed this show publically yet (or posted on their Facebook page in three weeks), but the venue announced the show via their own Facebook event page yesterday, as part of a mass posting of event pages for upcoming concerts there. This is Gnaeus' first advertised concert since Tidal Records' Gnar-BQ last month, and their first LopLops appearance since headlining there in July. No word on if there's a special quirk or theme for this show, or if it is truly just a regular Gnaeus concert, but fans of their varied post-punk originals and select covers should definitely consider a trip down to LopLops next month! This show has a $5 cover charge, 9:00 PM start time, and a 19+ age limit. Check the above links for more details, and stay tuned for more from Gnaeus when it rolls in!

Next up, we have some new solo performance videos from Sault Michigan-area artists, starting with the latest cover postings from ex-Elipzis bassist Ryan Harrison's YouTube channel! In his first postings there in three months, Ryan (who now lists his "Moe Brown" alias on the channel's name too) posted vocal/guitar covers of Cutting Crew's "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" and, as embedded below, Matchbox Twenty's "Bright Lights" there last week. Both featuring color filters put on in post, these aren't badly done renditions, and Ryan's vocal range continues to get more confident, so check out his latest covers above & below!



Also new to YouTube is the first solo cover video from ex-Insipid Brutality/Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie's YouTube channel in over two years! No word on what took him so long, but this video is a cover of the guitar solo and outro from Pantera's "Floods", and doing so flawlessly from what I could tell! Scott was always a highlight among Sault Michigan-area metal guitarists, and hopefully we see him in a new band soon, but check out his take on "Floods" below!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from Sault Ontario over the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or company name:

• Former Why guitarist Chris Nielsen is looking for local bands to round out the lineup of a planned all ages concert at The Oddfellows Hall on Saturday, November 19th. 6 bands are scheduled, and as of this past Saturday, he had 3 enlisted to play 30 minute sets, though if Chris is playing in a (new?) band that night, I can't confirm their identity yet. There's even interest regarding a possible Fitswitch(?!) reunion, but if you're interested in playing, message Chris at this link or via his post on the Sault Ste. Marie All Ages group!
• Local classic/hard rock cover quartet The 3 Day Millionaires have quietly enlisted ex-Sneaky Pete rhythm guitarist Bill Brouillard to join the band, replacing Travis Sharpe, while bassist Steve Dowding is now credited as their full lead vocalist. A reason for Travis' departure wasn't announced, but he was quietly removed from their lineup and cover photo on their Facebook page over the past day. Hopefully nothing bad happened with Travis, but fingers crossed that we see him in a new band soon, and Bill should be a nice fit with the Millonaires, so stay tuned for the new lineup's debut!
• Tidal Records' songwriting contest at LopLops Lounge on Saturday was won by Thin Ice frontman Nathan Albidone, so he'll be recording his original song "Show Me What That Is" with Tidal Records in the near future. While a hard rock or punk artist would have been nice to see win, congratulations to Nathan on a well deserved victory! He's a talented country musician, as Thin Ice fans will attest to! For reference sake, the most recent postings advertising the contest didn't mention Jacob "Shit Creek Survivor" Quarrell as performing anymore, though if true, I don't know why he dropped out.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the next while! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Archspire), Sault Michigan Videos, And More!!

Due to the amount of backlogged news and notes, we have a second post today to fill in some of those gaps, but if you're awaiting new punk band showcases, we'll roll three or four more in tomorrow! Today, we have a big LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, new videos from across the river, and some recent assorted notes, including a possibly inactive band, so here's what you need to know, and check out some more new shows and videos in the post below this one!

Local concert promotion agency Heavy North Entertainment will end a 3 month hiatus when they host Vancouver technical death metal quintet Archspire at an all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall on Sunday, August 3rd! Previously teased on H.N.E.-linked pages, this show takes place in the middle of Archspire's "Tech Trek II: The Next Degeneration" tour, and if you love brutal progressive metal and complex song structures (plus some of the fastest growling vocals you'll hear live), you won't want to miss Archspire's live set next month! Three local opening bands are signed for this concert, ironically all fresh off of their Touch of Death Festival appearances in Cochrane, and they include local death metal quartet The Bear Hunters, sludge/doom metal trio AlgomA, and local goregrind solo act Crucify The Whore, and all are great fits for this show, so don't be late for their sets, and C.T.W. might have copies of their new demo too! There will be a $10 door charge on August 3rd (no word on if advance tickets will be sold), this is an ALL AGES event, and start times are not yet announced. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

I'll also note that H.N.E. founder Tyler St. Amour revealed on their Facebook page on Saturday that this show "could be Heavy North's last & heaviest", which leaves open the possibility that he may stop promoting concerts after this one. Hopefully he doesn't, as he's put on some brutal and fun concerts since last fall, and the Archspire show should add to that catalog, so just in case, don't take this show for granted, and don't miss out on all of the metal action in 4 weeks!

Next up, we've found some more videos from Alice Cooper's headlining concert at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino last month, so what should you know on these? YouTube user Saundra K. (user name Duguay1711) uploaded these to her YouTube channel on Thursday, and while they're far from her first concert videos on the channel, they're just her second from a local show (Kellie Pickler was first.) She shot 12 videos at the show, though curiously, all are 92 seconds or less, so maybe that was the time limit on this camera? In upload order, the videos are of Alice playing "House of Fire", "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "School's Out", "Caffiene", "Welcome To My Nightmare", "Go To Hell", "He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)", "The Ballad of Dwight Fry", "I Love The Dead", a cover of The Beatles' "Revolution", "I'm Eighteen", and "Poison", so click each link to see each clip! Aside from the abbreviated video lengths, Saundra shot some nice videos from the show, getting a close zoomed in angle of the action, though the audio can be scratchy. Check the clips out above, and here's Alice playing "He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)"!



Also today, I'd meant to share a new Theatre of Night video, but curiously, it (and everything else on their YouTube channel) was recently deleted for unknown reasons. That's a shame, hopefully something big's coming there though! Instead, we have a new guitar performance video from former Insipid Brutality/Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie's YouTube channel, marking his first upload there since 2012! This is Scott's submission for The Mayones/Seymour Duncan Worldwide Solo Contest, where the best guitar solo will earn the guitarist a new Regius 7 Custom guitar with Seymour Duncan pickups, and he shreds a pretty nice solo here that should get some consideration in the contest! Judge for yourself below, and hopefully we hear more from Scott soon!



