LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison), A New Video, And Much More!!

After a quiet weekend out of town, we have a new news post for your Sunday evening, so what's within this one? Lots of assorted short stories from the last week or so, but we also have a new video featuring a guitar review, and leading off, SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for the next few days!

Prolific local acoustic hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Mark's Breakfast Plus for three more matinee concert sets TOMORROW, TUESDAY, and WEDNESDAY! Apologies for the short notice, these shows were only announced via their official Facebook event page earlier today. Tym will hit there for the first time in about a month, keeping with his usual trend of playing Mark's for early week matinees that don't conflict with his similarly timed Gliss shows from Thursdays-Saturdays. As a result, we are approaching the mid-point of a nine show run in just ten nights, and if you're up for some unplugged hard rock favourites in the west end, be at Mark's TOMORROW, TUESDAY, or WEDNESDAY! As usual for Tym's matinee gigs at either restaurant, expect 6:00 PM start times over the next three evenings, and there are no cover charges or age limits, but mind the locale. See above for more details, and here's Tym live!



Next up, here's a new video from prolific local rock guitarist and Audiofumes podcast host Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel on December 2nd, featuring his review of a unique guitar! The instrument in question is the Seagull Merlin 4, a dulcimer-inspired acoustic guitarwith only four strings. Very folksy, bluegrass-reminscent sound, but it's an intriguing guitar that might be worth a look for guitarists and fans of Mike's music alike, and you can do so below!



Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, event, or page name:

• I have deleted local music promotion/photography company For The Music Inside from our "Other Local Metal Links" due to it's Facebook (and only surviving online) page being taken down at some point in the past 6 months.  Though most of their latter content was from Southern Ontario events, I liked what Joseph and Sean were doing to promote local shows and get great photos therein, and hopefully F.T.M.I. is revived down the road!
• In his first Facebook page posting in over a month, local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary shared a new acoustic cover of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" from his Soundcloud page this past Tuesday! This version is a slower re-arrangement that has some intriguing compromises for it's style, with Mike also confirming that unspecified health issues were to blame for his November break, but new originals and his debut EP are still forthcoming!
• In another deletion from our "Other Local Metal Links", we have also removed inactive local label/recording studio Paperclip Productions due to it's Facebook (and only online) page's deletion in recent months as well. Best known as the independent label and studio for the band Haggith and their side projects in the early-mid 2010s, it is unfortunate to see their last online page taken down, but you can hear much of their output via band pages!
• In one final deletion from that same section, we have also removed what we labelled as "Sault Ste. Marie Concert Archive", which was a results listing of local concerts via Canadian news/entertainment site Canoe prior to their major design overhaul earlier this year, with the concert listing search no longer functioning to my knowledge. It was a great resource, especially when sourcing when certain notable touring bands played here in the pre-Facebook era, and hopefully Canoe restores it in some form!
• Just a belated acknowledgement from our coverage of Sault Michigan-area label Werehold Records' final Friday the 13th music event in October, as cross-Michigan metal project Shatterhand (featuring Werehold founder Jason Mills) have resurfaced via their own YouTube channel! Only one song is there so far ("Faulty", complete with vocals), but whether channel exclusivity, lack of vocals, or another factor are to blame for their removal from Werehold's channel is up for debate. Shatterhand aren't a true local band, but I wanted to acknowledge the missing songs here!
• The planned third installment of J.D. Pearce's seasonal acoustic punk revue X-Mess on December 23rd was cancelled late last month. While the show hadn't publically had a venue confirmed for it, he noted on the Facebook event page that it was primarily cancelled due to "a charity gig" taking place "super close" to it. J.D is likely referring to the second Guy Thiffault tribute concert on December 27th, which he and scheduled performer Lucas Schmiedendorf are both playing with Jack Spades and The HTs respectively. Disappointing on one hand, but the memorial show will be a blast once again, so see above for details on it!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next, likely tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Friday The 13th New Music On Werehold Records (The Final Friday!!)

