Titan's Eve Concert Review!!

Finally, we have our Titan's Eve concert review for you guys! I wanted it up Tuesday, but my computer issues and earlier scheduled posts left this pushed back farther than I'd ever like it to be pushed back. So let's not waste any time, let's formally kick this review off, and hopefully I haven't forgotten too many details from it! So this concert took place on Monday night, which as you know, was both the Fourth of July & the end of our Titan's Eve contest for two band prize packages, and before I forget, congratulations to Gina-Lynn Scobie & Sativa Rose drummer Alex Palmer for winning the contest! As for the timing on Independence Day, the attendance did take a noticeable early hit due to a combination of the camping weekend and many potential attendees staying to watch the American fireworks, which helped lead to a later start time. Attendance did grow later in the set though!

Opening the show was local hardcore quartet Skull After Betrayl, and I have to say, this was probably the best I've heard them sound live so far! There's work to do, but their sound was more together and varied than we had seen at their previous shows, which is definitely good! Their set consisted of a mix of originals like "Death", "One In The Chamber", and "Zombitch", while also featuring select covers, including a solid rendition of Lamb of God's "Omerta"! I was happy to see many of their flawed parts from their last show amended, including the removal of Slayer's "Bloodline" (they need to work on the timing of it), Mike Vincent's deletion of most of his spoken word parts, and Adam Brett's slowly increasing bass abilities! Mike's diversifying his growling and screaming ever so slightly, and him and Justin's guitar abilities deserve more notice! I do want to see Mike incorporate more clean singing, or have Adam do backup, as it would help their sound, and they still need to work on timing on a lot of their songs, but it's not as noticeable on the originals. Things are looking up for Skull After Betrayl, hopefully they keep along this path!

Second were Sativa Rose, and if you were in for classic metal, these guys brought it in spades! Death metal too, I'll explain in a second. Sativa Rose are known for their high energy classic covers that, though lacking in vocals, are very proficient, and that continued on Monday with covers of everyone from Iron Maiden to Motley Crue and so forth! Andrew Angelic and Anthony Orazietti were as talented as ever on guitar, Alex Palmer's drumming was well on form, and Adam Veale's bass playing meshed as good as ever! Andrew didn't sing lead on any songs on Monday, ceding that spot to Adam, and in a surprise, guest singers for the second half of their set! Former Bring The Fallen guitarist Dan Souliere returned to his AtrophiA roots to sing lead on a cover of Megadeth's "In My Darkest Hour", then Dismembertainment owner Rich Moreland & Bear Hunters frontman Nik Deubel sang on a cover of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell", before Rich handled lead for the remainder of the set, including on Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark At The Moon" and on all three of Sativa Rose's originals, one of which was brand new!

That was an unexpected surprise, and honestly, though I don't know if it's anywhere close to reality, Rich as Sativa Rose's full time singer for a death/classic metal hybrid band would be very intriguing! The fact that he learned their originals is interesting in itself! Nik and Dan did solid jobs too, and Sativa Rose on the whole had another entertaining set that we'll hopefully see more from very soon!

Headlining, of course, were Vancouver thrash quartet Titan's Eve, and being a big thrash fan already, I was really looking forward to Titan's Eve coming to town on Monday! Luckily, they did not disappoint, hammering out a short but sweet set of original thrash songs from their new album "The Divine Equal", including "The Tides Of Doom", "Becoming The Demon", and "Nightfall"! I wanted to compare their sound to a thrashier Demiricous, if that's accurate, but their brutal sound stood on it's own, especially when it finally got some good moshpits going! Brian Gamblin's harsh thrash vocals suited the songs well, and he and his brother Kyle shredded like mad on most of their songs! Very talented guys! Bassist Jesse Hord and drummer Casey Ory were great as well, and it was cool to see Casey get a drum solo, which we need more of locally, especially when he's as good as Casey was on Monday night! Titan's Eve were heavy as hell and kept things fast and aggressive to the point where I really enjoyed everything without having to nitpick the sound, which is a good sign! My only real complaint is that their set was short, but I imagine as they release more albums, their sets will get longer. Awesome headlining set by Titan's Eve, I hope they come back, as the Soo needs more thrash!

Awesome show on Monday night, here's hoping the next Dismembertainment show with out of town headliners (featuring the band on Jesse's shirt) will be just as good, and with a better attendance! It should, and we'll have more on that in tonight's news post, so stay tuned for that, and much more when it comes this evening! For now though, we'll leave you with my videos from the show, so here's Skull After Betrayl's original song "Zombitch", Sativa Rose covering Iron Maiden's "Aces High", and Titan's Eve playing their song "The Tides Of Doom"! Stay tuned for more news later tonight!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Banned & Hollow), A New Local Band, And More News!!

