LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Gnaeus & Project 906), As It Stands Updates, And Much More!!

Here's a surprise second post on this Saturday, as we have a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to tackle for TONIGHT, with new videos to boot! To round things out, we have one more new show coming up next month, a big posthumous release of an unreleased EP, and some assorted recent notes, so here's what you should know!

We can officially confirm and call TONIGHT'S Project 906 show, as they'll be playing at the local chapter of The Highland Clan Motorcycle Club's annual Summer Bash! Apologies for the short notice, we didn't call this as a show during our weekend concert previews as we weren't positive on if it was a public event, with Project 906 guitarist Joe Jenkins confirming that it was this morning. Taking place at 235 Magazine Street (minutes from The Satisfied Frog), this event follows a poker run from the HCMC that is ongoing as of this writing, so hopefully that's a hit as well, and Project 906 should deliver a solid set at the Summer Bash TONIGHT! While this may seem like an atypical concert for Project 906, remember that Joe's old band Exiled played a few motorcycle club events during their 2014 heyday, including one from the Highland Club. Note as well that the Facebook event page doesn't credit any events going on tonight (let alone Project 906's set), but the band's Facebook page announced their involvement earlier this week.

A 7:00 PM start time is in effect for TONIGHT'S Summer Bash, which has no announced cover charge or age limits, but have both in the back of your head just in case. For a preview, here's three new jam session videos, courtesy of Project 906's Facebook page in recent days! The videos are covers of Nena's "99 Red Balloons", Philip Sayce's "Morning Star", and as embedded below, Billy Squier's "Lonely Is The Night", and they sound good, but Billy's vocals can be hard to make out over heavier stretches, and Joe is often obscured by a pole in the jam room. Solid all the same, so check them out above & below, and don't miss TONIGHT's Highland Clan bash!

Next up, here's another new show, as local post-punk quartet Gnaeus will indeed hold their CD release show on Friday, August 5th when they officially launch "Meditations" with a headlining concert at The Rockstar Bar! A rare appearance for Gnaeus at The Algonquin Hotel, this is a fitting locale for the guys to launch their long-awaited debut CD, and while they have yet to reveal prices for physical copies, have cash on hand to get yours! In a reverse from the following week's "Give In To The Din" release show at The Tech, alternative hard rock trio The Din will return the favour as openers on the 5th, while indie rock quartet K.I.C.K. will open the proceedings on August 5th with their own skilled originals! One could call this a rescheduling of April's cancelled Summer Bash concert that Gnaeus and K.I.C.K. were supposed to play before the venue's renovations scuttled it, but it's not advertised as such.

There's no announced cover charges for this 19+ show, which will begin at 9:00 PM on August 5th, but make sure you bring money for both your copy of "Meditations" and for any potential admission fees. It's great to see Gnaeus finally announce their CD release show, and with them and The Din flipping roles for another release party a week following, it's a big month ahead for new local album releases! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and stay tuned for updates!

Also, remember how defunct local hardcore quintet As It Stands were recording an EP in July 2011 that was never released prior to their 2014 dissolution? Well, the band has finally unveiled the tracks recorded that year, as per their Soundcloud page, so fans can finally hear what would have been their third & final EP! The apparently self-titled release was recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga with producer Kevin Dietz, and while the posted tracks are raw & off the floor without final mixing, As It Stands felt it was time to finally let fans hear the songs. The tracks are "A Sinking Sinner", "Embay the Terrible", "Oh Herm, Herm Delish", their cover of Blink-182's "Stay Together For the Kids", and "One Less Than Wayne Gretzky", so click each link to hear each song! For reference, this confirms that the songs that As It Stands recorded at Stereo Soul Studios in 2009 and in Stoney Creek in 2010 were not intended for this particular album. This is a FREE posting, and at least at the moment, is not being formally sold.

It's not clear if As It Stands' earlier studio recordings (including their mid-2000s EPs "The Re-Occurring Nightmare" & "Kill The Music, Save The Children") will see a re-emergence too, as the band teased in April, but it's great to finally hear the 2011 recordings in full! These capture As It Stands at full strength and intensity from their arguable peak as musicians, and if you loved A.I.S. during their run, do yourselves a favour and check out their unreleased 2011 EP above, and hopefully there's more to come! Also, here's the Facebook preview video that the band shared prior to the Soundcloud unveiling, featuring a late snippet from "Embay the Terrible"!

