LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Half Past), A New Local Band, The Damn Truth Preview, And More!!

Today's post is full of big news and notes, including a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, a mid-week concert preview, and a high profile new cover video, but let's lead off with a kinda sorta new local metal band, so here's what you should know on them on this Monday night!

We have a new-ish band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are local "progressive tech death" metal quartet Bardo! I say "new-ish" because they're kind of a renaming and a replacement band all at once. Initial advertising for the Selias-headlined concert at Soo Blaster on September 28th had promoter Tyler St. Amour's mid-2010s death metal band Them returning after a seven year hiatus on this night, but it has since been confirmed on Facebook that they'll instead be going by the name Bardo, and a separate Facebook page was launched to reflect the new-ish band. Given everything, I'm treating Them and Bardo as separate bands (with Them back in our inactive links), especially given the gap since 2017 and that Bardo are not a duo and are playing more technical material, so there has been a clear evolution! No word on what Bardo means, for the record. Tyler aside (who is on vocals and bass), who else is in this group?

The lineup is not given in writing on social media yet, but it looks like two of Tyler's old March Into Regression bandmates are in this group, namely his brother Travis St. Amour (best known from Bring The Fallen) on drums and Christopher Neveau on guitar, but I have yet to identify who the second guitarist is. We'll let you know when things are confirmed publically! Two videos have been shared to Bardo's Facebook page so far, and while both have them short-handed (only one guitarist in the newer clip, and Tyler isn't playing bass in either), but these point to a brutal and more refined sound than Them were known for, and they should turn heads at Soo Blaster! Check out their first original "Blood Moon" below!

Next up, here's that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as local hard rock quartet Half Past will return to Soo Blaster on Saturday, October 12th for a big headlining date! The reunited foursome will actually debut there at the aformenetioned Selias-headlined concert, but they will be the topline attraction next month, in their first headlining gig since rocking Shooters early last month. As far as I can tell, there's no frills or raison d'etre for this show beyond playing some hard rocking tunes live, so don't miss out on Jordan, Alain, Arthur, and Jonny's encore at Soo Blaster two weeks after the Selias concert! Half Past will have an opening act next month as well, namely Bullet Train frontman Cory Murchison, who will break out his acoustic guitar for the occasion. Promotional materials credit him as "Cory Daniel", which is the handle used when he opened for Fort Creek in 2022, despite playing shows since where his last name was used in advertising.

Fans of Half Past's original 2008-2012 run will recall that Cory was active then fronting Sense Of Truth (and he played with Jonny in Skeyes Of Seven afterwards), so they're well acquainted, and it should be a fun atmosphere! Given the large upscale venue, this is a ticketed event, so admission will be $10 in advance at this link (physical tickets are available through the performers and at Soo Blaster), and the door price will jump to $12. This will be an ALL AGES event, and Cory kicks off the night at 8:00 PM. Hard rock fans will get their fill on this night, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details on all of the action next month!

Also, here's a special Tuesday night concert preview, as Montreal classic/hard rock quartet The Damn Truth will headline at the aformentioned Soo Blaster in their local debut TOMORROW NIGHT! This retro-styled band have been getting some good local press attention this week, getting a brief write-up by Brian Kelly for The Sault Star (at this link) and some high praise on The Borderline's website, so you know that this female-fronted group will deliver a solid night of 1960s-inspired melodic rock originals, and no less than Bob Rock produced their new material, so you know they're on the up & up! A varied local opening roster includes local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback (in their second show of 2024 and first in Sault Ste. Marie city limits in over a year) and alternative rock trio The Haze (née Skinbox) in their first show since they added an unspecified new band member, so find out who is joining Steve, Jordan, and Brad in The Haze tomorrow!

Another show promoted locally by Mikhal Muto, tomorrow's concert has advance tickets running for $20 at this link and presumably at the venue, with the door price jumping to $25. Like the Half Past show next month, the music starts at 8:00 PM, though it was not stated if there will be a 19+ age limit here or not. The Damn Truth should turn heads tomorrow, especially with Lee-La's distinctive Janis Joplin-esque vocals, so don't miss out if you can swing this work/school night event! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Damn Truth live!

Finally for today, here's song #13 in local punk supergroup project Mikey & His Uke's 30th anniversary series of remotely filmed covers of Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie"! Posted to their YouTube channel last week, this video came just two weeks after the previous cover of "Emenius Sleepius", in the quickest turnaround in covers for this series since song #7 ("Basket Case") went up in March, which is good to see! In the penultimate credited song on offer, Mikey & crew tackled the thirteenth track on "Dookie", namely the short deep cut "In The End". As always, Bookclub frontman Mikey Hawdon is on guitar and (initially) ukelele, with Goldfinger alum Darren Pfieffer back as the house drummer for the "Dookie" covers, complete with another hockey jersey. Vocals here are provided by Authority Zero frontman Jason Devore, while Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Plafoot returns for his seventh turn on the low end in the "Dookie" series

Aside from Jason putting on a mask during his footage, there's no major frills to note from the filming locations and activity, but it's well edited as you'd expect, and the performance is strong, with Jason's vocals fitting well with the experienced musical hands on offer! Unless they tackle the bonus unadvertised song "All By Myself", the "Dookie" cover series will wrap up with "F.O.D.", which could arrive at any point up to October 21st based on past release timeframes (the current average would be September 27th). Check out "In The End" for yourselves below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Blood Opera, The Damn Truth, The Fixer, And Sylo!!)

After a couple of quiet days due to some prior engagements, I am back with a stacked post on the SMS on this Sunday afternoon, 100% devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS in Sault Ste. Marie in the next two+ months! Here's what you should know in chronological order!

In a type of all-local event that we haven't seen a lot of in the Soo in the 2020s, six original-leaning local acts (many heavier in nature) will join forces for a concert at Soo Blaster on Sunday, August 18th! Curiously, the headliners of this show are local hard rock band Sylo, who we have not heard from publically since their return from hiatus in February, dropping out of the Hazytones show in the interim. It is worth noting that the former Raincourt privatized their Instagram page and seemingly parted ways with bassist Owen Dearing (now absent from their listed lineup there). I don't know if Eli or Alder are taking over on bass or if they're looking for a new hire, but hopefully Sylo's return in two weeks goes over well, and that everything's alright with Owen! A healthy roster of local openers includes punk trio (quartet?) Vanity First, metal trio The BAG, comedy rock band The Floor Between Us, and two solo singer/guitarists.

These include prolific local folk punk/extreme metal musician Chase Wigmore (last seen at a Distraction show in February with many common musicians) and outsider/anti-folk musician Shae Tull. This show will be ALL AGES, it has a flat $10 admission fee at the door (no advance ticket sales of any kind), and doors open at 8:00 PM. This could be a late night for many given that the concert is on a work/school night, but if you want to see six talented local music acts in one stage (let alone that none of them played at Rotaryfest), keep the action in two weeks in mind! Visit the official Facebook event page for more details!