Finally for today, here's three shorter recent news stories from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• I've moved Sault Michigan hard rock cover quartet Dirtbag In A Dress to our inactive band links (under their more used older name Bucksaw) due to a year's inactivity. Unless we hear otherwise, we're treating LemmaFest 2014 performers Mr. Fister as a separate band due to the name change and 50% different lineup (Ryan Franklin & Mikey Bishop weren't in the latter band.) If they're the same, we'll add them back, but even still, I have not found a Mr. Fister online page yet. Hopefully we'll see the guys before next year's LemmaFest in any form!
• Apparently, the all ages metal show at The Moose Lodge on May 13th (featuring what's now The Revolution, This Is Your Band On Drugs, and Rotopsy) also featured an additional late notice act, as local keyboardist/street performer Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda played a set that night as well. Interesting addition, though Damjan is quite talented and unique, so hopefully everything went well! My source for this info is Revolution drummer Brandan Glew in a personal conversation.
• Since May 10th, you may have noticed photos of the stage setup for three events we didn't cover on here on local hard rock trio Stiffler's Mom's Facebook page, including at the round barn in Sowerby, a nurse's conference at a local hall, and the Sault Accessible Sports Incorporation's "A Night To Remember" fundraiser at The Bushplane Museum last month. The first two appear to have been private events, but the S.A.S.I. fundraiser was publically attendable, and it slipped us by completely when originally announced. Our sincere apologies for missing it, hopefully it was a great event!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our second local punk band introductory post tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (Part 4)

For the third time (and first since July 2012), Eckerman, Michigan independent label/studio Werehold Records have uploaded a bunch of new songs from their artist roster to their YouTube channel yesterday in honour of Friday the 13th! This has become a recent trend for this very entertaining label, and 7 songs have went up to YouTube to mark the day, so what should you know? In terms of exclusions, there's no new tracks from The 1,000,000,000s Who Died, Drayton Fever, East Branch, Moss, the still un-revealed Awaken Eidolon, or any projects involving Power Slug drummer Bob Helsten (a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone), though Werehold head Jason Mills told me in a Facebook conversation that Bob was never fully affiliated with the label. For non-metal and non-local uploads yesterday, two of the songs ("Exponential" & "Pow-Wow Nightmare") came from Brimley techno project Palaver, which are both darker electronic tracks that fans of their other work should like (particularly "Pow-Wow Nightmare"), so check them out via the above links!

Another upload came from (surprisingly) an Australian metal project named Atrophyac, and they're extremely good! Tristan Close is an incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist, as displayed on the song "Mass Control", and though I don't know the extent of his connections with Werehold, give Atrophyac's music a listen at their SoundCloud page, as he's got a great thing going! Now to the local metal uploads (in alphabetical order), starting with... Galactic Alignment?! At least for yesterday, the Mike Libertoski-led technical death metal project is under the Werehold banner, and their newest song "Abort the Export" was uploaded by Werehold for Friday the 13th! Also uploaded to Mike's SoundCloud page last week, this is his first Galactic Alignment song posting in 4 months, and it lives up to past expectations for the Toast guitarist's solo work! Very fast, technical, and heavy, and Mike's considerable talents are on full display once again! Hopefully we hear more Galactic Alignment songs soon (perhaps with vocals), but give "Abort the Export" a listen below!



We couldn't go on without looking at label flagship band Life's Eclipse's newest song, so next is the Eckerman metal quartet's newest demo "Face of Horror"! Projected to be on an album named "The Dark Kingdom", the description only credits guitarists Jason Mills & Joe Semasky for the track (no sign of David Mills or Casey Amo), but aside from missing David's vocals, it sounds full and very brutal! Well paced and full of crushing riffs, this continues the promise that Life's Eclipse have constantly shown, and it'd be nice to hear a lot more from them! Give "Face of Horror" a listen below!



Also from Friday the 13th, we have a recent solo track from Mike Libertoski's former Swayze Train bandmate Scott Savoie! As you may remember, the former Insipid Brutality guitarist has recorded a number of original metal tracks for his SoundCloud page in the past year, and yesterday's upload ("Resorting to Pyre") was one of three that Scott posted in May. A thrash metal original with vocals, it's blistering and very heavy, and Scott's vocals are effective! Thrash metal fans would be well served to check out this song, but Scott has songs of numerous genres on SoundCloud, so listen to "Resorting to Pyre" below and more above



Finally, Strongs "backwoods metal" trio Swampghas ended their long absence of activity with a new song upload of their own for Friday the 13th, courtesy of their song "Beneath the Whitmarsh"! A very short track (coming in at just under 2 minutes), this song is expected to be on their long gestating debut CD "The Raco Tower Incident". It's an instrumental (at least in this version), but it delivers heavy metal goods and a raw edge for what we do get, and I really like Doug Reed's drumming on this one! Check out "Beneath the Whitmarsh" below, and hopefully we hear more from Swampghas soon!



That's all for this latest Friday the 13th event from Werehold Records, and compared to the 15 month wait from the previous installment, the next one could be a lot sooner than you think, as the next Friday the 13th will fall in December of this year! Christmas season tie-in too, perhaps? Time will tell, but stay tuned for a new news post on the site hopefully tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

A "New" Local Band, Lineup Changes, And More Assorted New Items!!

Another week is on, and for today's news post, we're mostly clearing out our news cache, so what's on tap? Along with a pile of assorted random recent news items, we have lineup changes and other updates from two new-ish local metal bands, and first, we have a new local hard rock project to plug, so here's what you need to know!

Haggith drummer/local solo musician Mike Haggith announced a new local band project on Saturday, and they're called Mike Haggith & The Din! Likely a reference to his most recent solo album "The Present Din", this project appears to be an outlet for Mike to play his array of solo original material live in the Sault area, which is something I know he'd tried to get going before in town. With a cited genre of "acid jam", Mike Haggith & The Din's lineup is almost the same as the Haggith band's lineup, albeit with the 3 common members in swapped roles (a'la Lion Ride & Detroit), with Mike on vocals & guitar instead of drums, Curtis McKenzie on bass & keyboard instead of vocals, and Daniel Horton on drums instead of guitar. For the record, I don't know if The Din will get any dedicated online pages or just share Mike's solo pages, but Mike did confirm that this project is the newest band on the Paperclip Productions label (no word though on if this is the same as the never-revealed Cadets project.)

As a first sample, Mike posted an extended jam of him and Daniel (Curtis is absent) playing "Limb Coast" from his "Neighbourhood Watch" album onto his new YouTube channel (along with full postings of that album and "Suspended Animation"), but how does it sound? At 23 minutes in length, it definitely has a loose jam feel, and it puts more of a freewheeling experimental take on this already dark and atmospheric song, but the parts that match the original recording line up well! I'm interested to hear how The Din tackles some other Mike Haggith originals, so check out their jam version of "Limb Coast" below, and stay tuned for updates!