 

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

• New local improv hard rock trio Gianni Gagoots have been added as the final openers for the Castle-headlined concert at The New American Pub on September 28th, as per the official Facebook event page. Solid choice for their second live concert appearance, so don't miss them late next month at The New A!
• Ex-Bankshot/12 Gauge Ready guitarist Lucas Schmiedendorf (a.k.a. Sal Velinus) is looking to form a new local band, and while he enjoys melodic punk and ska, he doesn't mind dabbling in folk or country. He has friends in mind for said band, likely a drummer and bassist at the moment, but he'd like to find musicians that could play guitar, horns, keyboard, or perhaps even a female vocalist. If you'd be interested in trying out or jamming with Lucas, message him at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Tuesday!
• We have regrettably removed defunct local hard rock bands Meant To Last and These Sins of Time from our band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook pages, which were their only substantial online pages (both have surviving Twitter pages, but neither has enough to warrant linking them on the SMS.) These were the two recent hard rock bands from local singer Alexa LeClair, who is a talented artist, and hopefully she can get a band going with greater success in the future!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for much more news and notes next week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Anvil, One Bad Son, & Telephone And Address) And A New Local Band!!

Before we get into this post, we have concert cancellations to acknowledge, as new Sault Michigan hard rockers Ten Kings are not playing at the Sault Michigan Kewadin this weekend. The guys revealed the news on their Facebook page last night, citing a scheduling conflict. Another hard rock band is playing this weekend instead, and we'll have more on that in this weekend's concert previews, but check out more from Ten Kings (including their first live photos) above! Now, today's post features three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS over the early spring, but first, here's a new local hard rock band discovery!

We have a new-ish local hard rock band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are Meant To Last, who are more less the successors to These Sins of Time! As it turns out, Meant To Last were the intended band from frontwoman Alexa LeClair's various musician searches in the past year, so T.S.O.T. appear to be defunct, and they've been moved to our inactive links. Launched last April, their lineup features Alexa alongside T.S.O.T. bandmate/ex-Acention frontman Dalton James Boissineau, as well as Tantrym Tyme drummer Ethan Twardy, showcasing a rare sight: a local hard rock band with members from each side of the border! Meant To Last are technically active on our scale for now, but they haven't updated their Facebook or Twitter pages since the month it's launch, and have never announced the addition of a bassist, so I'm not sure if they're a functioning band right now.

When they were posting, they revealed "I Can't Help Myself" as a planned demo title, shared some original lyrics, and announced plans to play at last June's Algoma Ride For Autism alongside the then-Suicide Kings, though I don't believe either actually played the event. Hopefully Meant To Last pop up again, as Alexa's past T.S.O.T. work showed a lot of promise, but check out what's available to check out on them above!

Next up, here's three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, starting with the official CD release party for local post-punk/grunge solo project Telephone & Address' new album "Rust Orchid"! In a change from Chris Shoust's last two CD release shows, this one will be a solo headlining appearance at The Gore Street Cafe at 164 Gore Street (down the road from 180 Projects) on Thursday, March 12th. Far cry from last year's IDNS show, but this will likely be a better fit for the ambient instrumental sounds on "Rust Orchid", though I admit now knowing much about The Gore Street Cafe as a concert venue. Of course, "Rust Orchid" was released online on Bandcamp last week, but if you attend the CD release show on the 12th, you can pay a special $10 price for a CD copy of the album for that night only (prices likely will be $15 after that), so keep that deal in mind! There's no announced age limit for this show, an 8:00 PM start time is advertised, and admission is via a "pay what you can" system.

For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be a nice concert for fans of Telephone & Address and their varied acoustic originals, so keep it in mind for next month, and remember, our review of "Rust Orchid" is very possible next month too!

Our last new concerts today both take place at The Rockstar Bar in the early spring, starting with the return of Saskatoon hard rock quartet One Bad Son to the Soo and this venue on Saturday, March 21st! Our source is The Rockstar Bar's Martin Fiser in a recent e-mail, while the band also revealed the show earlier this month on their own Facebook page. Last seen opening for Crash Karma at The Rockstar Bar in October 2013, One Bad Son's freewheeling D.I.Y. hard rock should fit in nicely as they headline in the Soo next month in support of their new album "Black Buffalo"! Joining them on their spring tour are Kelowna southern hard rock quartet The Wild, whose aggressive country-influenced rock n' roll should find a strong audience as well on March 21st, so don't miss their opening set! This will be a 19+ concert with a likely 10:00 PM start time, but the venue has yet to confirm the ticket or door prices. We'll let you know when we hear anything!

For more details, check the above links! It's great to see One Bad Son back after almost a year & a half, and The Wild should live up to their name as well, so don't miss this show on a busy weekend next month (remember, Metallica tribute Sandman return to the Soo on the 20th as well, and $12 advance tickets are now on sale at The Algonquin Hotel!)