Next up, there's more heavy action one week later at Soo Blaster via two touring (and female-fronted) bands rocking Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday, August 25th, including headlining Thunder Bay gothic metal quartet The Fixer! An outfit who have been decently active out west in the 2020s so far, fans of bands like New Years Day will find a lot to like from their melodic hard rock originals, so don't miss out on The Fixer's Soo debut in three weeks! Winnipeg-based metal quartet Indigo will open here, and their sound is more aggressive with harsher Pantera-esque vocals at their heights, so they should turn a few heads at Soo Blaster as well! Further signalling that they are back for good, local death/thrash metal trio Pillory will open in their second public gig of 2024 and first show in Sault Ste. Marie city limits in almost five years. Hopefully there's much more to come from Robert, Blair, and Bret in the near future!

Announced on personal Facebook pages last month before going 100% public in recent days, tickets will run for $15 in advance at the venue or $20 at the door (online sales have not begun at press time) This show will also be ALL AGES, and while it's another 8:00 PM show on a work/school night, there are half as many bands as the previous week. Metal fans should definitely look into this concert for some hard hitting music later this month, so visit the above links for more details!

Also coming to Soo Blaster is Montreal classic/hard rock quartet The Damn Truth, who will rock Sault Ste. Marie for the first time on Tuesday, September 17th! A 1960s-inspired group who infuse a few different styles into their high energy and melodic originals, singer Lee-La Baum's husky Janis Joplin-esque vocals definitely help them stand out from the pack, and it'll be interesting to see how The Damn Truth go over this fall! In a mild surprise, local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback will open next month, in their first show in the Soo since opening for The Ripcordz in September of last year! Yes, they'll be back at the Northern Vibe Festival later this month, but Chris, Matt, and Nick don't play all that often anymore, so if you've missed their intense punk originals and select covers, be at Soo Blaster next month! The official poster suggests that "other acts" are to be announced, but at press time, it's hard to find any social media press for this show.

I literally only heard about this one because I was on Soo Blaster's ticket page seeing if the Fixer concert above had the online sale link up yet, but hopefully the local press ramps up soon. I don't even know if A Dire Setback's own Live705 are putting this on! In any event, tickets are $20 at this link or $25 at the door, this again starts at 8:00 PM, and unlike the shows above, I can't immediately confirm if this will be all ages or 19+. If Sunday isn't ideal scheduling for many, Tuesday really isn't, but hopefully there's a solid turnout for this array of live original rock music next month, and see above for more details!

Finally for this all-Sault Ontario concert post, Toronto "dead metal/zombie glam" band Blood Opera will return for a headlining concert on Saturday, October 19th at  The Queen of Hearts Club above Shooters Downstairs Lounge! As you may recall, Blood Opera were the after-party headliners at the Steel City CollectorCon in May, and clearly they had a strong reception for their highly theatrical and violent horror movie-inspired stage show, as organizers Steel City Events are bringing them back five months later to do the honours in closing out the Steel City NerdCon that weekend! Very similar event, a pop culture/comic convention featuring dozens of vendors and artists from the Soo and beyond, and preliminary details on that day's festivities at the Quattro Hotel (the NerdCon proper) and The Queen Of Hearts Club (this concert and the karaoke/card game tournament pre-party on Friday the 18th) can be found at this link.

Notably, the Facebook advertising also lists Blood Opera as part of the NerdCon proper at Quattro (no idea in what capacity yet), while Steel City Events are looking for one or two local opening bands for the 19th. Message them above or via Vintage Games & Junque's Facebook page if you/your band are interested! For reference, the openers in May were The Apocalypse Afterparty. No word yet on admission details, but in May, it was a 19+ concert with a 9:00 PM start time and $20 admission, though there were CollectorCon ticket packages that included free admission to see Blood Opera if purchased. There's a lot to learn, but Blood Opera aren't to be missed, so visit the above links for initial details!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Clusterfolk Music Festival Fallout, A Local Solo Musician's Return, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of veteran local bassist and Borderline radio host Mike Robillard, who just passed away after a battle with cancer at the age of 51. While not a hard rock musician, Mike will be familiar from his work performing with bands like Startlefish, The 4 Really Nice Guys, Spiderback, and Scissors For Erica over the years. More recently, he hosted The Taxi Passenger Revue on The Borderline in early 2020, which played off of his day job to interview local musicians like Tym Morrison, DJ Seith, and Colin Nelson before the pandemic complicated things. As revealed in this GoFundMe campaign, Mike was diagnosed with clear cell renal sarcoma (a form of kidney cancer) in December, and had been fighting it ever since. Having lost my mother to cancer at around the same age in 2020, I sadly know all too well what Mike's family has went through.

A lot of Mike's major musical work either predates social media or didn't produce a widespread album, but he did record with Startlefish (notably on 2005's "Regretfully Yours"), so don't bypass him if you have access to his recordings, as he was a very capable musician, not to mention a kind and funny man by all accounts. I don't know if The Borderline will repost episodes of The Taxi Passenger Revue in his memory (oddly, they had all been taken down), but it'd be nice to see them resurface in his memory. Follow local news media for details on arrangements when appropriate, and R.I.P. Mike! Today's post otherwise looks at updates from a recent concert and a local musician's return, so here's what you should know!

Here's some belated updates from the returning Clusterfolk Music Festival at The Rockstar Bar from this past Saturday night! While not held there, Gore Street arts venue 180 Projects co-organized the event, and it looks like they did the brunt of the Facebook promotion for the concert proper (I don't believe promoter Jackson Reed is on Facebook nowadays). I profusely apologize for missing this, but there were lineup variances not reported on the Facebook event page (launched by The Rockstar Bar), most notably that headlining classic/hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley did not play at Clusterfolk after all, which 180 Projects only announced the morning of the show. They cited "unforeseen circumstances" for their withdrawal, but did not go into further details. This would have been a big platform for them, hopefully nothing bad happened! As well, the planned slot from a Sudbury artist completely fell through, so what should you know there?

Original advertising had folk musician Will Powers playing on Saturday, but he was quietly replaced for unannounced reasons last week by fellow Sudbury folk duo The Bad Actors (who were not among the eight artists to get Clusterfolk music videos), only for them to also drop out for "unforeseen circumstances" on Saturday morning. Local acoustic folk duo Sainte Marie (also not filmed for Clusterfolk) were brought on as a last minute fill-in for both withdrawn bands, with guitarist Jacob Quarrell's other band Jupiter Marvelous promoted to headliners. Hopefully everything went well on Saturday, and stay tuned for more Clusterfolk coverage soon!

Finally, here's a surprise return, as local hard rock solo artist Mike McCleary has resumed working on new music! Over three years after deactivating his Facebook page (intentionally or otherwise), Mike brought it back last summer and quietly posted a "revised" version of his 2018 solo album "Weight of the Truth" to various online music platforms in August, as accessible via this DistroKid page. The revised version re-arranges the song order and includes two brand new songs ("Superstition" & "Solstice"), plus four songs were either rewritten & renamed or dropped outright. Mike is one to de-list past albums of his and re-record or rewrite them to better reflect his musical intent, talents, and messages, so I can't go back and tell you what's what, but "Wannabees" & "Be The One" are reworkings of two of these songs: "Clarity", "Snakes & Ladders", "Disease", and "Overkill", with the other two seemingly being scrapped.