Next up, here's the latest updates from Sault Ontario thrash band Pillory, starting with the addition of Cole Royal to their lineup as their new bassist, replacing Jonathan Tiberi. The news was broken on their Facebook page on Thursday, though from what I can tell, he's been with the band since last month. I'm not familiar with Cole musically, but fingers crossed he has the skills to match up with Robert and Bret in their current lineup! No word yet though on a new guitarist to replace the late Andres Duchesne. In the same Facebook posting, Pillory revealed that the release of their "Cringe at the Cross" EP is "not too far away", with a summer release now being worked on, while they also revealed that they just finished writing a new original song named "Dethrone the Dictator". It sounds like Pillory's hard at work on their next plans, but I'd like to see them back on stage, as their only concert was six months ago. They need to build some momentum, but they're talented and have made a good early impression, so hopefully some more big news is coming! Stay tuned for more!

Also, here's the latest from the newer local classic metal previously known as Hydra, starting with a name change, as they quietly changed their name to The Hydra's Teeth on Saturday. A reason for the name change wasn't announced, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's to avoid conflicts with existing bands with the same name. The lengthened name works though! Also, they've confirmed the addition of veteran local drummer Roy Kreutzberger to their lineup (as per their Reverbnation page), returning them to a trio following guitarist Talon Risto's departure. Roy's well known locally from projects like Leaves Off Trees, Startlefish, Odd Man Out, Iron Lung, and Clockwork, some of which date back to the 1990s, so even with a lack of explicit metal work that I can find, the skill's absolutely there for Roy to match up with Late & Loud's Brendan Christie & Benn Garside in this band! Other news hasn't been posted since the above changes, but check out The Hydra's Teeth's promising (though incomplete) original demos at their Reverbnation page above, and keep an eye out for band updates!

We'll close today with six assorted recent news items (as they've been piling up), and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Though not a direct local metal story, Ashes To Dust frontman Noah Morden will take the stage in Superior Heights Collegiate & Vocational School's production of Evita this weekend, where he'll play Che, the narrator. Big opportunity, hopefully all goes well this weekend! As for the band, while we've heard very little from them in recent months,Noah did inquire about returning to this year's Sewer Swampstravaganza, so keep an eye out if they're confirmed!
• On May 10th, Eckerman, Michigan metal band Life's Eclipse posted an unembeddable video sample of a new track named "Aphelion" onto their Facebook page! It sounds very heavy and promising, if incomplete, so check it out at the above links, and fingers crossed we hear more from them soon!
• Bear Hunters/Suicide Kings guitarist/bassist Mitch Sirie is looking for a bassist and drummer for a new progressive metal project that he's working on, though no word on if this is an expansion of his Sorrow Fields solo act or something completely different. If you're interested in trying out, message Mitch at this location or through his post on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on Wednesday!
• Local punk trio Redundant were added as a third opening band for the Sleep When You're Dead-headlined all ages concert at The Oddfellows Hall on May 29th, as confirmed on the Facebook event page on Saturday. Unexpected choice, given that the other three bands are all forms of extreme metal, but Redundant's members all have metal experience, and they should set the tone well with their entertaining originals & covers!
• Ex-Swayze Train/Insipid Brutality guitarist Scott Savoie has uploaded three new solo original songs onto his Soundcloud page in the past month, including a Jeff Hanneman tribute named "Forever Reign", and there's vocals on these new tracks! If that's Scott on the thrashier ones, he could front a band if he wanted! Check out his new songs (one of which has female vocals) at the above links!
• I forgot to mention this when we plugged Winkstinger's addition of Jason Bourcier as their new bassist on here, but his enlistment is sort of a return too, as he fronted Winkstinger's predecessors Operation: Killdozer during their brief mid-2009 run! Fans may remember that at least one Killdozer song ("Pieces of You") was adapted by Winkstinger as "Where'd We Go Wrong" after their debut. It's good to see Jason, Jesse, and Jonas back together, and don't miss the band's return on the 29th!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for my review of The Crusade! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Metal Project, A Rediscovered Music Forum, And More News!!

Now two weeks into our current posting streak at the SMS, we're focusing on mostly Sault Michigan news today (along with a note on an old message board in Sault Ontario that I just came across), so that plus some more assorted news is at the end, but we're leading off with a new band discovery, so here's what you need to know!

We have a new Sault Michigan-area solo project to add to our band links, and it's from regional singer/guitarist Ken Sutton, a.k.a. SweetKenny! A Detroit native who currently lives and works in nearby Dafter, Ken is a longtime veteran of various Michigan music projects over the past three decades, and among his resume, he's played in the Detroit band Labyrinth, mixed & mastered many albums, produced artwork and animation for other projects, and wrote scores for video games and independent movies, of which you can read more on via the biography on his website. In terms of his current solo project, Ken's been working on original material under the SweetKenny moniker since at least 2010, and he's already released five albums online on various music download sites since 2011! As buyable on CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon (and streamable via his website), his albums include his solo "stripped" debut "Raw & Honest", and four 2012 albums, including the softer-leaning "Footsteps", two heavy albums named "The Whole World Is A Fantasy" & "Jennifer's Box of Junk", and an Amazon-exclusive "best of"collection.

Amidst song postings on Reverbnation in recent months, Ken's 2013 plans include the releases of at least two new albums entitled "Doo Hickey" & "Perception", and these (along with his past solo CDs) are likely to be recorded at the Waterfall Recording Studios in Dafter, which he owns and does work with other artists through (click here for information on that front.) I've been familiar with Ken's work in the past, but I'm surprised it took this long for us to connect the dots and cover his music on here! His music is wide-ranging in sound & appeal, but he's clearly a very talented and proficient guitarist, and his songs are often very heavy with a nice classic sensibility! Vocally, Ken's singing changes a lot depending on the song, and I've detected influences from Ian Gillan, Elvis Presley, and Alice Cooper in the songs I've heard! (The latter two aren't a surprise, he's apparently been a tribute artist to both in the past.) There's so much ground to cover, but so far, SweetKenny has a little something for everyone, and his guitar skills are clear as day!

Definitely check out Ken's solo work at the above links, and if the releases hold up for his 2012 albums, I would like to review some SweetKenny albums on here! We've been starved for recent Sault Michigan-area albums as it is since Theatre of Night's most recent release. I've added both SweetKenny and Waterfall Recording Studios to our links on your left,  and for a video, here's his 2010 music video for his song "Friends Again"! Interesting mix of Elvis-esque vocals and funk rock, but it has a good groove, and trust me, he has plenty of heavier tracks to check out at the above links!