We're saving the best for last though, as Toronto metal legends Anvil will return to Sault Ontario on Wednesday, April 1st for the third time since their resurgence! After two shows at The Canadian Nightclub, the Juno nominees will make their first ever Rockstar Bar appearance on April Fools Day (no, it's not a joke) in the midst of their 2015 Hope In Hell Tour, and their hard hitting classic originals like "Metal On Metal" should be more than welcomed back to the Soo! This will also be Anvil's first local date since Chris Robertson replaced Sal Italiano on bass, but how will he sound alongside Steve & Robb come April 1st? Unlike last March's show, Anvil have no bands joining them from out of town for this show, but 2 of last year's local openers will pick up where they left off, including punk/metal quintet Jack Spades and classic metal quartet Project 421, both fresh off of high profile Canadian Nightclub sets, so be sure to come early for them on April Fools Day!

Promoted by Jack Spades frontman J.D. Pearce, $15 advance tickets for the show can now be bought at The Algonquin Hotel's front desk (the price jumps to $20 at the door), this is a 19+ event, and a 10:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Anvil back, and at what might be their most intimate venue of this short tour, so be sure to keep their return in mind, and I assure you, this is no prank! Stay tuned for potential updates as they roll in!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news, previews, and feature posts later this week! Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: Starlit Sins & Glunk!

And now, here's this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles, but be sure to check out a stacked new news post from this afternoon below! This monthly feature series takes a look at one or two defunct or inactive local metal, hard rock, or punk bands (all randomly selected), in order to profile their run, media, and successes before dissolving, and point out what members have been up to since. As the first band today had minimal surviving info, we added a second band (conveniently, active at the same time period) to fill things out, and who's also kicking off our first in our restored 2-1-3-1-2-1 rotation between bands from each side of the border. Now, give this month's Defunct Profiles a look below, and let me know if something's missing!
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Starlit Sins

Genre: Pop Punk/Alternative

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members:

Simon Shearsby (K.I.C.K.), vocals
Wes Greco (2 Minute Warning), guitar
Andrew "Pooch" Pucci (2 Minute Warning), guitar
Dustin Supak (2 Minute Warning), bass
Justin Marandola (Cherry Crush, 2 Minute Warning), drums 

Audio/Video: No public media or setlist examples from Starlit Sins are known to exist online, nor of their predecessors 2 Minute Warning, whose lineup was the same aside from the lead singer. Guitarist Andrew Pucci's solo material and singer Simon Shearsby's work with K.I.C.K. may harbour some similarities with Startit Sins' sound, but those later projects take more of an acoustic vein than their earlier band work would have.

Info/Analysis: Formed circa 2005, Starlit Sins were the direct successors to the similar earlier pop punk band 2 Minute Warning, with all members carrying over save for singer Ben Tulloch, who was replaced in the new band by Simon Shearsby. Together, they would play a handful of local gigs through 2006, including an outdoor show that August at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion, though updates on them are minimal to nonexistent after that, and the band is presumed to have dissolved in 2007. With no videos or songs to go off of, it's hard to comment on Starlit Sins, but given members' successful later band work, it's hard to imagine them being bad, so hopefully we hear some material from them down the road!
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Glunk!

Genre: Alternative/Hard Rock

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

 
Members:  

Angelo Tremonte, vocals/guitar
Andrew MacDonald (Fitswitch), bass
Andrew Keachie, drums

Info/Analysis: Briefly active from just 2005-2006, Glunk! released a debut EP very shortly into their run and soon began playing live concerts, including a notable show with The Regal Beagle at Madison's Pub (now The Harp) in January 2006. Surviving information on the band is very limited, and Glunk! likely broke up by 2007, though Andrew MacDonald has been seen since with bands like The Scary Uncles and Nikkfitt. Four songs (all from their EP?) can be streamed at their MySpace page, which show a grungy garage rock sound for the most part, albeit with some faster punk touches, and while the production quality is mixed, the guys had a good sound that may have been ahead of it's time to an extent given the recent alt/hard rock boom! The Andrews had a good rhythm, and Angelo showed solid guitar riffing throughout, so give their songs a listen above, and here's Glunk!'s longest original "Knowheart" via a new YouTube upload!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Local Band Profiles! So, what band(s) are next for our last installment of this series in 2014? Through random selection, we've chosen defunct Sault Ontario hard rock band Half Past to close out the year with, and in case you're curious, we will kick off 2015 in this series with a Sault Michigan band, as they'll be next in the rotation for January! For the sake of clarity, their profile will not include any references to the recent legal issues of one member in particular, which is irrelevant to the band's local run and successes, and good or bad, we don't cover musicians' personal lives on here. Look out for this profile on or around December 10th, and stay tuned for more news and previews this week! Thanks everyone!