One more news post for your Saturday before I go check out Lion Ride TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar, and yes, there will be a review of it tomorrow on the site! In what might be our last full news post before the fourth anniversary (two days...), we have some big news to share today, including some updates from Chained Memories, the openers for MONDAY's Titan's Eve concert, and some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, but we'll start with the one connected to a new local band, so here's what you need to know!

Yes, we have a new local band to talk about, all the way from the Kinross/Kincheloe area outside of Sault Michigan! The band is called Banned, and they're a new local hard rock trio that features former TraynWreck guitarist Alex Traynor, his dad Don on drums, and bassist Alex Schrovenwever, with all three sharing vocal duties. Nice to see Alex back out there, and the family connection is cool to see! I like how many Sault Michigan-area bands have family connections, it's actually nice to see families banding together in the name of rock over there! According to descriptions on their new Facebook page (launched around June 8th), they will "make you rock the night away", and have influences ranging from AC/DC, Van Halen, and The Darkness to Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, and Grand Funk Railroad! Interesting mix of styles there, I wonder how they'll sound? We'll have a preview of that in a second, but first, they're making their live debut on July 21st at The Rudyard Township Park in nearby Rudyard, Michigan for a Music In The Park event that evening! They'll have a full 2 hour set for this outdoor concert, which looks to be all ages with a 7:00 PM start time, and there's no announced cover charge. Click here for more details!

But how do Banned sound? Specifically, I'm not sure, but if the videos posted by Alex's sister/Don's daughter Ashley Traynor are any indication, we might get some solid hard rock! She uploaded two videos from a talent show performance from January 15th onto her YouTube channel that month, and they feature Don (on lead vocals and drums), Alex, and bassist (for this set) Steve Jacobus playing 4 cover songs: "Bad Company" by Bad Company, AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie" and "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", and Van Halen's version of "You Really Got Me"! Don's vocals are best on the AC/DC covers, getting a nice volume, and Alex has a nice stage presence and some real guitar skill for his age! There may just be something here, so check out 2/3rds of Banned from this January performance in the video below!

The other new concert is extremely intriguing in it's own right, and if you missed this band and it's variants over the past few years, then get excited, as Hollow are coming back! Well, for two shows anyway. Yes, the local metal band featuring former Metal Militia and Carbon Black bandmates are reuniting in August, and that includes guitarist Tym Morrison (now of Caveman Morrison), bassist Dan Beaupre (now of The Southern Fried Band), and former Dicky Swift Band/Buster Cherry bandmates Terry Eaton on guitar & Vinnie Milosevich on drums, all from the classic lineup! However, in lieu of the absent Luigi Miceli (is he still in music?), former Carbon Black frontman Travis Sharpe will sing with Hollow for these reunion shows, which will be awesome to see again! It's been a long while since Travis, Terry, or Vinnie have played locally (to my knowledge at least), and it's great to see them back! The band will reunite for just two shows next month, taking place on August 5th at The Rockstar Bar & August 6th at The Canadian Nightclub, so it's like your usual weekend sets, just at different venues. No word yet on if Hollow will play any of their old bands' originals, but there will be lots of covers in store to bring the metal to local fans once again!

A 10:30 PM start time is estimated for both shows, you must be 19 to attend either, and I'd expect a nominal cover charge of under $5 for both, knowing from past experience. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Tym, Dan, and company back together after so long (too long), and hopefully lots of metalheads show up to rock out with Hollow for old time's sake! I should be at one (likely at The Canadian), but either works! I'll keep you guys posted, and if the photo I used above isn't of a Hollow lineup, my apologies. I used the best one available that didn't have another band name slapped on it.

Thirdly today, have you been wondering who's opening for Titan's Eve at The Roosevelt Hotel on Monday night? Actually, you may already know, cause the Facebook event page for the show was launched on Wednesday! I know it's kinda late, but I heard the news AFTER my Wednesday news post, and I didn't have much to report for a full news post until today. So, better late than never, here are the openers for Titan's Eve in two nights! One is Sativa Rose, who'll bring their classic metal assault back to The Rosie just four nights after rocking the most recent Thursday metal show! Great to see them back again, they're a welcome sight at any metal concert, and always deliver some shredding good times! The other confirmed opening band is local hardcore quartet Skull After Betrayal, in their first show since opening for The Dayglo Abortions last month! Hopefully their sound continues to improve on Monday night as Mike, Adam. Justin, and Anthony continue to carve out their place in the local scene with their own brand of hardcore and death metal! The only other new item to report (beyond the poster on your right, nice work!) is that there will indeed be a $4 cover charge for this concert, but for this quality of bands, no need to complain!