Also today, remember how I was lamenting on the loss of more local Sault Ste. Marie music-leaning message boards the other day? Well, I've found a new/old forum from way back when that may serve the same nostalgic needs that the closed Sault Music Scene forums no longer can! The forum is/was SooTonight.com, and it was active for just over a year from November 2005 until December 2006 (later posts were either Toronto-related or spam, and I suspect the latter helped end the forum's active use.) Ostensibly launched to promote concerts and events in the Soo at the time, it saw scattered use through 2006, primarily through the "Who's Playing Where?" and "Post Your Events" sub-boards, which feature some fun nostalgic promotion & posters for shows of the era, including bands like Gates of Winter, Caveman Morrison, Fitswitch, SourceCode, and The Regal Beagle, out of town bands like Gunz N'FN' Rosez, and numerous others from various genres, including some scattered band & non-concert event promotion!

Even though I was too young to attend most of the promoted shows on SooTonight.com, there's a fun nostalgic air with it all, and it's interesting reading about the various defunct bands and venues throughout, even if this forum didn't have the longevity & success of similar boards of the era. Some of the interactions were sort of harsh, but overall, this was a good idea that I wish had lasted longer. Check out SooTonight.com at the above links, and it's now listed with our other message board links on your right!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news stories from Sault Michigan, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• At some point last year (I believe), Sault Michigan hard rockers Monkey's Uncle added prolific local metal guitarist Nathan Switzer to their lineup as their bassist, replacing Jim Belleau. Nathan is the son of frontman Henry Switzer, so that's definitely a good fit on that basis! That said, I apologize if this was badly late, but Monkey's Uncle's MySpace page only gets sporadic updates at best, and news on 2013 concerts are still in limbo. I'll keep you posted!
• Former Swayze Train/Insipid Brutality guitarist Scott Savoie has been releasing original metal compositions to his personal Soundcloud page in the past month, which have a lot of brutal technical metal promise! I have no clue if this will lead into a formal new band project, but these 5 instrumental demos are awesome so far, and check the above link to hear them!
• Also in SoundCloud postings from across the river, local classical metal project Theatre of Night posted an instrumental cover of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 onto their own SoundCloud page yesterday, and it's a great rendition of this classical standard! No word yet on if this will make a future album, but check it out above, and help fund their upcoming "Christmas Night" sessions!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news as the week rolls along, including new concerts across the river and (perhaps) another new local band! Thanks everyone!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

We have a lot of videos in the cache to share with you guys, so here's our first local metal video showcase of November! Today, we have new guitar cover videos from a pair of area hard rock/metal musicians, this week's classic video, and to start, here's another newer video from local grunge quartet Haggith! Their new videos continue to pile up, and we have one more to get to probably next week, but we'll continue with this new live video of the band (minus bassist Caleb Cachagee) playing an acoustic swing variant of their reprise of "Wanko"! Uploaded on Saturday to their YouTube channel, we heard this song in a swing style on a previous concert video, but this unplugged take was filmed outside at night, and as a result, the video quality is incredibly dark. Audio's fine though, and it's an interesting take on the original song with nicely matching lead vocals from Daniel Horton, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more Haggith videos soon!



Next up, here's the newest solo guitar video from former Insipid Brutality/Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie! Uploaded to his YouTube channel on Halloween, this is of him (in his Genocya shirt) playing an original metal riff with lead, and he admitted that the video was more filmed to test his phone's new camera, even apologizing for sloppy playing. It's pretty good even still though, and he definitely has clear talent (but if you've seen his past videos or live shows, you'd know that), so check out Scott's latest video below for some entertaining guitar shredding!



Thirdly today, here's a new video from a Sault Michigan native that we haven't heard much from vocally in recent years, that being RedStone Riot/ex-Elipzis bassist Ryan Harrison! Over a year before moving to Muskegon, Ryan was the frontman of Absolute successors Riot! By Night from 2009-2010 before switching to bass full time in later bands, and while Riot! By Night videos never made it public, Ryan did upload solo acoustic covers of rock songs onto his YouTube channel through April 2010. Over two and a half years later, Ryan finally uploaded three new vocal/guitar covers there yesterday (in what he's calling "The Pajama Sessions"), including his renditions of the Marvelous 3 track "Cigarette Lighter Love Song", "Push" by Matchbox 20, and (as embedded below) Blue October's "Ugly Side", so check them out above & below! Though very soft compared to his full band output, these offer a glimpse at what his live concert singing might have been like, and he shows clear talent on vocals & guitar, including nice control and use of his vocal range, especially on the Marvelous 3 cover!

These are definitely worth checking out, so I've embedded the slightly heavier "Ugly Side" below, but give the rest of his old and new covers a look at the above links, and stay tuned for more from Ryan's solo YouTube channel hopefully soon!

And finally for today, here's this week's classic video! With Powerslug's only video being oddly taken down, I went back to the drawing board to pick an older video to be featured here, and I went with what I would have used had his Roadhouse Bar & Grill show tonight still been on, that being a video featuring Tym Morrison from last year! As you may remember, the Caveman Morrison frontman played a weekly (and later bi-weekly) concert arrangement at The Service Grill on Korah Road from June 2011 through last fall, which garnered a positive response, and one such show on August 27th, 2011 was the partial subject of a video report & article by local news website Local2! Filmed by and featuring remarks & questions from former Local2 contributor Mike Caruso, this video piece features interview segments with both Tym and Service Grill owner Mike LaRue, including remarks on Tym's music, genres, album, band work, and more, while Mike briefly comments on the renovations, hours, and menu at The Service Grill at the start of the video. Tym's interview is partially laid over him covering "Alone" by Heart at that day's acoustic show at The Service Grill's outdoor patio, which is of predictably great quality given it's news connections, and Tym sounds good here on this softer cover!

It's not every day when Local2 touches on SMS-covered acts, though I wish predictions of more live music at The Service Grill had panned out better. This video was originally uploaded on the article linked above via Blip.TV, and to help share it with a wider audience, I thought I'd upload it to YouTube. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for the video & it's contents go to Local2 & Mike Caruso, I'm just trying to share it with a deserving wider audience! It's a nice video profile and interview for sure, so check it and it's attached article out above & below! (The music begins 68 seconds in)



That's all for now, but stay tuned tonight for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post! Thanks everyone!

With Blood Builds Character & BeeFMouTH Videos, Woods V Reviews, And More!!

Wow, it's been a slow streak for news lately, hasn't it? That, and I got a cold that's sapped some of my energy, but there definitely hasn't been a lot of news this week so far, which explains the wait for this new post. We've got stuff today though, including your first glimpse of a new local band, a new video from a late 1990s metal band, some new "W5" reviews, updates to one of our monthly feature series, and a new video from a local guitarist, so read on below for what you need to know!