Meet The (Inactive) Local Punk Bands!! Part 4

After a longer than expected delay, here's our fourth feature to roll in defunct and inactive local punk bands into our links and coverage on the SMS! We're 100% focusing on bands with surviving primary pages on PureVolume today, mainly as Bandmine turned out to be (more or less) an automated aggregator of bands rather than a proper band page host, while MySpace (a logical spot for some surviving pages) is extremely hard to navigate for local bands now due to their layout overhauls. We'll approach MySpace soon though! Now, here's 4 of our punk band discoveries from PureVolume!

First today are two linked mid-2000s punk projects, those being 2 Minute Warning (pictured) and Starlit Sins! Their lineups both featured guitarists Wes Greco & Andrew "Pooch" Pucci (who has some solo material), bassist Dustin Supak, and original Cherry Crush drummer Justin Marandola, while Ben Tulloch was 2 Minute Warning's singer, and current K.I.C.K. frontman Simon Shearsby replaced him with Starlit Sins. Both bands had live experience, with 2.M.W. (who launched in 2004) playing shows at venues like The Canadian Nightclub, while Starlit Sins played a memorable Roberta Bondar Pavilion set in August 2006 (their only publically active year.) No surviving material of either band is online to our knowledge, though 2 Minute Warning did record a 3 song demo of some type that, though visibly available to listen to on their page, doesn't work for one reason or another. For what it's worth, Starlit Sins' more detailed bio describes a negative fan response to Ben's vocals with 2.M.W., but take that with a grain of salt until/unless media becomes available.

It'd be interesting to find some working media of either 2 Minute Warning or Starlit Sins, especially to see what kind of talents the guys had, of whom largely are not currently active in local bands (Simon being the biggest exception.) If we ever come across music or videos of either, we'll let you guys know, but read their biographies and check out concert photos from both projects at the above links!

Next to add is Oceania, another punk band from around the same time period, roughly running from 2004-2005. Their lineup featured a singer & guitarist named Lawrence (unsure if that was his first or last name, but he was nicknamed "LaR") alongside bassist Nick "Dilbert" DiLabio and Northern Rocks Magazine/Laris Records founder Chris Rancourt on drums. Basically successors to Lawrence and Chris' 2003 project Slow Motion Theatre, the members of what became Oceania formed the band after joking about playing a Green Day tribute show, and got their first bookings on that basis, but soon added original material. Oceania (whose name came from the book "1984") played at least two shows at The Oddfellows Hall in 2005, including a set opening for Take One For The Team that July, though aside from efforts to win the Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands, no public updates are known to have followed. Like 2 Minute Warning above, Oceania's three songs on their PureVolume page don't work, but there is still a song of theirs around to give a listen to!

As uploaded to their BandSpace page, a live acoustic version of their song "Picture, No Sound" is streamable there, and while it's not indicative of the full band's sound, Lawrence has a nice sound and tone, though his clean vocals often sound a bit too reserved. At least we have a taste of how Oceania sounded, but hopefully more media from their run turns up at some point, so be sure to check them out as well above!

Finally for today's defunct punk feature is Portable Glory, whose page doesn't tell us much, but were recently brought to fans attention when current punk trio The Northern Tragedy revealed on their Facebook page on May 8th that two members of their lineup were in that band! I'm thinking the two common members are singer/drummer Terrence Gomes and guitarist Mike Ivany based on the similar vocals and lack of audible bass, but if I'm wrong, I'll correct this for sure! I'm unsure when exactly Portable Glory were together, but they weren't around very long, and I assume they predated Terrence's larger work with bands like Good Morning Gorilla and Changing Waves, so I'd guess the mid-late 2000s. Four working demos (intended for an album named "Sock Puppets & Knuckle Heads") can be heard on their PureVolume page, and while the recording quality isn't great, and their lineup definitely needed to be filled out, I wouldn't hold it against fans to think these were Northern Tragedy demos, as they have similar sounds and melodies! Unrefined, but give Portable Glory a listen above!

I hope you guys liked this newest punk band feature, and I hope our next one (which will cover remaining PureVolume punk bands like Fuller, and perhaps more) will be up later this week! That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's CD review and more in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Tym Morrison), Weekend Concert Previews, And More!!

A busy stretch at the SMS looks to be slowing down come the weekend, but before then, we have weekend concert previews today in a relatively slow concert weekend, news relating to Punch and half of their lineup's other band work, and some more assorted notes. We'll start with a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT and a related new song posting, so here's what you need to know!

Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison has yet another solo concert at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill scheduled for TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this show was announced on Tuesday via it's Facebook event page, but I held it for our preview post to avoid redundantly covering it twice in a short span. Continuing his usual recent trend of playing this East End venue on a Friday night, Tym's acoustic solo cover sets are always worth checking out for his wide array of song choices and clear talent on display, so keep his latest Roadhouse gig in mind for TONIGHT for some unplugged hard rock action! Admission should be free as usual, you must be 19 to attend, and there's a 10:00 PM start time. For more details, visit the above links, and for a preview, here's Tym's newest solo original song! Uploaded to his YouTube channel on Tuesday, it's entitled "We Need More Love", and was inspired by Tym's recent experience picking up & meeting two hitchhikers. A softer rock song, it has a good message and production, but some of the programming sounds a bit off early. Solid track though, so give it a look below, and don't miss his show tonight!