Regardless of changes, "Weight of the Truth" remains a deeply personal album reflecting on Mike's mental health struggles, so it's good to see him addressing his story like this and perfecting it, as only he fully understands what he has went through! You can (re-)buy "Weight of the Truth" for $5.99 at this link or on a "name your price" model on Bandcamp. As I noted above for Mike delisting old albums, only the reworking of "Weight of the Truth" and a new version of the title track from his (former?) EP "Hourglass" are currently posted, and while I have no idea if albums like "In Ruins" and "Hourglass" will ever return in a recognizable form, he has taken to his Facebook page to reveal that he is working on a new album, specifically an instrumental album inspired by his creative pursuits outside of music. He acknowledged that this is a departure from the "controversial material" he's previously released

If you didn't know, many of Mike's prior songs reflected on his left-leaning political views and opinions therein, but such content is not (currently?) available to stream or buy on official channels. Mike does sound like he's having more fun working on his new music, but he didn't specify if he's recording or still songwriting at present. It's good to have Mike back at long last though, he's a talented hard rock musician and songwriter with interesting viewpoints and lyrics, so give his posted material and updates a look above! At press time, Facebook embed codes for videos aren't working on Blogger, but teaser clips from "Weight of the Truth" can be seen there.

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile next, wth more news to follow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Truth Of All Death, Frightlight, And The Strange Coyotes!!)

Before we round out our Oh!No festival fallout, we have a post completely devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS today, one on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know for your fall concert plans!

Local alt-folk musician Chase Wigmore is returning to the concert promotion game with a special New American Pub show THIS TUESDAY NIGHT, to be headlined by Toronto grindcore band The Truth Of All Death! Apologies for the short notice, this show was only announced last Tuesday, too soon to fully cover the show without this preview being a rehash. The Truth Of All Death should pique the interest of Blood Shed Productions loyalists with their minimalist grind/noise onslaught, short songs, and provocative subject matter, so if this is up your alley, give The T.O.A.D. a listen above in advance of their local debut on TUESDAY! Blood Shed's flagship solo grindcore project Crucify the Whore will open in a rare New A set, while the only other advertised act is Awokest, who I have no information on whatsoever. The chance exists that this is a new project of Chase's, given that he's not advertised with a solo set, but that's purely conjecture on my part. We'll let you know if public details on Awokest come out, or if potential added acts are confirmed!

Though the venue is not directly cited on the Facebook event page, The New A's Facebook page confirms that they're playing host. A $5 cover charge is in effect for TUESDAY'S 19+ concert, which has an advertised 8:00 PM start time, though that may just be the door opening time. If you've missed grindcore concerts locally, this should whet your appetite for the subgenre, so keep this concert in mind for TUESDAY NIGHT, especially if Chase's talk of bi-weekly concerts comes to fruition! Here's The Truth Of All Death live!



Next up, here's some Halloween season concerts with lots of advance notice, starting with local promoter J.D. Pearce's 14th straight year of Halloween party concerts, as he's back with a second straight double header on Friday, October 27th & Saturday, October 28th at... Soo Blaster?! After spending 5 of the past 6 years at The Algonquin Hotel, J.D.'s Halloween party (alternately known as "The Howling") will move to Soo Blaster for 2018, marking our first ever punk/metal concerts covered at the new restaurant, arcade, and live events venue at 345 Queen Street East, which was previously home to Woolco and the RMH/NCO call center. Soo Blaster has made waves in the past year with hip hop concerts and stand up comedians, but how will it handle aggressive live bands? This year's roster will be tribute-focused for a fourth straight year, with the Friday the 27th lineup featuring unidentified tributes to The Red Hot Chili Peppers, H.I.M., and The Distillers.

I can't confirm complete identities for the three bands at present, but personal Facebook postings indicate that Jack Spades/Stegadeth guitarist Tiffany Stocco will be performing in the H.I.M. and Distillers tributes. Will one/both of her bands take on either guise, or will these be one-off supergroups? Time will tell! Both are relatively unique bands for covers here, but the Chili Peppers aren't as shocking. Will this band share any relation to the late 2000s local tribute Sikamikanico? The lineup on Saturday the 28th will feature tributes to Tool and Weezer, and while HTs bassist Ryan Disano & Redundant frontman Justin Langlois signalled their involvement in each tribute via personal Facebook postings, I again don't know whether the tribute bands will be reskinned existing bands or one-offs. However, we do know the Saturday headliners by name, as defunct local horror punk quintet Frightlight will hit the stage for the first time in four years that night! How's that for a spooky surprise? Will they focus on Misfits covers to go with the theme?

Frightlight were a steady fan favourite band in their original 2009-2014 run, and while I can't confirm the makeup of their 2018 reunion lineup, look for the guys to deliver one more high impact fright night next month! Sponsored by Northern Superior Breweries, this year's Halloween party concerts are 19+ affairs with 10:00 PM start times, and each night's admission is $10, but there will be a $15 weekend pass for both nights. Things are shaping up for a great weekend of live music action at a new-ish locale next month, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and we'll let you know when we hear more on the band identities and ticket availability!

Finally, here's one more seasonal concert for late next month, as the aforementioned Chase Wigmore is bringing live metal music back to The Oddfellows Hall after well over a year away, with a Devil's Night concert planned for Tuesday, October 30th! After the abrupt relocation of his last try at an Oddfellows concert, things have a lot more advance word this time, so hopefully there's no hang-ups next month! A spiritual successor to Blood Shed Productions' Devil's Night concerts at the same venue in 2013 & 2014 (Chase played both), he is hyping up the "mash-up" nature of the lineup, with a variety of metal and folk acts on display next month, so who all is playing? As per the Facebook event page, we'll be blessed with a Haggith-less reunion of 2013-2014 funk metal band The Strange Coyotes as the apparent headliners! Nice to see Chase & James back together after far too long, though no word yet on if this will be a one-off, or if they'll have a drummer present. The remaining performers are all solo acts, though more bands could be added.

Alongside the aforementioned Crucify the Whore, fans can check out Chase's own solo project (with an apparent "folk punk rock opera" in store), creative local pianist Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda, and new local alt-folk musician Wes Armstrong (not Anderson), who you may have seen at Chase's Rednecks show earlier this month. This ALL AGES concert has a presumably incorrect start time of 3:52 PM (I'd guess it'd be later), while admission fees have not yet been confirmed. Nice mixture of Blood Shed collaborators coming back for another Devil's Night, plus some new sounds, so visit the above links for current and continuing details as they roll in!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Mike McCleary - "Weight Of The Truth" Review!!

To help end the month, here's our 104th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, as we're taking a look at local solo hard rock musician and Northern Indies Podcast host Mike McCleary's third studio album "Weight of the Truth"! Independently recorded since last year, this album released to Mike's Bandcamp page and other online streaming services on January 29th, just three weeks after his prior "Hourglass" EP, though we chose "Weight of the Truth" for this month's review due to it's length, pre-release hype, and presence of songs carried over from his soon-to-be-revamped 2016 debut album "In Ruins". Featuring Mike on all instruments, this album features 13 songs running for about 49 minutes in length, and can be bought for $9.99 on iTunes and Bandcamp, while it can be streamed for free on the latter and Spotify, with song names linked below to their Bandcamp copies. As well, half of proceeds from sales of both this album and "Hourglass" will go to Michael Landsberg's SickNotWeak initiative, so definitely keep that in mind if you're debating a purchase of either release! Now, let's start this review!