First up, here's our first video footage of new local hardcore band With Blood Builds Character! The new band formed by members of March Into Regression of course debuted at the F.A.T.I.L. Requiem in Laird on Saturday, and two videos of their set were shot by attendee Tiia Opala-Ollinaho and uploaded to Facebook over the last couple of days, so click here to check them both out! I normally wouldn't share new personal Facebook page-uploaded videos here, but when it's all you have, they're too notable to not share! One video features W.B.B.C.'s current lineup (plus guest drummer Travis St. Amour, who's not staying full time from what I have heard), and the other video features M.I.R. singer/Bear Hunters guitarist Josh Stephney filling in on vocals. Not sure on the exact identity of either song, but the latter sounds familiar. These videos are of solid quality (though the first one is flipped sideways for some reason), and Jeremy does add a unique spin compared to most recent hardcore singers locally, though I've noticed from available photos and videos that their set on Saturday may have taken a more jam session/informal feel like March Into Regression's shows did. Even former M.I.R. bassist Dan Souliere is seen filling in for Tyler St. Amour in some photos I've seen , so it's almost like it was the same band with a different name.

I hope there's more distinction between With Blood Builds Character and March Into Regression in the future (if they are indeed different bands as Travis had said), but either way, W.B.B.C. and M.I.R. both have promise, and hopefully we'll see and hear more from them to come, so stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's a new video from defunct local hardcore punk trio BeeFMouTH! This is of Kevin Campbell & Boyd Rendell's old band playing their song "Tar" at a 1999 jam session, and it was uploaded to Boyd's YouTube channel on July 31st following some post-editing by Boyd's film company 62nd Chamber Productions (who are now in our "Other Local Metal Links" section.) Now, the video has a 62nd Chamber watermark, no letterboxes, a green hue and some more old fashioned effects, and a sound upgrade, and while I don't know if I'd have made it look older, it's a nice look back 13 years! The audio's decent, and though the members all face each other, the video quality isn't bad. "Tar" has that solid mix of high pitched vocals and heaviness again, though this is slower and doomier than some of BeeFMouTH's other available tracks. It's definitely worth checking out, and kudos to Boyd for posting this online for us to check out, so give BeeFMouTH's performance of "Tar" a look below!



Thirdly, here's yet more reviews of Woods of Ypres' powerful final studio album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light"! In February, "Patrick" from the blog Beards etc. gave an A grade to "Woods V", calling it "a very emotional experience" and an early contender for album of the year (although he admitted being biased), even admitting that parts of the album brought him close to tears. It's great to know that David Gold's music can have that effect on some people, it's a testament to his songwriting skills and influence, and check out Patrick's review at this location! In April, Peter Clegg from the blog We Must Obey gave "W5" a positive review, calling it "phenomenal" and a "fitting epitaph", while emphasizing the finality and "death note" feeling that it gave. Solid review, and well written, so click here to read it! Finally, a writer at the doom metal website Doommantia gave "Woods V" a 7/10 rating in February, recommending the album on it's heavy & emotional lyrics, though docking points for what they saw as "minimalist" and "fairly simple" music. I appreciate the honesty in their comparisons to other doom metal bands and the musical quality, but I'd say David & Joel deserve more credit. Still, great points are raised, so click here for their review, and stay tuned for more "Woods V" reviews as I find them!

Also, here's some assorted updates to our YouTube Channel Profile Series, just to make our entries in that monthly feature series more accurate & current. In our Garden of Bedlam YouTube channel profile, I edited the channel info to note that it's no longer their currently-used YouTube channel (that distinction belongs to the "Videos of Bedlam" channel), along with noting that the former Foggy Notions (a frequent early venue of theirs) is now the new Coch's Corner, and also a minor note on songs from their Rotaryfest 2010 set now being on their "Everything Will Die" CD. Similarly, I edited the profile on guitarist Josh Belleau's YouTube channel to note the abundance of official channels. On the joeybeairl channel profile, I renamed Unleashed drummer Jacob Hotland's current band from Tantrum to their new name Tantrym Tyme, and I also restored the video for Candle Hour's song "Overture" due to it's link changing for one reason or another on their channel's profile. Finally for this batch of updates, I noted that ex-Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie has posted a new video to his YouTube channel in our profile of his channel, and because we haven't featured it here before, let's talk about it right now to close this post!

Posted on July 3rd, this must have got lost in the shuffle of our 5th anniversary posts, but it's of Scott's solo cover of the Periphery song "New Groove" (or, about 90 seconds of it.) It's very well done, but I wish Scott had covered more of the original track, but it's a solid start, and he knows it really well! Very technical, but he can handle it for the most part, so check out Scott's newest video below, and stay tuned for more on both him and our next YouTube Channel Profile updates soon!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this weekend's concert previews either tomorrow or Friday morning! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Powerslug) And Some New Videos!!

Well guys, last night's Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands is in the books, and I have a recap (not a review, per say) coming tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Because the videos I filmed are taking forever to upload, but don't worry, it'll be a good one, and you can check out the videos from earlier bands last night and the results at our Facebook page if you wanna until then. So to keep things rolling here (and because of a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT), we've got a post with some recent news today, including new videos, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Powerslug are playing at Golanka's Bar (a.k.a. The Bird) TONIGHT! I apologize for the short notice, but guitarist Chris Gurnoe only just announced the show this morning on his personal Facebook page. This has become a common occurrence with the band formerly known as River Witch for about a year now, since their former Facebook page fell into disuse, as I've only tended to hear about their non-Kewadin shows late or on short notice. I'm doing my best to keep on top of things though, so bear with me! This will be Powerslug's second straight Saturday night concert at The Bird, and though I've yet to hear media of them in action, members' pasts in their predecessor band Blind Baby indicate a solid sound, so don't miss them TONIGHT! Admission should be free, you must be 21 to attend, and there's likely a start time of 10:00 PM. For what little I can gather about this concert, get more at the above links! Hopefully Powerslug knock it out of the park again this weekend, and go check them out tonight for some hard rocking across the river!

Now to some new videos, starting with a new song from prolific local solo guitarist (and judge at last night's battle) Mike Cliffe! Entitled "Nose Hair Sweater", it was uploaded to his YouTube channel last Wednesday, and it's definitely one of Mike's harder rocking and more upbeat instrumental tracks! Employing lots of time signatures and some interesting vocal samples & visualizations, Mike did note that it was "quite unfinished", but complimented how fun it was to play. It's a really cool track as it is, and has lots of creative heavy parts, so check it out below!