The only other verifiable hard rock concerts in the Sault area this weekend that I can confirm will take place at The Runway Bar in Hessel, Michigan, where Kinross hard/classic rockers Banned will return for the first time in over 3 months TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT! Ever the prolific local band, you can also see Banned next weekend in Sault Michigan, but keep this weekend's Hessel shows in mind for a diverse and often heavy blend of covers and originals from Alex, Don, and company! There's no announced cover charge for these 21+ concerts, and a 9:00 PM start time is likely. For more details, visit the above links! Banned remain a talented and prolific band in the Sault area, and hopefully this weekend's shows are also successful, so just in case you can't see them next weekend (and not knowing their December plans), don't miss out this weekend! For a preview, here's Banned covering The Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" earlier this year!



Now to some news relating to new local hard rock band Punch! Fresh off of their third place finish at Wednesday's Viva La Battle, the guys already have their next live date lined up, as they're the second and final local openers for the Diemonds concert at The Algonquin Pub THIS THURSDAY, joining the returning T-Rex Manning! Solid addition, and hopefully Punch can "punch" out another successful set in their second show! While Punch begin their local run, members Steven Flint and Ben Boudreau are upping the busy plans, including joining another local band, as they've quietly joined local singer Alexa LeClair's recently relaunched hard rock band These Sins of Time as their new guitarist & drummer, replacing Dalton Boissoneau & Mitch Harris, who were in the band's 2011 incarnation. To go along with the new additions, all mid-2013 postings on their Facebook page (including song lyrics & a vocal sample) were deleted, with the only new post relating to a bassist search for their new lineup, so if you're interested in trying out on bass for These Sins of Time, message band members on Facebook or at this link!

Note that Steven & Ben's main band The Suicide Kings are still alive, recently indicating on their Facebook page that they're jamming again and may have a show coming up, but can Steven & Ben juggle three bands, or has there been lineup changes for The Suicide Kings that haven't been revealed yet? I don't know, but I'm very curious to see where both Punch and These Sins of Time go locally (the latter have especially intrigued me during their scattered runs), so stay tuned for news on all 3 bands as we get them!

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

• The Nick Cam Jam benefit concert at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley, Michigan on November 23rd now lists Phoenix Sounds Entertainment (a Kincheloe live sound/DJ company) among the scheduled bands on it's Facebook event page. I wouldn't consider them a "band" so to speak, but they'll keep the music rolling when the bands aren't playing, so hopefully this adds to the event, and remember, Infathom and Tantrym Tyme are bringing the metal regardless, so don't miss them!
• The last of Sykotyk Rampage's slate of new 2013 "albums" is now up on their Reverbnation page, that being "The Adventures of Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy"! The first of an amusing two album concept (completed with "Revenge of Professor Perv & The Crimson Nipple"), it continues the recent trend of not releasing albums for sale, so stream it at the above links for some crash action, along with their other 7 albums worth of new songs!
• The complete band order for this year's Toystock on Sunday, December 1st at The Canadian has been revealed, and in descending order from 9:00 PM to noon, the bands will be That's Chester, Boxcar Junction, Glitch, The Thrill Junkies, 2 Buck Beers, Lucky 13, Stiffler's Mom, Obsession, Redline, and Mike Case's Junior All Stars. Nice spread out lineup, and That's Chester are a solid headlining choice, so check out more details on the event at the above links!

That's all for today, but stay tuned soon for more news and updates! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned), The Return Of These Sins Of Time, And New Videos!!

In our first of two posts today (our review of last night's all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall is coming later today), we have some assorted recent news to touch on, including a band return, new videos, and a bunch of LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for later this year! For reference, weekend concert previews (including at least one new show confirmation) are coming TOMORROW MORNING, so keep an eye out for that, but let's begin this run of new posts with the information below!

Kinross hard/classic rock quintet Banned have announced seven new concerts (over 4 weekends) for later this year, as per their Facebook page yesterday! The guys will first head out to Dan's Place in Rudyard on Saturday, July 13th for a one night only gig (no word on why), and though you may remember Banned from some early shows at the town's Music In The Park series, I think this is their first ever show at Dan's Place (a recent favourite of Powerslug's), so keep that in mind in July! The other new confirmations are for the fall, including returns to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino on September 20th & 21st and November 22nd & 23rd (their first announced dates there since March), and a weekend engagement at The Runway Bar in Hessel on November 22nd & 23rd (following two one-off gigs there this summer), so mark those on your calendars for some diverse hard and classic rock originals & covers! All but one of these gigs start at 9:00 PM (the Rudyard show's at 8:00 PM), all have 21+ age limits, and there's no announced cover charges. Check the above links for more details!