"Weight of the Truth" begins with "So Surreal", a song that Mike wrote about his trip to the Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury. After a lengthy bass and drum intro, the song kicks in with a familiar rhythm featuring his raw, melodic singing, and it fits the song's laid back nature! The instrumentation sounds like it could use an extra guitar track, but his guitar solo is a nice fit, and the structure has a catchiness to it! Nice casual way to start the album, but he will go into more challenging territory on later tracks. Next is "The Working Poor", which Mike self-describes as "a lighthearted look at how it is living under the poverty line." That lines up with the cheerful, bouncy guitar riff to start things off, but his vocals take on a more determined grit as he makes his lyrical points. The contrast between the music and vocals is effective in this way, and with him really letting loose on the guitar solo, this all helps to put this song higher than "So Surreal" for my personal preferences so far! I just wish the ending wasn't so abrupt, it felt like there was more of this song to come.

Third up is "The Me I Once Knew", which is about being critical about your past, and deciding whether to move on from your old self or live with who you are. An alternative hard rock number in tone, this maintains a casual sing-along nature, and has a clear edge to it without losing vibrance. It's a solid track compared to the prior selections, but my biggest drawback was the layered chorus vocals over-top of the guitar solo, which just seem out of place (I'd have made them a bridge before the solo to set the mood.) The song ends abruptly again too, but this is a quality track, and the leisurely catchiness is a bonus! The album's title track "Weight of the Truth" is next, which is squarely about mental illness and the stigma surrounding it, which has hit close to home for Mike and has been a theme in much of his recent music. Very funk rock-oriented rhythm here (I got Chili Peppers vibes at the start), as Mike continues to contrast a more upbeat rock sound with serious lyrics.

He puts more power into his singing on the choruses, and you can sense the passion and importance of the song here! I don't know if the lyrics and music contrast as well here for my tastes, but for ability and performance, this is a highlight of the album in that respect! Fifth is "Roulette", one of three re-recorded tracks from "In Ruins" last year. Lyrically referencing Russian roulette and it's parallels to struggling with mental illness, this song has another laid back tone, but here, Mike's singing is a fit in tone and mood to the instrumentation, and it has a good pace to it! This is the album's shortest song, and it makes the most of that time with a solid overall performance on all instruments with important lyrics to match, but fans of Mike's more upbeat, harder-edged material may be left wanting more.

The sixth song is "Be The One", which continues recent themes by being about wanting to "be the one" who's free from stress and mental illness. Taking more of a grungy essence here, Mike's singing is at the forefront from the song's start onward, and it's a great usage of his vocal style and tone! His guitar skills get their best showcase yet here, with a lengthy blues-inspired guitar solo that shows a lot of skill and variance! It's almost a tale of two songs here, but both halves are very effective, and this is one of my favourite songs yet on this album! "Clarity" is next, with lyrics about trying to find clarity in life, and wondering if it's worth the effort. By far the heaviest song on the album so far, the pounding guitar work in the verses and melodic choruses give me a bit of a Foo Fighters vibe, and he has the chops to handle that, but the production could have been altered to emphasize the heaviness. Very catchy and aggressive song, and if this is as heavy as the album gets, it's fitting that it comes at the album's exact midpoint!

Eighth on this album is "Date Night With Darkness", which Mike says is "a quick song about ineffective coping methods." Harbouring a sound reminiscent of 1990s indie rock (if that's fair), I like the guitar rhythm and drum beat here, and the vocals are a nice even match to the instrumentation. The verses and choruses are basically one and the same here, but for a shorter track, it's not too jarring, aside from another abrupt ending. Solid song, and with another quality guitar solo to boot! Next is "Snakes & Ladders", which is another song imported from "In Ruins", and is about what can happen when one tried to understand the world. In a return to the contrast of musical tone and vocal style, this song is more of an upbeat hard rocker, but Mike's singing is quieter and more downbeat, aside from some backing vocal input on choruses. In this case, the contrast doesn't work as well to me, but it's a well-composed song otherwise with a good groove to it and well thought out lyrics! I'd just have made the vocals a little louder or passioned.

"Weight of the Truth" continues with it's longest song, "Disease", which Mike wrote about his using alcohol as a coping mechanism, as connected to his love of the shoreline pictured on the album's cover artwork. This effective ballad has more of a dramatic, grandiose feel to it, albeit with a very deliberate pace, and you can feel the emotion in Mike's singing! It's a well performed and structured song with a lot of effort put into it, but for my own personal preferences, I do prefer this album's more upbeat and musically heavier tracks. "The Other Side" comes next as the third and final song to be taken from "In Ruins" (where it was also featured in an acoustic version.) Lyrically about embracing who you really are rather than wearing a mask to cover up mental illness, this has a bluesy vibe while maintaining a hard-edged essence, as contrasted with low downbeat vocals. Again, I like the contrast of the dark, meaningful singing with the hard rocking music, and it's a solid showcase track at this late stage of the album!

Twelfth is "The Best Part", which is about Mike's wife Sara, who has supported and been there for him through thick and thin, and has co-founded the new mental health awareness organization We've Got This with him. Another leisurely paced song, this has solid melodic singing from a clear emotional place, and the lyrics are definitely nice and thankful for all she's done for him personally, so you can't fault this one at all! For the kind of song it is, it succeeds at it's aims, and is a pleasant listen! The album closes with "Overkill", which was a delayed addition to Bandcamp copies of this album, but was always included on the free Soundcloud posting. An minimalist acoustic ballad that Mike always felt connected with, this ends things on a soft, reserved note, but it's a well performed song with good gritty singing and a casual yet emotive mood! I'd have ended the album with a more upbeat song to finish on, but I'm glad this made the final cut!

So, what are my final thoughts on Mike McCleary's newest solo album? Having never listened to one of his albums full through going in, I'm glad to say that he's a very talented musician with mature lyrics and strong ambitions, and he should be able to make a big impact locally if he keeps at it! Given his very real struggle with mental illness and how he's advocated for related causes in recent months, this album's large lyrical focus on it means all the more to it's lyrical impact, so people in similar situations may want to pay closer attention! Musically, Mike takes from numerous inspirations for a sound that, while often hard rock based, could also dip into blues, funk, and alternative rock where need be, and his guitar skills in particular are a boon on these tracks! I was most struck by the contrast between his vocal styles and musical styles on various tracks, often singing in a downbeat fashion against a lighter song in tone, and more often than not, this approach was very complimentary in a positive way!

Songs like "The Me I Once Was", "Be The One", and "Clarity" were among my favourite tracks, but there's something for many tastes here, and I definitely recommend checking out "Weight of the Truth" to see what you think, which you can do at the above links! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and look for much more on Mike McCleary's recent music work in an upcoming news post, plus our next CD review of Telephone & Address' "Monster" next month! Thanks everyone!

