YouTube Channel Profile Series: bretdrummer's Channel

After a delay due to a busy weekend concert preview stretch, here's this month's YouTube Channel Profile, as we again spotlight a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk musicians/concerts! This month's random choice is actually a channel that is very much still active, from a local drummer whose talents will be known to many extreme metal followers in the Soo area, so here's what you should know!

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bretdrummer's Channel (http://youtube.com/@bretdrummer)

Owner: Pillory drummer Bret Shuttleworth, also known for his work in bands like The Issues and Lazer Queen

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 24th, 2016; Videos uploaded from October 2016 onward

Channel Summary: A personal use channel, Bret has uploaded over 300 videos here, mostly featuring his own drum performance, practice, and cover videos. While the bulk of his uploads have been for his drumming exploits (especially in the past two years), Bret previously focused his channel more on video game uploads from titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring, with 64 such videos before he switched to all music, as well as seven videos from 2019 where he showed off and tested Ultrasabers, real buildable lightsabers for avid Star Wars fans. Pillory-relevant videos include a handful of live and jam session videos from the mid-2000s and the past year, as well as uploads of their "Cringe At The Cross" demo EP, though only a few dozen videos here directly reflect/feature the band.

Why You Should Watch: As the channel mostly has drum-centric videos, fans of death metal drumming will get the most value out of Bret's channel, and he has serious drumming ability, which Pillory fans will be well acquainted with! I mean, look at his drumkit, you know he's talented to be using that! The Pillory videos (especially the recent ones) are well worth a watch to see full sets and their most technical material, and fans of modern AAA gaming and Star Wars cosplay will get a kick out of those early uploads as well. Bret still actively uses his channel, so follow/subscribe to hear what he's up to nowadays, both with Pillory and by himself!

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Territory - Sepultura (Cover Practice): With over 19,000 views, this jam session cover of Sepultura's "Territory" by Pillory from May of last year is by far Bret's most popular video. Also featuring frontman Robert Sartini (who does not sing here) and bassist Blair St. John (who recently left Pillory), this is a very strongly handled cover of this 1990s Sepultura classic, and while I'd have preferred vocals, it's strongly performed and well framed for the space! For more Sepultura content, Bret also uploaded a solo drum cover of "Desperate Cry" here last year.

 

Death Metal Drumming Practice (124×) (Multi-video): Bret literally has dozens of solo drumming videos here, so there is no shortage of videos to source from for a feature like this, and it's nearly impossible to pick one over the others. In terms of view count and length (as most are fairly short), one worth highlighting is this practice video from August, which showcases some excellent technical drumming with plenty of cymbals and blast beats to go around! This is just one of many though, so browse Bret's channel if solo practice performances like this interest you.

Pillory - Live at Soo Blaster (April 18th 2025): Since Pillory returned as a full public band last summer, Bret has uploaded four different full-set videos to his channel, including from sets in Leeburn, at Soo Blaster (one audio, one video), and one at Jay's Piston Broke Pub. The most bang for your buck in terms of length and video quality comes from their set at The Pit at Soo Blaster two months ago, where Robert, Blair, and Bret tore through "End Of Small Sanctuary", "Specimen Of Egotism", "Sculptor Of Cadavers", "The Angst Of Existence", "The Passing", "Abhorred Apprehension", "The Curse Of Eternal Sickness",  "A Drop Of Shame In An Ocean Of Guilt", and their "Territory" cover (now with vocals). Despite Bret opting to blur some of the strobe lighting in post-production due to the seizure risk, this is the best looking and sounding of Pillory's concert videos here, and their brutal but very proficient brand of death metal was on full display here for a receptive audience! Don't miss them back at Soo Blaster on July 30th!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series (hopefully closer to the 26th), our next randomly selected channel will be the of YouTube user TheLateandLoud, featuring video content from the local classic metal quartet's original heyday. That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's CD review next! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: kennybekendam, Jon Livingstone, And George Poury