Nice to see the shows piling on for Banned through the fall, and hopefully there's lots more to come as their name continues to grow in the Eastern U.P.! Note that the new gigs somewhat reinforce what looks like a break for all of next month, as no official public dates for June 2013 have been announced at present, but we'll keep you posted if anything turns up. Stay tuned for more from Banned when it comes in!

Next up, local hard rock band These Sins of Time are back! You may remember T.S.O.T. from our posthumous discovery of them early last year (they'd broken up in December 2011), but as of a week ago via their new Facebook page, singer Alexa LeClair had resurrected the band for new work locally, so what should you know? Influenced by bands like Papa Roach and Hinder, the These Sins of Time name had been used by in projects dating back to 2009, amidst scattered solo work that Alexa undertook, including at least one solo EP release & numerous postings on her YouTube channel. Their most recent 2011 run saw them play some sort of acoustic gig at the former Steamy Bean, along with making plans to complete a full lineup and record a demo, but only now does it look like major plans will be restarted. Details on members haven't been revealed yet, but it looks like guitarist Dalton James Boissoneau (also of Acention) may be back in the fold, though no word on if drummer Mitch Harris is back too, or if their other openings have been filled.

Facebook postings so far include requests for covers, lyric postings, and a solo vocal sample of an original song named "How You Behave", but click the above links for more details! I'm very curious to hear what T.S.O.T. bring to the table in their latest return, and Alexa's quite a good young singer (we don't have enough female hard rock vocalists on the Ontario side of the border), so check out her solo and band work above, and These Sins of Time are back in our local band links!

We'll close this post with new videos, starting with a new music video of sorta from Dafter, Michigan solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton, and it sets his recent original instrumental "Burn Notice" with edited footage of Ukranian pole dancer Anastasia Sokolova performing on "Ukraine's Got Talent". It seems sort of random (especially with the last part not of her dancing), but if you like the song or this style of dancing, it'll work for you, so give SweetKenny's new video a look below! (This was uploaded on his YouTube channel on May 13th.)

Finally, here's the latest song postings from local grindcore label Blood Shed Productions! After a couple weeks off from new uploads, the Ringsnaps Gibson-led studio posted two new tracks onto the label's YouTube channel in recent days of his grind solo project Crucify The Whore's new song "Bunk, Shake, and Headache" and a new song from his band Tomgrindy that's embedded below (though I won't give the title or embed the full video due to a sexual title reference and possibly disturbing imagery in both clips.) The Tomgrindy track is fuller and longer, and the backing music is more substantial, but both tracks will still mainly appeal to people who like pig squeal vocals and can handle the themes. Check out the new Tomgrindy song below, and stay tuned for updates on what's being hyped as their first solo demo, along with a C.T.W./Brutaly Fatal split demo too!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for my review of last night's Sleep When You're Dead concert later today! Thanks everyone!

Hempfest Lineup Updates, Plus Lots Of Assorted News & Notes!!

Here's an auto-post full of recent assorted news for you guys, and that includes updates to some of our monthly feature posts, new "Woods V" reviews, some link changes due to page deletions, and much more! Leading things off though is some long awaited updates on a local music festival, and it's differences compared to recent years, so here's what you need to know!

Have you guys been wondering where the coverage for this year's Hempfest has been? I was curious as to the lack of news myself, but as it turns out, the second local installment under the marijuana culture festival's current ownership doesn't have a single metal band scheduled. The full lineup has been posted at the festival's Facebook group (and it's brand new official website), and from what I can tell, the full lineup of unique bands is much smaller than last year's as it is. Not counting DJs or non-musical acts, there were 13 different bands & solo artists on the main stage last year in Ophir, including 4 heavier bands, two of which were local. This year, there are just six bands over the four nights of live bands (August 9th-12th), playing a mix of folk, ska, and reggae music for the most part. Only one (The Blackberrys) are 100% verifiably local, but half of the bands this year are returning from last year's Hempfest. Each band this year is playing on at least two nights, and timeslots are being filled with the Willy High Games (which were a part last year's event), a DJ, music over the speakers, and in one case, a band playing twice on the same night. I will note that local punk trio Redundant are the official spare band if any of the scheduled acts drops out, but they're the closest to metal at the moment.