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

Here's a new news post for your Thursday night, including our promised concert previews/(SHORT NOTICE) LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for a prominent local solo artist, but we have some extended info on a new local album release to round things out, and one more belated batch of previews! Here's what you should know, and get more concert previews in the post below!

Former Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will continue his ongoing weekly concert arrangement at Gliss Steak & Seafood and his new bi-monthly run of shows at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill this month! These include Gliss matinees TOMORROW & SATURDAY, and then on February 9th-10th, 16th-17th, and 23rd-24th, and nighttime Roadhouse gigs lined up for TOMORROW NIGHT and on February 23rd! Apologies for the short notice on this weekend's triple header, remember that we go month by month for Tym's shows on here due to their amount and longevity. Another busy weekend is lined up for fans of Tym's skilled and prolific rotation of hard and classic rock covers, including the aforementioned 10 solo concerts and his newly ongoing run as host of The Canadian Nightclub's open mic nights on Wednesdays, so keep all of these chances in mind to see Tym live this month, including TOMORROW & SATURDAY!

However, Tym has reportedly cancelled his Twitch.tv webstream "concerts" on Thursday evenings for the time being due to scheduling issues, as per his personal Facebook page, but hopefully those return in the future! As for his Gliss and Roadhouse gigs in February, expect no announced cover charge at either venue, and while the Gliss shows are at 6:00 PM with no age limit (though mind the locale), the two Roadhouse concerts are at 10:00 PM with a 19+ age limit. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details, and here's Tym live a few years back!



Next up, local hard rock solo musician Mike McCleary officially released his new full length solo album "Weight of the Truth" to his official Bandcamp page on Monday! When he teased last month that it'd be coming soon, he wasn't joking! Independently recorded since last year, Mike went into great detail on his Facebook page to describe some of the themes on this album, which evolved from "a fun rock album" to one that focuses heavily around mental health issues, something that he has experienced and fought, and wants to bring awareness to. Maybe releasing this in the lead-up to Bell Let's Talk Day was on purpose? Mike pledges to donate half of all proceeds from this album to TSN Radio host Michael Landsberg's SickNotWeak initiative, which is a great cause! Mike did make it clear that this isn't about money so much as creating "a positive and open dialogue about mental illness", and hopefully this helps facilitate the conversation in it's own way!

The 12 song album has entirely been posted to his Soundcloud page, though it should be noted that a track #13 entitled "Overkill" is featured there, but not in the Bandcamp sale copy for unannounced reasons, though it is more of an acoustic folk number than what did make the cut. Three of these songs had previously been on Mike's debut 2017 album "In Ruins" ("Roulette", "Snakes & Ladders", and "The Other Side", plus an acoustic version of the latter), but given that they've been re-recorded for this album, and that "In Ruins" was pulled from most services, that album appears to either no longer be in his official canon, or is being heavily reworked without those three songs. "Weight of the Truth" can be streamed on Spotify and is also available on iTunes, but I haven't found a mentioned Google Play posting yet. In any event, Mike is asking $9.99 for the album in it's sale format, but remember that he is donating half to SickNotWeak, so keep that in mind!

I am still leaning towards our first ever Mike McCleary album review on the site this month, and I will go with "Weight of the Truth" over his prior January EP "Hourglass" due to it's length, more recent release status, and presence of songs from "In Ruins", so unless something completely unexpected happens in between, watch for it this month! Lastly, Mike posted a music video for "Snakes & Ladders" to his YouTube channel on January 23rd, and it's full of creative and well edited imagery, which fits well with the song's lyrical message. Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Mike!



Finally for today, here's our somewhat belated preview of TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT'S concerts from Kinross, Michigan classic/hard rock trio Banned, who will play their first gigs of 2018 at The Northern Pines Lounge at the Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace! Profuse apologies for missing these shows in this post's initial version, they completely slipped me by when compiling our concert previews this weekend, and with not enough stories to compile a full news post at press time, I added this preview here and will bump the shorter assorted story block to our next full news post. They will be back very soon, I promise! Tonight and tomorrow's shows (which were previously announced last month and covered on here at the time) will be their first in almost two months, and first at The Rapids Lounge since November. Alex, Don, and Wayne should have another solid weekend of hard rocking covers in store for St. Ignace fans, so keep these ones in mind!

As usual for Banned's Kewadin shows, these are 21+ events with no announced cover charges, and 9:00 PM start times. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Banned live!



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

A New Punk Band Discovery, New Local Concert Videos, And Much More!!

Let's dive back into some general and more varied news and notes for this third post of the month, so what's in store? Assorted recent notes, a milestone video of ours from our early months at the SMS, and some spring concert footage, but first, here's a new addition to our inactive band links!

We have a "new" local band to add to our band links, and they are F.F.B., a defunct punk trio who have quietly re-emerged in the past year with posthumous plans! We've acknowledged F.F.B. (acronym meaning unclear) on the site before, but only now do they have enough public information to make it fit on the site. Active for a 4 month span in 1999 and 2000, F.F.B. were distant predecessors to the inactive punk/grunge duo The Red & Black, with singer/guitarist Chris Shoust (Telephone & Address) and drummer Damjan "Spider Fingerz" Binda joined by Kyle Grawbarger (instrument unclear, possibly bass?), who isn't familiar from recent local bands. The band reportedly only played 4 shows during their brief run, with at least one being in Sault Michigan before the border tightened up, and they apparently recorded 16 songs, including originals and covers from bands like The Misfits, The Exploited, and Minor Threat.

Chris has teased releasing F.F.B.'s surviving material as far back as 2011 via their posthumous Facebook page, and the guys apparently agreed to release a film about this band last November, but  nothing has stated since. It's hard to comment on F.F.B.'s run personally, as their songs aren't known to be available yet, and I was 10 years old during their heyday, but stay tuned in case some archive material and/or that teased film make their way online!

Next up, here's some recent concert videos from prolific local concert filmer Chris Paci's YouTube channel, and yes, we'll touch on his last Hedley video later this week! Chris was in attendance for the Motherfuckers-headlined concert at The Oddfellows Hall on April 30th, but for one reason or another, the three videos that he shot that night weren't posted online for two months. Better late than never! His videos (all of the headlining Calgary hardcore punk band) include this short song, and this similarly quick number, but embedded below are multiple songs from The Motherfuckers' set. I admittedly am having trouble titling these (especially as they sound so similar to multiple tracks), but blame that partly on the muffled audio through the camera. Chris got solid footage though, and from a pair of angles, so give his videos from this all ages punk concert a look above & below!

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

• Oshawa "death punk" quartet Black Cat Attack have been forced to drop out of THIS FRIDAY'S concert at The Rockstar Bar due to unspecified van troubles, as per promoter J.D. Pearce on the Facebook event page on Friday. Disappointing to be sure, but the show must go on, as B.C.A frontwoman Valerie Knox's other band, Toronto grunge/punk quartet The Anti-Queens (who were already opening) are now the headline act, while classic metal quintet Project 421 have been added as a late opening band in their place (not punk, but their talent speaks for itself), and admission has been halved to $5! See above for more details!
• In a minor update stemming from their recent studio track postings on their Bandcamp page, the album cover for the apparently self-titled debut EP from local hard rock quartet Long Shot is featured on Bandcamp too! It's simple (pictures of the guys on a white background with their logo), but it'll get the job done if it is indeed final, so check out their EP's current content above!
• We missed this when we originally covered the apparent upcoming cassette album from Telephone & Address, but when BGP Tapes owner, musician, and Gore Street Cafe co-owner Sam Decter revealed the plans for "Are You Or Have You Ever Been?" on his blog The Tinderbox, he suggested that it would be a split, with side B focusing on his new experimental rap duo The Leash Kids. Again, Telephone & Address haven't acknowledged these (or any other) album plans lately, but this would be an interesting release, so keep watch for updates!