I'll absolutely be at the concert! It's a great spot to celebrate our 4th anniversary, Titan's Eve kick ass, and we have a contest to wrap up that day as well! There is still time for you guys to enter our contest to win one of two Titan's Eve prize packs featuring their new album "The Divine Equal" and a free band t-shirt, so head to http://www.facebook.com/saultmetalscene to enter by adding your name to our contest status from June 27th. We draw the winners this coming Monday at 5:00 PM, so GET YOUR ENTRIES IN A.S.A.P.!!! For full contest rules, click here, and good luck!

And finally, we come full circle as we go right back to the Kincheloe area to talk about a young local band, this time, Chained Memories! Firstly, the band quietly parted ways with guitarist Jacob Zeeryp (ex-Outshined) after a very brief tenure with the band in May and June. No announcement was ever made on why he left, but he was quietly removed from their lineups on their pages. Disappointing, but hopefully he gets back into a band, his old work in Outshined wasn't bad for Christian hard rock! The other big news is that they've launched a new website, which is fairly barren as of yet, but it has a nice design, and it does confirm that they're looking for extra band members! Specifically, they want a second guitarist and a bassist between the ages of 14 & 18, preferably living in the Sault Michigan area. Contact the band for more details at the above links, cause I'm sure Mike and Ryan could use some talented musicians to help get the band out there soon! Promising guys, from what I've heard, hopefully they can get to the next steps soon! Stay tuned for Chained Memories updates as they come in!

That's all for today, but I will see you guys TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar for Lion Ride! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sativa Rose, Tym Morrison, And C'Mon) Plus Much More!!

If you have me as a friend on Facebook, you may have notice my grumblings about my computer recently. This overheating issue got so bad with the temperatures yesterday (which sadly didn't drop dramatically in the evening) that it didn't come on for good until after midnight, hence the lack of a Monday post. So today's post (hopefully the first of two) will cover some big stories, including THREE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, some awesome TV time for a notable local metal company, and a brand new SMS contest, as we close in on the final week before our 4th anniversary! Now, to the news!

This Thursday will mark the 22nd Roosevelt Hotel metal night, but who's playing? We know of two of the bands, including announced headliners Sativa Rose! The talented classic quartet will take the stage on Thursday night at The Rosie to unload some of their potent and high energy covers, along with some select originals to get us metalheads going! Also scheduled are local hardcore quintet As It Stands, in their first Rosie metal night in over a month, and record-tying 10th appearance overall! With their recording sessions and a big opening slot for Versus The Nothing in that span, they should be all geared up for a devastating set of metalcore originals on Thursday as well! A likely third band has yet to be formally announced, and though I did hear from one band about their possibly involvement via e-mail, nothing's officially confirmed, so I'll hold off saying anything yet. As is usual for shows without out of town headliners, there is no cover charge, a 9:30 PM-ish start time, and a 19+ age limit. For more details, check the Metal Nights at The Rosie Facebook page! Sounds like fun, hopefully I can make it out! I'm kinda disappointed that I missed last week's (more on that shortly), but maybe I can clear the schedule for this week! Stay tuned for updates!

Next up, remember when Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison had weekly/bi-weekly solo engagements at varying venues from late last year through March? Well, he's got a brand new one, so here's what you should know! It looks like his last two Saturday gigs at Service Grill Pizza on Korah Road were a success, and with that said, he's apparently gonna be back there each Saturday for the remainder of the summer! This includes TWO gigs on the Saturdays, including a matinee show (likely at around 3:00 PM) and a more standard 10:00 PM night set. Only one Saturday in the arrangement with Service Grill Pizza has been announced, specifically for THIS SATURDAY (we'll announce others formally when he does), but there should be lots of Tym Morrison's acoustic solo covers to go around for at least the next couple months! The exact length of the arrangement isn't known yet (when "summer" ends could vary), but hopefully these are successful for the long term! So remember, he'll be there on Saturday at 3:00 PM & 10:00 PM, there's no announced cover charge, and at least the matinee at 3:00 should be all ages. Check out the Facebook event page for more details on the upcoming show!

Sounds great, hopefully I can see him break out some metal covers this summer at some point! I wonder how this will impact potential Caveman Morrison dates though, as they usually play a full weekend, and with Saturday likely booked for the season, it could put a wrench in fans' hopes for the usual double weekend attack. It's all good though, I'll keep you posted!