I can only assume that the lineup is halved from last year due to monetary concerns (I may be wrong though), and having admittedly heard mixed things from last year's Hempfest, less bands may be an way to help fix some of the issues. It's a shame that metal won't be represented, but hey, at least the bands playing this year fit with the crowd & themes really well! Lineup aside, everything sounds about standard from last year, so click here for all current details on tickets and other festival rules and notes. I know many of you guys will still be all ready to enjoy Hempfest in August no matter what, so check out all of the details at the above links, and here's to another successful year!

Next up, I wanted to let you guys know about a series of Facebook page/group deletions for three local bands, though I'll note that all had alternate pages to replace them with. One is sadly for defunct local hard rock quartet Sneaky Pete's Facebook page, which was deleted in the past month presumably due to their breakup in April. I wish they'd have left it online for their old fans and to archive their history, including their solid year of local concerts, but what can you do? Luckily, their Reverbnation page is still online, so I just replaced the link for it! The other deletions are for a pair of bands featuring local guitarist Dalton Boissineau, those being new local hard rock band Acention and his former local band These Sins of Time. While the latter's page was likely deleted for similar reasons as Sneaky Pete's (T.S.O.T. broke up last year), the reasoning for Acention's Facebook group's deletion is unknown, though members' personal Facebook pages have hinted to jamming and band activity as recently as this weekend. If I hear anything definitive towards Acention's status, I'll have it here, but I've replaced both of the links for these bands with Acention's outdated Facebook page and These Sins of Time's MySpace page! Hopefully that's all for page deletions and bands erasing their online history for a while, because it is a bit disheartening!

Also for this post, here's even more reviews of Woods of Ypres' final recorded album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light"! One newly found review comes from Will Cifer at the metal website Global Domination, who gave the album a 7/10, with the consensus that it was "solid shit fo' sure, but still nothing new." He gives a lot of good opinions on the album's conviction and it's fittingness as their final chapter, though he doesn't believe that "W5" will spur an after-death revival. I like his honesty, even if I don't entirely agree, and if you can get past the hit & miss English translation, check it out at this link! Another new review from January was by Neil Pretorius of The Metal Observer, who gave "Woods V" a 9/10, calling it their magnum opus & a very nuanced album, while praising it's dark and prophetic tone. Another good review, so check it out at this location! Finally for now, Brad Sanders from Jukebox:Metal gave this album 5 stars in a recent review, and though he connects much of his feelings to David Gold's passing (even saying it might as well be a suicide note), he called it their "most consistent & best album yet". Short but well written review, so click here to check it out, and stay tuned for more "Woods V" reviews soon!

Fourthly, here's some assorted recent shorter news stories, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or musician name:

• Trail's End guitarist Chris Hubbard uploaded a new video to his YouTube channel last month to show off his new OLP guitar with some custom upgrades. Despite it's newness, he's selling it for $600 or to the best offer, so if you like what you see in the video, give Chris a shout and make a deal!
• Former Havadder bassist Daniel Horton is looking for a bassist & drummer (age range 18-21) for a new alternative/grunge project he's fronting. If you're interested, check out his post on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group from Sunday, or message him on Facebook! I hope this takes off, as Daniel is talented and grunge bands are very scarce locally, so if I hear more, I'll let you guys know!
• Former Lion Ride guitarist Marco Pedalino is looking to join a new local band or jam with some musicians, and he's open to forms of metal. He also posted on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group yesterday, and he seems really eager to get out there in a band again. Marco would be a definite asset to any band locally, so if you're at all interested in his services, message him at this location!
  

And finally, here's some more updates to some of our monthly feature posts to make them more accurate and up to date! In the Defunct Local Band Profile Series, I've updated the joint SIGHdEFECT/Mugwort profile to note members' newer bands, including Jason Bourcier's work in Giwakwa, Matt Waples' new band The Belmonts, and Mugwort's Bob Helsten's new band Wearwithal. I also added a Giwakwa link for bassist Nolan Rainville on the Bring The Fallen profile, along with restoring a photo there. In the YouTube Channel Profile Series, I edited the profile for Lion Ride's YouTube channel to further emphasize their breakup and add notes on the channel's return to use and the upload of their "I'm So Excited" cover. I edited the Garden of Bedlam YouTube channel profile to remove dated references to their 2011 activity level, while I restored a photo on the profile for Bad Side's YouTube channel. In our profile of Joey Beairl's channel, I edited the reference to Unleashed drummer Jacob Hotland's current band, as they changed their name from Abstract to Tantrum earlier this year. Finally, I edited the profile for Scott Savoie's channel to note his band Swayze Train's breakup, make some date adjustments, and add references to his newest video, a Canada-exclusive Devildriver cover. There's more edits to come, but check the above links for all of the newly updated profiles!