Also in new songs is a new solo track from Wearwithal frontman and veteran Sault Michigan singer/drummer Bob "Orb Hearthstone" Helsten! The former voice of bands like I.S.O.M. and End of Existence posted a new original solo song named "Destination" onto his YouTube channel on Tuesday, and it's pretty catchy! Completely clean sung, it's got a nice groove to it with solid melodic vocals, and if this is the direction is solo material is going now, I definitely wanna hear more (though with some harsh singing too, of course.) Very nice, so check it out below, and hear more from Orb's recent band work at the above links!



Finally for today, I'm sharing this last because it doesn't work in the United States, so it has a limited view range. Two weeks ago, former Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie uploaded a video of him covering the Devildriver song "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" onto his YouTube channel, but it was blocked in the United States shortly after on copyright grounds by WMG (probably because the original song was in the background.) That said, it was not blocked in Canada, creating the odd scenario of a video by a Sault Michigan guitarist that only Sault Ontario metalheads can watch without an IP switching tool. If you can see it, you'll get a very proficient and well played cover, and Scott's on high form here, but maybe he should redo it without the backing track for American fans? Check out Scott's newest solo guitar cover below if your country allows it!



That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow for my recap of last night's Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands, and also, tune in to CBC Radio One (89.5 FM in the Twin Saults area) at 5:00 PM TODAY to hear Garden of Bedlam's song "New Rain" on the CBC Radio One program "Bandwidth", which is all about Ontario music! Not sure if they're just being played or if anything else will come up, but listen in at 5:00! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (That's Chester) Plus More News & Videos!!

Things have been slower lately in the local metal scene, but I've scraped together some stories for a new news post today, so here's what's on tap! Today, we've got news on an interesting exhibition that could have metal connections, new videos from a pair of local metal guitarists, and a date change for an upcoming concert weekend, but kicking things off, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!

Sault Ontario classic hard rock quintet That's Chester will return to Docks Riverfront Grill THIS SATURDAY!! I apologize for the relative short notice, a Facebook event page for this show was only posted last night. This concert will mark That's Chester's first concert set since their set at the Quattro Chophouse & Bar three weeks ago during the CARHA Hockey World Cup, but it will mark their first set at Docks in over a month. Note that they are not playing at Docks on Friday, despite Docks' website's event calendar saying otherwise, so if you wanna see That's Chester this weekend, go on Saturday! Why aren't they playing Friday? Beats me, but their hard rocking covers will be sure to entertain just as much on Saturday as they would any other day of the week! This concert will start at 11:00 PM, you must be 19 to attend, and I'd expect a $4 cover charge. For more details, check the above links! This should be another entertaining night of classic material from this talented local quintet, so don't miss out if you're up for some live music on Saturday night! Stay tuned for more on this and other concerts over the coming weekend tomorrow or Friday!

Also on a brief concert schedule note, Caveman Morrison have moved their scheduled Roosevelt Hotel weekend set from May 11th & 12th to April 13th & 14th. A reason for the date changes wasn't announced, but they were edited on the Facebook event page yesterday, and as the existing event page was updated, I can tell that these are likely not separate concerts, so it may have been a scheduling error. No matter what, this is better because their new lineup will hit The Rosie sooner, so circle the new dates on your calendars, and/or go check out Caveman Morrison's new lineup's debut THIS WEEKEND at The Nic!

Next up, here's an interesting note related to National Youth Arts Week in Sault Ontario in early May. I've recently heard from organizer Rihkee Strapp about a planned exhibition of local concert posters in support of the Circle of Creative Arts Center towards offering free art programming to the public while still paying artists during National Youth Arts Week. They're looking for any concert posters, presumably from any era or genre of the local music scene, for display at the exhibition, and they can be photocopied or donated if you're interested in helping. If you donate a poster, you'll be credited for it if you choose, and if you know the artist who designed said poster(s), be sure to mention that as well. If you have any possible submissions, or you have any inquiries, contact Rihkee at rihkee.strap@youthartsweek.ca! This sounds like a really cool idea, and I hope it flies as well as is hoped! I already suggested to Rihkee that the Sault Music Scene Facebook group that specializes in the local scene in the 1970s and 1980s would be great for older poster inquiries, but who knows what's in store come May! If this goes down, I'll definitely keep tabs on it, so stay tuned, and submit your posters to Rihkee if you have some that could be donated!

We'll close with new videos, starting with the latest video posted to Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie's YouTube channel, as uploaded yesterday! For the first time in over 8 months, Scott's uploaded a solo cover of a metal song, and it's of him covering Lamb of God's song "Hourglass", and covering it pretty well! He has it down pretty well, though it's a bit loud compared to the original song in the background. Still, that works well to hear Scott clearly, and this is another solid video on his channel, so check it out below, and note that I've edited our YouTube channel profile on his channel to reflect this video's upload!



Finally for today is some new videos on local solo guitarist Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel! One is entitled "Nuclear Chicken", as uploaded on Sunday, and it's a short slower paced rock number with piano accompaniment, which helps set it apart from some of Mike's other solo work! The piano parts are kinda minimal, but they add to the feel, which helps given the track's length. Not bad, so give it a look at the above links! Embedded below though is Mike's performance of a 1979 jam track named "That Off Time One", which he co-wrote with Dan Boden and Roger Drolet way back when, and uploaded to YouTube last week. Unlike the visulizations on "Nuclear Chicken", this is a newly filmed performance video of Mike playing this track, which is nice to see! It's a solid progressive hard rocker with blues elements, and it's cool to see him revisit old material like this, so give Mike's song "That Off Time One" a look below and at the above links, and hear much more from his solo project at this location!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews, my "Woods V" review, and more very soon! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: skoatdestroy's Channel

It's time for our newest entry in our YouTube Channel Profile Series, and for a fourth straight month, we're looking at just one channel, but in this case, it's one in active use! This channel was randomly chosen from the (at last count) 127 YouTube channels with a 50% or higher majority of local metal-relevant videos, and this post should tell you all about what videos to watch and everything else you should know from this channel! With that said, check out this month's YouTube Channel Profile below! (Edited on February 4th, 2013)
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skoatdestroy's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/skoatdestroy)

Owner: Ex-Swayze Train and Insipid Brutality guitarist Scott Savoie

Channel Timeline: Launched on February 28th, 2011; Videos posted from April 2011 onward

Channel Summary: This is the official YouTube channel from Sault Michigan metal guitarist Scott Savoie. Launched last year, the channel mostly serves to showcase Scott's solo work, usually centered around short original guitar pieces and experimentation. These include a video of a tapping riff & guitar solo, a 30 second arpeggio performance, and a solo classical-ish original, among other longer & more viewed videos. His channel also includes covers, including of Lamb of God's "Hourglass", Periphery's "New Groove", and a Canada-exclusive cover of Devildriver's "Not All Who Wander Are Lost". No clips of him in concert or with his bands are posted yet on Scott's channel, but as it is currently in active use, anything's possible!