The other new show is in quite an unfamiliar site for local hard rock shows, but hey, hard rock is hard rock, and it's finally back at LopLops Lounge! Didn't expect to hear that on the SMS, did you? Well, the guys at LopLops (on 651 Queen Street East) are bringing in a unique hard rock trio from Toronto (and New Orleans) on Monday, so here's what you should know! The band is C'mon, a very original sounding hard rock/experimental band who happen to feature ex-members of bands like Nashville Pussy & Monster Voodoo Machine in their lineup! Once previously seen here at Foggy Notions, C'mon have a hard to describe sound, but there's some heavy riffs and a nice energy to go along with some unique melodic touches! Hey, if we can cover bands like Grady when they come here, C'mon are definitely up our alley! Though unannounced officially, local punk supergroup Brad Example & The Role Models are likely to open the show (as confirmed by guitarist Marco Pedalino on his personal Facebook page), which should fit well, and it's nice to see them opening for a different band for a change too! A 10:00 PM start time is listed, you must be 19 to attend, and though there is no announced cover charge, bring cash just in case. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

It will be interesting to see how successful this concert is (especially up against Titans Eve, more on them in a bit), cause heavier music definitely isn't typical at LopLops. The last time I can recall a metal band of any fashion there was Gates of Winter's 2006 acoustic show, though I may have missed some in between. I'll be at Titans Eve that night, but definitely consider this concert, cause if C'mon are successful, heavier bands could pop up more frequently at LopLops!

Now to some big news, and first, do you remember when As It Stands got a piece on Shaw TV (Channel 10) from local reporter Christian Lemay? Well, Christian has a new metal-relevant interview to share on Shaw TV, which is now in rotation every half hour, and it's on local concert booking agency Dismembertainment and owner Rich Moreland! The piece features Rich (or "Richie" as he's called at first) talking about the formation of Dismembertainment, how the Thursday metal nights began, some of the bands he's booked in the past, the recent punk integration, and his own personal feelings on the scene and his concert bookings. The video, which shot in and around last Thursday's metal night, also features video footage of both Winkstinger and what was then Bring The Misery's sets (more on them later tonight), as well as short comments from attending fans Nikk Aspregen & Cody Knight on their thoughts on the weekly metal nights. It's a nice 4 minute long piece that gives some great press for Dismembertainment, but I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on the local bands, like naming the bands that played in the clip, or featuring one or two band members in the piece to talk about all the hard work Rich has done for the local scene.

As I said, this video is running once every half hour, although due to other scheduled programming (like City Council meetings), it doesn't have a set daily airtime. I saw it at :24 and :54 on the hour originally, but tonight, it was pushed forward roughly ten minutes due to earlier scheduled programs. For reference sake, the video runs all this week, and it will be right after a piece on Anchors Away (a great store), which itself follows a review of the movie "Hall Pass", just so you know when to see it roughly. Great interview, congratulations to Rich, and I will try to post a copy of it on YouTube in some form once it's rotation ends!

And finally, here's a cool announcement: We're holding another contest!! Our Rad Zone contest earlier in the year was a success, and I got a great opportunity from this band's management recently, so we're gonna have another one for some awesome prizes! As you likely know, Vancouver thrash metal band Titans Eve are playing at The Roosevelt Hotel on MONDAY, July 4th, and in honour of said show, we are giving away two Titans Eve prize packages! Courtesy of the band and their management, we're proud to be giving away two packages consisting of an official band t-shirt and their brand new album "The Divine Equal" (seen on your right) to two lucky fans! How can YOU enter to win these Titans Eve goodies? Similarly to our Rad Zone contest, all you have to do is post a comment with YOUR NAME onto our contest status from last night on our Facebook page! We'll only accept entries that are comments on that status that feature your name of some kind. Comments elsewhere won't count, nor will duplicate entries. We will announce the two winners of the contest at 5:00 PM on Monday so I have time to get in contact with the winners before the show! If you win and are attending the concert, you can claim your prizes by contacting frontman Brian Gamblin directly at the show, he'll hook you up, or I'll get you to him, either way!

If you're NOT going (or planning on going), you may still enter, but if you win and can't make it, let me know on Monday so I can give the band your mailing address so they can send you your prizes. I apologize for the late blog notice on this, but computer overheating issues suck. You guys have until Monday at 5:00 PM to enter, so follow the above instructions to get your entries in on the contest status on our Facebook page! Good luck, and metal on! We'll have a new news post later tonight, so stay tuned for that! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Shit Liver, Titans Eve, And Fatality) And New Dayglo Abortions Videos!!