That's all for now, but if there's no new posts by Sunday, I'll hopefully see you guys that night for the West of Hell/Tribune show at The Canadian, and the big local band returns beforehand! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Powerslug), A "New" Local Band, And A New Woods of Ypres Video!

It's time for another news post at The Sault Metal Scene, but first, just a reminder that our next post will feature weekend concert previews, including for Tym Morrison's second show in his new Bossy's arrangement and the Frightlight/Merves concert at The Canadian, so watch out for that tomorrow! Right now though, we have some new videos of a local metal relevance, a newly discovered local band, and leading things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, so here's what you need to know!

Sault Michigan hard rockers Powerslug will return to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino on March 2nd & 3rd! The band formerly known as River Witch weren't among last additions to the concert schedule on Kewadin Casino's entertainment page, but it's nice to see them confirmed in these latest additions! With the lack of a band page now, there's no official confirmation yet from Powerslug members, but Kewadin's entertainment page has always been reliable in the past, so don't worry! Barring new dates next month (there is an opening on Kewadin's schedule), this will be Powerslug's first concert weekend at The Rapids Lounge in three months, so if you've missed them recently, circle those dates on your calendar! I expect they'll have start times of around 10:00 PM with no cover charge and 21+ age limits. Check the above links for more details! It's good to see Powerslug back on stage for some hard rocking good times, and hopefully we'll hear more at some point from some source about their next concerts or how they sound! Stay tuned for updates!

Two more quick notes relating to the latest Kewadin schedule updates: Firstly, if you're wondering about the band named Bittermoon that are playing there over the next two months, they're a top 40/country/rock quintet that formed last year. Though they're a talented band, they don't fit in our genre range. Give them a listen though! The other note is that Kewadin's schedule mysteriously removed the announced dates from April onward, which included Monkey's Uncle & Swayze Train shows. This has happened before, and the last time I remember it happening, it wasn't due to concert cancellations, so unless I hear otherwise, these shows are still on, so don't worry!

Next up, here's a new-ish local band I just recently discovered! Well, they actually broke up last month, but they're new to us (and I apologize for missing them until just now!) Named These Sins of Time, they were a hard rock trio influenced by artists like Papa Roach, Hinder, and Metallica. They were fronted by a young local solo artist named Alexa LeClair, who had used the name These Sins of Time in projects dating back to 2009 (like on this MySpace page), but the current incarnation existed only last year. They also featured guitarist Dalton Boissoneau & drummer Mitch Harris, and from what I can tell, they would have played heavier music than in Alexa's solo project, who reportedly released an EP last year which featured production & contributions from prolific local musician Kyle McKey (Full Circle, Stillbroke, etc.) These Sins of Time launched their Facebook & Twitter pages in April, and reportedly played some sort of gig at The Steamy Bean coffeehouse last spring featuring Alexa and Dalton. Posts alluded to recording a demo, playing more gigs, and adding more members last year, but updates stalled after October, and Alexa announced that T.S.O.T. was "no more" last month on the band's Twitter page.

I don't know why These Sins of Time broke up, but I'm surprised I've never heard of them until now! I can't judge the band (no posted material), but Alexa is a really good singer and a nice guitarist, and I'm sure that made a great foundation for the band when they were around! I probably wasn't familiar with her due to her age, but give her stuff a listen, she's someone to watch locally over the next few years! While there's no T.S.O.T. videos online that I know of, Alexa does have a few videos on her YouTube channel, including this video of her acoustic cover (with guitar) of Avenged Sevenfold's "Fiction". The audio quality could be clearer, but she does a good job on this one, so check out Alexa's work below and at the above links, and These Sins of Time are now in our inactive Sault Ontario band links!



And finally for today, here's a brand new Woods of Ypres video from 2010! This comes courtesy of Atlanta-based musician Jordan Owen, who was the former singer in a doom metal band named Incarceri 9. They opened for Woods of Ypres when they headlined at the One Eighty in nearby Stockbridge, Georgia on July 12th, 2010, and when Jordan was transferring files to a new computer, he found video clips that he shot of Woods of Ypres' set at this show, so he posted them onto his YouTube channel in one video on Tuesday! The video opens with text rememberances (set to "Crossing The 45th Parallel") of Woods of Ypres and both their and David Gold's impact on him, along with memories of the Stockbridge concert. The video footage starts 56 seconds in, and includes clips of "The Shams of Optimism", "Crossing The 45th Parallel", and "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground", though nothing is shot in full, and it concludes with a picture of Jordan & David at the concert.

It's a nice video overall, and I like seeing Jordan add his rememberances of David and Woods of Ypres at the beginning! The video quality isn't bad either, but battery life precluded longer clips from what I can tell. It's great to see this online finally, even 18 months after the fact, so kudos to Jordan, and here's his Woods of Ypres video from Georgia in 2010!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!