Why Should You Watch: Because Scott is a very talented guitarist with some clear skill and songwriting ability, and his solo work deserves notice! It's always good to see local musicians show their skill like this, and Scott definitely has a lot of cool and proficient guitar work to show to the world! He still actively uses his channel and posts videos to it, so I definitely recommend subscribing, but note that nothing of his old bands has been posted there, so if you're expecting live/band videos, they won't be there (at least not yet.)

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

Random shred on a solo-6 atx: Scott's oldest and most popular video has received over 4,200 views since it's upload last year, even though it was mostly filmed so he could try out his new Schecter Solo-6 Blackjack ATX guitar. Just 70 seconds long, it still has some really cool guitar shredding and soloing, and it's a nice sampling of Scott's talent as a guitarist!



protest the hero-spoils-cover: The first of four covers on Scott's channel, this solo rendition of Protest The Hero's "Spoils" was uploaded last July. I'm not a scholar of Protest The Hero's work, but Scott definitely knows this song really well, and you can hear his playing over the original backing track without it being too overpowering. Solid work as usual, and watch out for a cameo appearance by Scott's Swayze Train bandmate Mike Libertoski late in the video!



building a reflection: This video is of Scott's solo original piece "Building A Reflection", which he wrote using help from his Line 6 Pod HD500 amp modeller. It's a work in progress, but it's well composed and has a nice progressive metal-intro feel, though it can get repetitive. It's a really nice change of pace from typical blistering metal stuff, and it's definitely worth checking out on it's own merits!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we're going to look at 2 channels rather than 1 or 3 for the first time, as the first channel I randomly selected only had two distinct local metal-relevant videos, so I added a second randomly selected channel with only one to supplant the post. So next month, we're taking a look at YouTube user genesyco's channel (featuring two videos from Kiss' Kewadin Casino concert in 2007) and the official YouTube channel from Sault Michigan hard rock band Elements of Madness! Watch out for that on or around April 22nd, and stay tuned tomorrow for a new news post AND our Kiss Battle of the Bands profile in our current battle mini-series! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison) & New Sault Michigan-Related Videos!!

Well, I figured our next post on here would be our next Defunct Local Band Profile, but I had to rush a news post onto the site due to a short notice LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TODAY! That and a few more new concerts from the same act lie below, but also check out this post for some new videos from across the river in Sault Michigan, including a new concert video and the latest videos from two talented area guitarists, so here's what you need to know!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison has announced FOUR more acoustic solo concerts for this spring, including a return to Bossy's Pub N' Grub TODAY!! I apologize for the short notice, Tym only just announced these concerts (including today's) yesterday. Among the new shows he announced, Tym will be back at the Pim Street bar/restaurant today & next Saturday at 2:00 PM, pushing his Bossy's weekly concert arrangement to a 10th & 11th week, which is good to see! The other new shows include a return to The Zone Roadhouse in Goulais River for the first time in four months next Saturday, which will also serve as both his second show of the day and his St. Patrick's Day show! That should be fun, and I imagine green beer will be flowing readily! The final new show will be a Friday night return to The Service Grill on Korah Road on April 6th for the first time in almost two months, and it's good to see him back at one of his recent favourite concert spots! The non-Bossy's gigs should have 9:00 PM-ish start times and no cover charges, and though the Zone show is likely 19+, The Service Grill's show might not be due to the restaurant setting. Click the above links for each new show's respective Facebook event page!

It's cool to see Tym announce a bunch of shows at once, with advance time to spread the word for most of them, so hopefully some of you guys can plan your schedules to check Tym out this spring! First of all though, he'll be back at Bossy's THIS AFTERNOON, so if you want some acoustic hard rocking good times, you know where he'll be today! For a preview of today's show, check out this video of Tym covering Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" at Bossy's in January!



Next up, here's a brand new concert video from a recent major Kewadin Casino metal show! We've seen videos of hair metal legends Stryper & Slaughter from their show at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino from February 24th already via YouTube user soundsunlimiteddj's YouTube channel, but only last week did he post a video of opening band Lynch Mob to go along with his other concert clips! The video is of ex-Dokken guitarist George Lynch's band playing the title track of their 1990 debut album "Wicked Sensation", and like with soundsunlimiteddj's other videos from this show, the quality is awesome! Though heads can get in the way, the band sounds good with a solid groove, and maybe I'll have to give Lynch Mob more of a listen now after seeing this video! Check out the new Lynch Mob video from this concert below, and if any more Stryper, Slaughter, or Lynch Mob videos turn up online, I'll be sure to have them here!



Also in new videos, Trail's End guitarist Chris Hubbard has posted some new videos onto his YouTube channel, and though two of them are from Van Halen's recent concert in Detroit, the rest deal with Chris' own solo work and instruments! The three most recent, which were uploaded last week, are videos of some of Chris' custom Van Halen-styled instruments, including two EVH guitars and a work-in-progress Alex Van Halen drum kit replica, so click here to see his work if you're interested in seeing some well done guitar/drum customization! The other new videos are of Chris playing the guitar, one of which is Chris covering snippets various Van Halen songs for about 10 minutes, and all sound really good, but the view on the video is of his EVH guitar rig and occasionally his foot. That's the point of the video though, so I'm not too disappointed, and you hear some great guitar work regardless! The video we're embedding here though is of Chris covering the new Van Halen song "Blood & Fire" in full, and though the angle on Chris is further than on his other posted Van Halen covers, this is a solid version of this sort of-new Van Halen track! Check it out below, and watch more of Chris' solo videos at the above links!



And finally for now, Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie has posted a new solo performance video to his YouTube channel! Uploaded on Thursday and entitled "Building A Reflection", he says he wrote this using the loop function of one of his amp models, and it's a cool sounding piece that could start a quality progressive metal track if he built on it more! Definitely check it out below, and keep posted to the SMS for more from Scott and Swayze Train!



That's all for the moment, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on Paraside later today! Thanks everyone!

Sault Michigan Concert Previews For Today, Plus New Videos!!

As promised, it's time for our previews of this weekend's Sault Michigan concerts... actually, both of the metal/hard rock ones that I know about are TONIGHT, so pay close attention, especially seeing as the first major Dreammaker's Theater metal show of 2012 is near at hand! We've also got some new solo performance videos from a pair of Sault Michigan artists to round things out, so let's get things started!