Hey metalheads, we have some big news to share with you guys tonight from the realm of Dismembertainment! Yes, the prominent local metal booking agency is hard at work bringing us more brutal metal shows, and as such, we have some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS tonight! Aside from the first one (we're going in chronological order), the lineups are NOT fully confirmed aside from out of town headliners, so keep that in mind, but the shows were announced on their Facebook page. Event pages are forthcoming once booker Rich Moreland gets his computer working. They're coming though! Afterwards, we have brand new videos from a major recent Dismembertainment show, and yes, our Foothill Road CD review is still on for tonight, but first, here's the new shows!

Firstly, it's the 21st Roosevelt Hotel metal night taking place THIS THURSDAY! Hyped as being Rich Moreland's fiancee April Fogal's birthday show, three local bands are confirmed for this Thursday, including Shit Liver, in their record third straight Thursday metal night appearance! Nice to see them back again, they're fitting in well at The Rosie, so get ready for a night of drunken grimecore from this aggressive local trio! New local death metal band Bring The Misery will make their second ever live appearance on Thursday as well, where they'll be looking to answer a few questions, like how will they sound without Dan Souliere on guitar? (no word on a replacement yet.) Also, will they have improved from their debut earlier this month? Will they still have no shoes on? We'll find out on Thursday! The other confirmed band is local extreme metal quintet Winkstinger, in just their third ever Thursday night Rosie concert, and first in over five months! Their fast and aggressive music will be a welcome sight, hopefully they get lots of pits going! I should note that The Bear Hunters announced that they'd be on this show in three separate postings on their Facebook page, but they were not confirmed by Dismembertainment yesterday, so don't get your hopes up.

As is usually the case for all locals-Rosie concerts, there is no cover charge, you must be 19 to attend, and everything starts at 9:30 PM or later. Check the above links for more details! Sounds like a fun night of metal, maybe I can make it out! I'll keep you posted if updates come in!

Now to the other shows that Rich officially confirmed on the Dismembertainment Facebook page, and first, we have a show conveniently taking place on July 4th (our fourth anniversary!) It's just a coincidence, but it's an awesome coincidence, as Vancouver thrash metal band Titans Eve are hitting The Roosevelt Hotel for a Monday night of metal mayhem! I've been aware of this show for a while now, but Dismembertainment only just announced the show yesterday. Local openers, a likely cover charge, and a start time are not known yet (or at least public), but the 19+ age limit is probably a guarantee, as this is a bar. I am really high on Titans Eve, they have a nice brutal thrash sound with modern and groove influences, and they'll be sure to rock the stage on July 4th! You can bet your bottom dollar I'll be there on July 4th to rock out with Titans Eve for our fourth anniversary (which I have more news on coming up.) Stay tuned for updates on the Titans Eve show as they come in! I can't wait for this one!

The other newly announced show breaks new ground for Dismembertainment, as it's the first time since officially launching that they've ever held a concert at The Canadian Nightclub! This show, which will take place on Sunday, July 10th, has two out of town headliners, those being Toronto "heavy thrashfuck metal" quartet Fatality and Ottawa blackened death metal quintet Immersed! Interesting mix here, but both bring exciting brands of metal to the table, including everything from old school thrash metal to relentless modern death metal, so everyone should find something to like. Fatality's vocals need to grow on me, but both bands are really talented, and I live right near The Canadian, so I'll be here for this show for sure! As with the Titans Eve show, there's no details as yet on local openers, cover charges, and start times, but a 19+ age limit is to be expected. Sounds like a brutally heavy time though, I hope to see you guys there, and stay tuned for updates!

And finally, sticking with the Dismembertainment theme, here's some new videos from this past Thursday's Dayglo Abortions concert! Veteran local musician Kevin Campbell (of BeeFMoutH & Nullified Youth fame) was in attendance at The Rosie for this awesome concert, and he got some videos of his own, as uploaded to the BeeFMoutH YouTube channel! Filmed with his own camera from behind the floor (probably the safest close spot), he got three videos, those being of The Dayglo Abortions playing their songs "My Girl" & "Dog Farts", "Argh Fuck Kill", and "Inside My Head" & "Used To Be In Love"! Nice quality, you hear the crossover thrash sounds of The Dayglo Abortions well, and the crowd activity is welcome to see from this angle as well! Audio's nice and clear too, Kevin got some good footage here! Hopefully there's more floating around! Because it's the longest of the three videos, I embedded the video with "My Girl" & "Dog Farts" from Thursday night below, but check out all of the videos that Kevin shot at the above links, and stay tuned tomorrow or Wednesday for more Dayglo Abortions show news!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for my review of Foothill Road's 1994 debut EP "Seventy" later tonight! Thanks everyone!