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as our monthly feature series on local metal/hard rock/punk YouTube channels enters another month! As usual, we're looking at 1-3 randomly selected channels (3 this time) with a 50% or higher count of videos relevant to our coverage, in order for readers to check them out, subscribe, and/or learn more about the presented artists and shows, and yes, the first channel is the one we postponed after realizing we had more different videos last month than anticipated. There's a wide array below to check out in this installment, so read on for what you should know!
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kennybekendam's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/kennybekendam)

Owner: Hamilton pop rock solo musician Kenny Bekendam

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 17th, 2011; Videos uploaded from January 2012-April 2014

Channel Summary: Though intended as a solo YouTube channel on his music and performances, two of Kenny's four videos are from local/Toronto indie punk quartet Treble Charger's reunion concert on March 21st, 2012 at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre during that year's Canadian Music Fest. His videos include Treble Charger playing their songs "10th Grade Love" (complete with an enthusiastic fan dancing on stage) and, as embedded below, the more viewed "Red". Greig, Bill, and company sound good on two of their popular early hits, and the crowd's definitely into both, but the videos aren't terribly close to the stage, and they can be a little blurry. Still, Treble Charger fans should like these clips from their first concert in nine years, and though this channel hasn't been updated in almost a year, give Kenny's own material a look too for some solid indie rock!


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Jon Livingstone (http://youtube.com/channel/UC62PXyx9K6IkL2qQVpwySRA)

Owner: Sault Ontario resident and local musician Jon Livingstone

Channel Timeline: Launched on October 30th, 2012; Videos posted on January 28th, 2013

Channel Summary: All three of Jon's videos are audio recordings of his friend, ex-Pillory drummer Bret Shuttleworth, playing what are labelled as solo tracks. These include apparent original songs named "No Doubt In My Mind" & "Now I'm Here" and the most viewed video, a cover of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls", though it's unclear if Jon plays an instrument role on them. If that's Bret singing on these tracks, then he has a good voice, and that fits very well on the Metallica cover, but the two originals are much softer than Bret's band work, though the dark "Now I'm Here" does give the vibe of an intro to a metal song yet to be written. Bret's talented, and it'd be nice to see him pick up his solo work again, or join another local band in the future! However, keep in mind that Jon hasn't updated this channel in a year or so.


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George Poury (http://www.youtube.com/jurgenss88)

Owner: YouTube user George Poury

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 26th, 2012; Videos posted on February 16th, 2013

Channel Summary: Though not from the Soo (a post on his channel is in Latvian), George's two YouTube postings are both of songs by defunct local doom metal band Woods of Ypres, both from their final album, 2012's "Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light". Both uploaded as lyric videos with the song lyrics synched with the music, the songs are "Modern Life Architecture" and (as embedded below) "Silver", both among the doomier of the songs on the disc. Though there are fuller and more substantive sources of Woods of Ypres studio material on YouTube, these videos are worth checking out if you want to sing along with or get the lyrics for these two, so they work well on that basis! Note however that George hasn't visibly updated this channel since last year.


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I hope you guys liked today's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, we'll return to a single channel profile, as next month's random selection is Skeyes of Seven/ex-As It Stands drummer John Mignacca's current YouTube channel, featuring a bunch of A.I.S. and solo postings! Watch for that on or around May 22nd, and stay tuned for weekend concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

A New Local Band, A Likely Inactive Band, And New Solo Videos!!

30 straight days of new updates at the SMS, thanks to everyone for following along over the past month! I'd originally planned to have some new shows today, but I'll slightly postpone them to tie them in with some upcoming weekend concert previews from the same band. So for today, we have some new videos from local metal musicians and a note on a band that has likely drifted into inactivity, but first, here's a recently reviewed band at the site that we can now add to our links, so here's what you need to know!