Finally for today, I wanted to share an archive video find that has never been featured on the SMS before, despite being the earliest surviving concert video that I have ever shot. This comes from the Skid Row Battle of the Bands/skatepark fundraiser at The Speak Easy on April 27th, 2008, during the first year of The Sault Metal Scene's run, and it's of defunct hard rockers Sense of Truth playing their early original "Anything At All" during their battle winning set! Represented by singer/guitarist Cory Murchison (Skeyes of Seven), guitarist Steve Myers (The Wild Iris), bassist Patric Belanger (who left the band by year's end), and drummer Ryan "Kev Riain" Haryett, the guys definitely delivered their A-game in what was their live concert debut! At this point, I was using a low quality cell phone camera (certainly not an iPhone), hence why the video quality is hideous and it's only 15 seconds long, but hey, for better or worse, it's a milestone for us.

This was originally featured on my personal Facebook page, where it attracted virtually no attention, but I have given it some extra life eight years down the road, namely by having the video fade in & out, and by replacing the extremely scratchy original audio with synced audio from Cory's own footage of Sense of Truth playing this song at the battle (all credit to him & that video's original filmer!) It's just 15 seconds of low quality cell phone footage, but it's our first toe in the water in terms of filming concerts, so check it out below, and of course, check out Cory's video above for the best view of this performance!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates as the week progresses! Thanks everyone!

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Parallel Truth

It's now time for this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, our monthly look at a band that, though not based in the twin Saults, features a past or present Saultite in their lineup, and deserves a spotlight for current local readers! Today's choice is a unique band in their international makeup, but they have a lot of talent to go around, so here's what you should know!
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Parallel Truth (Melbourne, Australia/Vancouver, British Columbia/Los Angeles California/China)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED, ex-members in italics. Note that the band's vocalists, alongside saxophonist Rick Morrison, are listed as "guest performers" on Facebook, but are credited as band members on their Bandcamp page.)

Reggie Hache (vocals)
James Lawrence (vocals)
Jeffrey Kesler (guitar)
Kyle Roche (bass)
Jon Morrison (drums/guitar) 
Junshou "Jason" Hou (keyboard)

Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/paralleltruth
Official Bandcamp page: http://paralleltruth.bandcamp.com
Official MySpace page: http://myspace.com/paralleltruth
Official Reverbnation page: https://reverbnation.com/paralleltruth
Official Soundcloud page: http://soundcloud.com/paralleltruth

Local Info: Drummer Jon Morrison is a familiar face for local metalheads from both past local band work (including a brief stint as a Gates of Winter session drummer) and extensive work in multiple Vancouver-area bands in recent years, such as Alpha Trion, Avatara, and Nylithia. Given that he's a Berklee graduate, don't bypass Jon's high quality band work since his move from the Soo, including the multinational Parallel Truth!

Band Bio: Launched in 2010, Parallel Truth are a progressive metal collaboration featuring performers from four different countries, and as such, are a studio-only project. Calling their music  "the soundtrack of a parallel universe", the band posted their debut singles online in December 2011, and soon began work on their debut album "City of God", which was finally released after a lengthy writing process in August 2014. Updates have been slow since, apart from re-postings and shares of album material, but stay tuned for more on Parallel Truth when it comes in! Inspired by the likes of Dream Theater, Opeth, and Pain of Salvation, their studio material is every entertaining for fans of progressive metal, with songs ranging from technical and heavy instrumentation to songs influenced by 1970s progressive rock, with Jason Hou's keyboard talents and Jon's excellent drumming a constant! 

Some of the vocal performances aren't 100% fits for the material, but Parallel Truth's complex and well-crafted originals should be up the alley of progressive metal and Gates of Winter fans, so be sure to check them out via the above links, and it would be very interesting to see them play live if at all possible! Check out "City Of God" at the above links, and here's a YouTube copy of their song "Life I've Lost"!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month in this series, we plan to look at Sideblinder, the Toronto punk project fronted by Rising Tide/Inner City Surfers frontman Dustin Jones, so watch for that on or around September 26th! That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: WoodsOfYpresVEVO, reneepaigefecteau, and sonorri's Channels

As promised, today marks this month's latest YouTube Channel Profiles, where we once again look at & profile up to 3 YouTube channels with at least a 50% concentration of local metal-relevant videos! This month, we're looking at the 3 channel maximum due to the first channel we randomly selected having just one video, so we added more until we had a full installment. What videos lie in these channels? Why should you watch or subscribe? What else should you know on each? Read on below to find out, and if anything's wrong or missing, please let me know!
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WoodsOfYpresVEVO's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/woodsofypresvevo)

Owner: Major label music video website/company Vevo (though the individual identity of this channel's creator is unknown)

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 19th, 2011; Only video posted on August 1st of that year

Channel Summary: Vevo are a familiar sight for YouTube users who frequently watch music videos online, but there wasn't a direct connection to the local metal scene until mid-2011, when a Vevo account was started for blackened doom metal standouts Woods of Ypres to host their music videos under their branding. Only their last video for "I Was Buried In Mount Pleasant Cemetery" was uploaded there, which is now the most viewed version of the video on YouTube (even more than the band's official copy from 6 months prior.) Had Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold's not passed away in December 2011, future music videos of theirs would likely have been posted there, but with events happening how they did, the channel hasn't been updated in over a year. As a video source, it's redundant due to multiple other more active channels featuring it, but this epic doom ballad from 2010's "Woods IV" is still a great & haunting song & video, and it's worth checking out (unless the Vevo watermark is an irritance)

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Reneepaigefecteau's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/reneepaigefecteau)

Owner: YouTube user and likely Sault Ontario resident Renee Paige Fecteau

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 28th, 2008; Videos posted that same day

Channel Summary: One of the shortest local metal-relevant channels by average video runtime, Renee's two videos amount to just 39 seconds in total length. One is an 18 second video of a friend "making a fool out of himself" at a bar, although it's so dark, short, and oddly angled that it's hard to tell what he's doing. The other video is definitely fits on the SMS, and it's a live video from South African hard rock/grunge band Seether's set opening for Three Days Grace at the then-Steelback Center on January 24th, 2008! It's 21 seconds of them playing their ballad "Broken" (which ex-3DG singer Adam Gontier guested on), and while it's short with fuzzy video quality, the audio's pretty good despite the length, sounding close to the studio track! Note however that Renee has not visibly used this channel since shortly after these videos were posted, in case that changes your mind on subscribing.