(Updated on October 17th) Before we get too deep into this post, just a late notice heads-up on a band switch for concerts this weekend, as Traverse City, Michigan metal trio Scarkazm will replace sister band Peril TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT for their shows at The Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace. "Unforeseen circumstances" regarding Peril drummer Brooks Elliott were cited for the switch, as per Scarkazm's Facebook page, though seeing as both bands share a 2/3rds identical lineup, Scarkazm can slide in very easily. Don't miss Scarkazm's metal and hard rock covers TONIGHT & TOMORROW in St. Ignace, and hopefully all is well with Brooks!

Now, today's post is otherwise devoted to the ninth installment of Sault Michigan-area independent label Werehold Records' Friday the 13th music posting event, but unfortunately, this will also be the last installment. After 5½ years of delivering new label music on each Friday the 13th (save for November 2015), this is indeed "the final Friday", with Werehold owner Jason Mills confirming that in a personal conversation last month, noting that the events didn't take off like he thought they would. I find the news disappointing, as this was always a welcome and positive blast of metal on the supposedly unlucky day, but if it has to end, what better time than in October for the Halloween season? In fact, they're going out with a bang, as a record-tying nine new songs were posted today for the occasion! One song comes from Brimley artist Leonard LeBlanc's electronic solo project Palaver, entitled "You'll See Her Eyes, If You're Hungry", in his first Friday the 13th song since March 2015.

While not overly heavy, this song has a nice rhythm and 1980s-retro feel, so give it a listen if you're a fan of electronic instrumental music! On the metal side of things, four of this year's initial songs are actually from a debuting group named Shatterhand, so what is there to say about them? This is a new project from the aforementioned Jason Mills on guitar alongside Manton, Michigan-based singer/guitarist Timothy Simon Birdsall and Lansing-based multi-instrumentalist Mitchell Wells, who mans a solo project there under the name Mitch Michelle (or Barph Blahgo). As the band's only 1/3rd local, and don't have an online page yet, they won't be immediate additions to our band links, but it's great to see some new blood on the Werehold roster! Both the band and today's songs are all named after old NES video games, including songs named "Abadox", "Phantom Fighter", "Vice Project Doom", and "Nightshade", so how did they sound?

While these songs don't yet have vocals (which won't be a shock compared to usual Friday the 13th output), Shatterhand have promise, and I like the hybrid of groove metal with more of a progressive and electronic element, which has to be influenced by Mitch's own solo career, which is quite eclectic and varied. Unfortunately, all of the Shatterhand songs were quietly deleted for unannounced reasons a few days later, (very unusual for the label to do that) but hopefully they resurface, as I liked where Shatterhand were going!

Also, reports of the demise of Jason's solo project The 1,000,000,000's Who Died are premature, as they also returned for the final Friday the 13th event! We originally removed them from our band links in June when it was discovered that their Facebook page was taken down, but the page was quietly restored in recent months, so the page must have been automatically deactivated in a Destroiletesque fashion. Yes, The 1,000,000,000's Who Died are back in our active Sault Michigan band links! Last heard on the May 2016 installment, the Soo/Isle Royale project is featured with new songs named "Conquer the Rest" &, as embedded below, "Glass Coffin", which are both short, though this is par for the course with this act. An included bass solo adds some zest to the song, which both harbouring a technical aggressive attack and programmed blast beat drums for good measure, so give The Billions Who Died's new songs a listen as well!



Finally, I thought it was appropriate to come full circle with Werehold Records' Friday the 13th saga, by ending with the very first band we started our coverage of this event with, namely local metal project Life's Eclipse! They're featured in two songs from today's upload spree, including, "Houses" from the "The Dark Kingdom" album, and as embedded below, "A.C.L.D." from "Deeper In The Woods". The former again features Mitch as a guest musician, albeit here on a mellotron keyboard, and the song is a massive departure for Life's Eclipse, taking on a quiet, reserved sound that is honestly more reminiscent of medieval folk, but it's nice to see Jason and company spread their wings! As for "A.C.L.D.", that delivers more brutal instrumental metal action that existing fans will take to, and hopefully some of these albums will see a paid release at some point! Give Life's Eclipse's newest songs a listen above & below!



That's all for the Friday the 13th new music events from Werehold Records, which were fun while they lasted, but hopefully everyone stays musically active and keeps new material rolling when available on YouTube or other platforms! For what it's worth, the next Friday the 13th is in April, but unless there's a reversal of plans, don't expect anything special in six months, though stay tuned for more news here as it rolls in! Thanks everyone!