We have a new band to add to the SMS' listings, and as you may expect, it's new local hardcore/doom AlgomA! Fresh off of their debut gig opening for Soul Killing Female at 180 Projects on Sunday, the band launched their Facebook page on Monday, and also have a YouTube channel that'll hopefully feature some new videos in the near future. Thanks to the concert and past hints on 62nd Chamber Productions' blog, we knew some on AlgomA, but what's new to say now that they have public pages? They're from both the Soo & Garden River, stoner & sludge metal are among their subgenres, their songs deal with "a wide range of depressing subject matter", and they're inspired by a wide range of bands (everything from The Melvins to Eyehategod to Joy Division.) As well, singer/guitarist Boyd Rendell & singer/bassist Kevin Campbell are each credited under stage names, Boyd's being Darby Wigwaus (his name on Twitter) and Kevin's being Marty Chase, which lines up with their stage name use on posthumous BeeFMouTH material, so it's not that out of left field.

More photos from their debut gig (better ones than I got) can be seen on their Facebook page linked above, and AlgomA have promised some new videos from the show as well, so stay tuned for all of that and more band news soon, and hopefully their entertaining and very brutal doom metal sounds can be heard live again soon, including at hopefully some more all ages shows from drummer Jamie Vincent! AlgomA are now in our active Sault Ontario band links on your left!

Next up, I want to acknowledge a band we'll likely be bumping to our inactive band links soon, that being Sault Ontario glam/punk quartet Dirty Virgin. Though nothing has been posted to confirm their status, they haven't made any official public updates since their last concert, which will be a year ago on Saturday, hence why we're counting them as inactive. Dirty Virgin were a steady sight at local concerts in 2008 & 2009, playing shows at venues like the old Coch's Corner & The Grand Theater, including some memorable opening slots & a runner up finish at 2009's YMCA Battle of the Bands. However, news tailed off by early 2010 after their appearance at the Kiss Battle of the Bands, and amidst months of prolonged inactivity, they only resurfaced for two one-off Canadian Nightclub gigs, opening for Crued in April 2011 and Late & Loud in March 2012. I wish Dirty Virgin had been more active in the 2010s, as they had an entertaining sound that brought some classic hair metal influences and punk sensibilities to the stage, and they were original compared to other bands at the time!

Though the vocals were hit & miss at times, Dirty Virgin had a good thing going, and I'd love to see them resurface (even for one-offs) again down the road, or at least stay active in other bands (such as Matt Hicks & Matt Clement's industrial project Riverin.) Best of luck to Bobby, Ryan, Lionel, the Matts, and Dickie in the future, and if they come back at all in the future, we'll be sure to let you guys know!

We'll close today with new solo videos, starting with new solo videos from former Inhuman Methods guitarist Alex Swain! Though his band is now inactive, they were together as recently as late January, as Alex uploaded two solo guitar play-through videos then of a planned Inhuman Methods original song onto his YouTube channel! The videos were two parts of the same 6 minute original (name unknown), and it's really promising with a lot of fast technical riffing, though it can be somewhat repetitive, and I'd like to have heard more of a solo. I imagine it'd sound better with the full band, but with their breakup, I can only hope that Alex brings this track with him to a new project down the road. I've embedded the first half of the song below, but be sure to check out the second half at this location, and if I hear anything new on Alex's next musical steps, I'll be sure to let you guys know!

Finally, here's some new audio recordings from Pillory/Lazer Queen drummer Bret Shuttleworth that I recently came across! Uploaded by YouTube user Jon Livingstone last month, they include two new original songs named "No Doubt In My Mind" and "Now I'm Here", and as best as I can tell, these only feature Bret on all instruments (unless there's some uncredited input from Jon or others.) Softer than his metal drumming repertoire, Bret is surprisingly good at clean singing (if that's him), and the guitar work isn't bad either, especially on "Now I'm Here", which is an instrumental number that sounds like a Metallica-esque song intro. That said, fans of his band work will probably gravitate to Jon's other upload of Bret's, which is a solo cover of Metallica's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" featuring him on all instruments again (I assume), and though he took a self-deprecating shot at it on his personal Facebook page, all it really needs is better recording quality & timing, , as the drumming's solid, and the vocals fit really well with the track! Check out Bret's Metallica cover below, and hear more of his recent solo work at the above links!


That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon, including this weekend's concert previews and our review of SweetKenny's new album this weekend! Thanks everyone!