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sonorri's Channel (http://youtube.com/user/sonorri)

Owner: Former Sense of Truth drummer Ryan "Kev Riain" Haryett

Channel Timeline: Launched on August 14th, 2006; Only video posted on November 24th, 2009

Channel Summary: Though still used for personal needs, Ryan only uploaded one video onto his YouTube channel, which comes from a concert that his old local hard rock band Sense of Truth played in 2009! I believe this came from their set at the Skate 4 Cancer fundraiser at The Grand Theater on May 14th, 2009, and this features their entire 2008-2011 quintet incarnation. The video features Sense of Truth covering Tool's "Stinkfist", which Ri complimented as being "the most fun I had playing a tune" (despite dropping his drumsticks late), and the flowing video quality backs up their talents well! Strong vocals from Cory Murchison and quality bass work from Curtis Beauchamp especially, and it's well filmed videos like this that make me wish Sense of Truth had stayed active following their 2011 breakup, but at least we have the similar Skeyes of Seven now!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month, we'll return to Sault Michigan for a one channel profile, as we randomly selected YouTube user Dino Capriata's channel, which features a number of videos from assorted hard rock concerts at The Dreammaker's Theater at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! Stay tuned for this profile on or around March 22nd, and stay tuned hopefully tonight for our first concert review in way too long! Thanks everyone!

Battle Of The Bands Rewind Mini-Series: The Kiss Battle Of The Bands

As expected, it's time for our fourth of seven profiles in our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series, and the series peaks in quantity (and arguably quality) with today's entry, as the biggest local battle of the bands in recent memory is getting the spotlight! Like the previous three weeks, this post will outline what happened, who won, and the whereabouts of the bands and performers at this battle of the bands, along with more facts, trivia, and notes relating to it and the events surrounding it. Read on below for this week's profile, and e-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if there's anything missing or incorrect! (Updated on February 23rd, 2016)
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The Kiss Battle of the Bands (November 30th-December 2nd, 2009)

Background: From November 30th to December 2nd, 2009, a huge battle of the bands was held at The Canadian Nightclub, where 20 bands gathered over three nights to compete for the chance to open for Kiss at their headlining show at The Essar Center on December 15th, 2009, though it was later postponed to August 10th, 2010 due to inclement weather. This huge opportunity was held in cooperation with local radio station Rock 101 and Kiss' touring company AEG Live. Of the 20 bands who signed up, 10 each performed on the first two days, with performance order determined in a secret random drawing before the event. Each band received a 10 minute timeslot to perform two original songs, with no covers allowed. A judging panel chose 5 bands each night to advance to the finals on December 2nd, with 75% of the voting based on their performance, talent, and entertainment level, and 25% based on audience reaction. The finals on December 2nd were formatted and judged on similar criteria (though the band order was announced for the finals), after which one band would be chosen as the winners.

Prizes: The winners would initially have been recommended to Kiss' management as the local openers for their concert on December 15th, though it was later confirmed that Kiss would approve the winner of the battle no matter what. The winning band would also win 10 tickets to Kiss' concert at The Essar Center, along with a guaranteed photo with Kiss. Though no other prizes were offered for the runner-up bands, the second place band was guaranteed the opportunity to open for Kiss in the event that the first place act couldn't perform at the concert.

Competitors: The first 10 bands on November 30th had a definite mix of styles, including blues rock quintet Blues Harvest, heavy metal bands Caveman Morrison & Garden of Bedlam, glam/punk quartet Dirty Virgin, progressive rockers Flat Stanley, veteran rock outfits Huckster & Stiffler's Mom, indie punk rockers Nebraska Arms, "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage, and new rock quartet Tiny Trebuchet. The remainder of the lineup, who performed on December 1st, was a bit heavier than the first night, though still with a good selection of genres. The remaining bands included country/punk notables The Billy Bastards, death metal quintet Bring The Fallen, veteran rock bands Gsis Murphy, Middle of Nowhere, and Wishbone, popular metal quintet Lion Ride, hard rock standouts Sense of Truth & Stillbroke, and Sault Michigan metal quartet Nixxon Dixxon.

Results: The first night of the battle saw Blues Harvest, Flat Stanley, Garden of Bedlam, Nebraska Arms, and Stiffler's Mom advance to the December 2nd finals. The following evening, Gsis Murphy, Lion Ride, Nixxon Dixxon, Sense of Truth, and Wishbone moved on to the finals to complete the 10 band final round. After the final judges results were tallied, it was revealed that Garden of Bedlam beat Lion Ride by a single point to win the battle of the bands and the right to open for Kiss in Sault Ontario. Placements for the other 8 finalist bands and the 10 bands who didn't advance were not publically revealed.

Aftermath (Finalists): Garden of Bedlam successfully opened for Kiss with a half hour set at the new date of August 10th, 2010, helping solidify their place in the local metal scene. Since the battle, Garden of Bedlam have headlined numerous major concerts (including the Rotaryfest Second Stage in 2010 & 2012), played scattered out of town dates, and released their first full length CD "Everything Will Die" in 2011. Lion Ride continued their local success through 2011 with numerous Ontario concert dates, and recorded material towards an unreleased album in 2010, but they would ultimately disband in February 2012. Stiffler's Mom continue to play numerous concerts in the area to this day (save for a 2011-2012 breakup), while Flat Stanley are currently working on new studio material with guest singers. Blues Harvest & Wishbone stayed prominent with various local concert dates and recording sessions towards new albums, though Wishbone broke up between briefly in 2012, and Blues Harvest have been inactive since 2013. Sense of Truth played scattered live dates through May 2010 and recorded material towards their unreleased debut EP, before falling inactive and eventually parting ways in 2011. Nixxon Dixxon played numerous high profile dates in 2010 in the Upper Peninsula, including opening for Pop Evil & Vince Neil at Kewadin Casino concerts, before disbanding that August. Gsis Murphy & Nebraska Arms continued to play occasional local concerts through mid-2010, when they both quietly parted ways.

Aftermath (Non-Finalists): The Billy Bastards continue to play scattered local concerts to devoted crowds, releasing three well received albums in the process, while Sykotyk Rampage, though only occasionally seen on stage with frequency, have recorded dozens of new and unique albums since this battle. Caveman Morrison played live often until falling inactive in 2014, while Stillbroke played two more shows in early 2010 before entering a long period of inactivity, returning in late 2011 with a new lineup & name (Borderline Divine) before disbanding for good in mid-2012 after just three concerts. Dirty Virgin have only been seen since at one off Canadian Nightclub gigs in the spring of 2011 & 2012, and Huckster continued playing off & on through the summer of 2011, seemingly going inactive later that year. Bring The Fallen rocked local concert venues often until their dissolution in the spring of 2011 (save for a one-off reunion in July 2013), and both Middle of Nowhere and Tiny Trebuchet continued to play occasional local dates through their descent into inactivity in mid-2010.