Yes, the first major metal concert at The Dreammaker's Theater at Kewadin Casino of 2012 is almost upon us, and it's a triple header of classic 1980s and hair metal, headlined by Christian metal legends Stryper! Yes, this California quartet known for hits like "Free", "Honestly", and "To Hell With The Devil" will be sure to deliver a positive though hard rocking set of their classics tonight in this stacked concert! Joining them in their first trip to the area in almost 4 years are Las Vegas metal notables Slaughter, and with classic songs like "Up All Night", "Fly With The Angels", and "Gave You My Heart" in store, you know they'll deliver a quality set of old school favourites tonight as well! Rounding out the lineup for this show is original Dokken guitarist George Lynch's metal band Lynch Mob, who had hits in the early 1990s with songs like "Tangled In The Web" and "River of Love", and they should set the tone well for this huge show tonight! With all this talent and all these classic 1980s and 1990s material, a great show can be expected, but there's lots of local ties to take note of as well! Of course, we saw Slaughter open for Jackyl at the now-Essar Center in May 2008, while Stryper's Michael Sweet sang with Boston at Kewadin the following month, and Lynch Mob's Robbie Crane played at Kewadin with Ratt in 2006, so there'll be a bunch of familiar faces tonight for local concertgoers!

If you're interested in going and don't have your ticket yet, then good news, as there's still tickets available from the 9th row and back! They're going for $36 (or just $12 a band), so click here to buy some online, or visit the Kewadin box office in person, or call 1-800-KEWADIN to get hooked up! A 7:00 PM start time is advertised, and I believe this show is all ages. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! I'm not a huge fan of hair metal, but there's plenty of talent to go around from these three bands tonight, and I know a devoted crowd will turn out in full force at The Dreammaker's Theater to enjoy this tripleheader! Enjoy yourselves if you have tickets, and we'll have concert fallout for sure as it comes in, but for now, let's preview the show with Stryper playing their song "To Hell With The Devil" last year at a Nashville concert!



The other Sault Michigan metal show that I know of this weekend takes place in the same building as the Stryper show, as local hard rock quintet Swayze Train will hit The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino tonight at around 9:00 PM! Originally, Swayze Train were to have rocked The Rapids Lounge tomorrow night as well, but Kewadin's showing of UFC 144 put that half of the weekend aside, so if you want your Swayze Train fix, make sure you're here tonight, not tomorrow! There's still a surpriising lack of Swayze Train media files to preview their sound with, but knowing who's in the band and their local resumes, it's safe to assume that they'll deliver a hard rocking good time to end Friday with, and if you're 21+ and just leaving the Stryper show, the party won't be near over! Swayze Train should be on at around 9:00 PM tonight, there's no cover charge, and as alluded to above, you must be 21 to attend this particular concert. Check the above links for more details! This should be another solid concert from Swayze Train, so don't miss it if you're in the market for local hard rock tonight, and stay tuned for more updates from them as they come in... like the one below!

The other day, we covered some new media from guitarist Mike Libertoski, and now, here's the latest video from his fellow Swayze Train axe slinger Scott Savoie! On Saturday, Scott posted this "classical(ish)" solo video of him playing a classical sounding instrumental piece onto his YouTube channel, and though it's not finished, it does have promise as a song intro, and he's playing it pretty well! Not too much to say, but give Scott's new video a look below, and stay tuned for more of his YouTube uploads if they come in!



Finally for today, here's the latest solo performance video from Trail's End drummer and Grooves Music instructor Jake LaLonde! Yesterday, he posted a video of his cover of Rise Against's "Saviour" onto his YouTube channel, which is filmed from the same angle and camera as his Breaking Benjamin cover from last week. I'm not a huge Rise Against fan, but he definitely knows this song well, and his drumming's on form and very proficient here, so give his latest solo drum cover a look below, and stay tuned for more videos from Trail's End members (including maybe the full band live?!) as they come in!



That's probably all for today, but stay tuned for more news this weekend hopefully, along with this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile on Mothership on Sunday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), New Videos, And More!!

Let's get to some more news as we hit the middle of the week! Today, we've got some new videos from some Sault Michigan area performers, a local hard rock album postponement, and the likely identity of this month's CD review on the SMS, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for this weekend! Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison's current weekly concert arrangement at Bossy's Pub N' Grub will continue on Saturday afternoon with another acoustic show! This will be Tym's fourth straight Saturday show at the former Smack Daddy's, and you know he'll have plenty of hard rocking unplugged covers in store for fans and Bossy's regulars this weekend! Admission should be free, this should be an all ages event, and Tym will be on from 2:00 PM to about 6:00 PM on Saturday. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! After finally getting to see Tym's solo show after two+ years, I can safely say that he'll impress with his wide mix of acoustic covers from metal to even country, so if you're free on Saturday afternoon, consider a trip down to Bossy's this weekend! Stay tuned for more Tym (and Caveman) Morrison updates as they come in! Next up, here's some updates on both our next CD review and an upcoming local metal album. You may remember that I tentatively slotted Sault Ontario solo artist Mike Haggith's new album "Neighbourhood Watch" for a review this month, seeing as it was slated to come out.... today. Well, the album has been postponed indefinitely, as revealed on a post on his Facebook page on Friday. The reason is due to illnesses that appear to have put a halt on the final recordings for the album, although Mike later confirmed that a new track named "Fading" will make the album as well upon it's release. As of right now, Mike says that "Neighbourhood Watch" will be completed "when it is", so there's no current timetable, and a release before the end of the month looks unlikely. This is disappointing, but hopefully Mike gets well soon so we can hear more new material, and click here for more on the album, including some preview demo tracks! That said, now that this album is on hold, what CD are we going to review this month? Barring a flash new release in the next week, we'll probably review defunct local hard rockers Foothill Road's second self-titled CD, as guitarist Mario Carlucci rocked the stage this month with Sneaky Pete, so that ties in well, so unless anything changes, look out for this month's CD review by Tuesday! Let's wrap up this post with some new videos, starting with another new video from Kinross hard rockers Banned! Once again from Ashley Traynor's YouTube channel, this is also from Banned's show at The Bird on Saturday night, and it's the first Banned video we've seen featuring new singer Mike Straw on actual lead vocals! It's of their cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone", and how does Mike (and the band) do on it? Mike's stage presence is stiff, but he doesn't do a bad job singing this song, even if it's not that heavy, and hopefully we'll hear more lead vocal work from Mike in the future! Thanks again to Ashley for these nice quality Banned concert videos, and check out their rendition of "Tuesday's Gone" below! And finally, here's a short 30 second video from Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie! It's just of Scott practicing some arpeggios on his guitar, which sound nice, but I wish the video was longer. Not too much to say, but Scott's definitely a talented guitarist, so check out his new video from Monday below, and if you're in the St. Ignace area, go see Swayze Train there this weekend at their Kewadin Casino! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews over the next few days! Thanks everyone!