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Finalists; Metal/hard rock bands in italics):

415E (Chris Hubbard from Nixxon Dixxon)
Bone Yard (Greg Simpson from Stiffler's Mom)
Changing Lanes (Erik Boissineau from Garden of Bedlam)
The Fairmounts (Mikey Hawdon from Lion Ride; based out of Toronto)
Griphook (Anthony Fabiano from Gsis Murphy) 
Lucky 13 (Jeremey Salatuk from Wishbone) 
Mourning Wood (Glen Thomas from Flat Stanley)
Northwest (Wayne Watkins from Nebraska Arms)
Skeyes of Seven (Cory Murchison & Ron Baxter from Sense of Truth)
That's Chester (Greg Simpson from Stiffler's Mom) 
The Wild Iris (Steve Myers from Sense of Truth & Jake Rendell from Blues Harvest)

Some Notable Performers' Newer Bands (Non-Finalists; Metal/hard rock bands in italics, ex-members indicated with an *):

Aggressive Acoustic (Brian Cattapan from Sykotyk Rampage; based out of Sudbury)
Al Wood & The Woodsmen (Cliff Alloy from Huckster)
The Bear Hunters (Josh Stephney from Bring The Fallen)
Debt To The Heirless (Dan Souliere from Bring The Fallen)
Destroilet (John Conway from The Billy Bastards)
Frightlight (Rick White & Jeff Richards* from Caveman Morrison) 
The Ghost Town Cryers (Kyle McKey from Stillbroke; based out of Pembroke)
The Hustle Brothers (Jay Case & Cliff Alloy from Huckster)
Redundant (Rick White from Caveman Morrison)
Sailor's Tongue (Kyle McKey from Stillbroke)

Trivia:

• At least three local bands who were reported to have signed up for this battle would later drop out of the event. Local producer Miguel Gauthier's pop rock project MBM was slated to be a part, but exited the lineup due to a failure to secure a full live lineup, and were replaced by Caveman Morrison. Celtic punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide reportedly signed up as well, though they had conflicting out of town tour commitments over that time period. Some sources also reported that drum & bass punk trio The Fury had signed up, and though they later confirmed they wouldn't be playing, they would finish second at the Algoma University Battle on December 1st.
• Rock 101 DJ Mark SanAngelo was the MC for this battle of the bands, and he was joined by morning host Brian Davie for the final round. Both likely did some judging for the event too, but details on who exactly was judging the battle weren't revealed. Crank Sound Distribution also handled sound for the entirety of the battle.
• Following their success at this battle of the bands, Garden of Bedlam celebrated their victory with a solo headlining concert at Madison's Pub (now The Harp Bar & Grill) on December 5th, and they were joined by fellow battle competitor Marco Pedalino (Lion Ride) as a guest guitarist for a couple of songs. Garden of Bedlam would use the battle experience as the topic of their original song "Three Days", which was performed at the Kiss concert the following August, and was later featured on their full length debut album "Everything Will Die" in December 2011.
• Though rules for this battle stated that bands had to play only original songs and no covers, a few bands did play covers of songs that members played in other projects. Notably, Caveman Morrison (who generally play only covers) did two songs from frontman Tym Morrison's solo album, and Stiffler's Mom covered two songs by their earlier metal band Sin Stereo in their opening round performance.
• Dirty Virgin, who capped off the performers on the first night of this battle, were notably disqualified for attempting to play a third song in their set, potentially costing them a slot in the battle finals. This remains the band's last concert during their active period (and only show with drummer Dickie Blackstock), though they did reunite for one-off gigs in the spring of 2011 & 2012.
• After the Kiss concert was initially announced in the summer of 2009, Lion Ride aggressively began an online campaign to be named local openers for the concert. When the battle of the bands was announced, Lion Ride pulled out all the stops, including bringing their stage banner and smoke machine for their energetic and high octane first round set, which helped encourage other finalist bands to bring band paraphernalia and merchandise to the final round. Despite falling a point short of victory, Lion Ride's appreciation of Kiss never faltered, and they frequently covered "Strutter" at later concerts.
• Before their set on the second day of the Kiss battle, Bring The Fallen competed in and won the Algoma University Battle of the Bands at The Speak Easy, where they won the opportunity to open for fellow battle competitor Mikey Hawdon (Lion Ride) and his punk band The Inner City Surfers later that month, though they later had to drop out of that show. Battle success wouldn't repeat itself that day, as Bring The Fallen were not voted through to the Kiss Battle finals, making this their only loss out of four battles of the bands that they competed in during their local run. The band capped their battle career with a win at Downtown Showdown at The Oddfellows Hall in May 2010, albeit with future Shit Liver bassist Mike Kyle filling in for Nolan Rainville due to out of town commitments.
• Though he didn't win the right to open for Kiss at this battle, Lion Ride drummer Mike Indovina still made it the local Kiss concert while serving as tour manager for Toronto pop rock quartet The Envy, who were named as a late opening band for Kiss during that stretch of their tour.
• Some people noted that progressive rock band Wishbone played at this battle despite a threatened boycott that three unnamed local bands had levied on The Canadian Nightclub if Wishbone were to play at The Canadian in October 2009 as openers for Texas country metal trio Grady. This was due to inflammatory comments that then-drummer Glen Thomas had reportedly made against the three bands. However, Wishbone (and Glen's primary band at the time, Flat Stanley) competed at the Kiss battle without incident, and both bands successfully made the finals. No word on if any boycott ever happened as a result.
• Sault Michigan quartet Nixxon Dixxon made their only live concert appearances in Sault Ontario at this battle of the bands before their breakup the following year, and these remain the most recent cross-border appearances by a Sault Michigan metal band at a Sault Ontario concert.
• Three bands who competed at this battle (Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska Arms, and Sykotyk Rampage) would re-convene at The Soo Curlers Association's HeartStop Lounge the following February for the Sault College/Scotties Tournament of Hearts Battle of the Bands. Nebraska Arms (featuring two time battle finalists Wayne Watkins & Adam Sauve) finished in a strong second place, with Sykotyk Rampage in 3rd and Middle of Nowhere in fourth place. The winners of that battle were local folk rock outfit Blackwater.
• Though they didn't compete in any other local battles of the bands, Lion Ride competed in two similar events in Toronto the following year. The guys finished in third place in The The Great Canadian T-Shirt Battle at The Hideout in March 2010 (winning recording time and adult paraphernalia), while they advanced to the semifinals of the annual Indie Week competition that October at The Hard Luck Bar. The winners of the latter event were defunct Toronto dance rock quartet These Electric Lives, who enlisted Lion Ride's Mike Indovina as their new (and final) drummer in late 2011.
• A handful of performers from this battle were a part of the Sault Humane Society Battle of the Bands on April 20th, 2012 at The Grand Theater. Wishbone (then featuring Flat Stanley's Tony Kajnar & Glen Thomas, plus bassist Steven Flint) scored a close third place victory, with frontman Dennis Duguay winning "Best Vocalist", while Bring The Fallen frontman Josh Stephney's newer band The Bear Hunters fell a point short of a third place tie. Sykotyk Rampage also performed at the event, though out-of-competition prior to and directly after the competing bands.
• 7 performers at the Kiss Battle competed at the Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands in April 2013, where Sense of Truth's Steve Myers & Blues Harvest's Jake Rendell took third place in the finals on April 24th with The Pesto Shirts (now The Wild Iris), while Bring The Fallen's Josh Stephney took fifth place as a guitarist with The Bear Hunters. Also, both Josh & B.T.F. bandmate Nolan Rainville (in the death metal band Giwakwa) competed against Sykotyk Rampage (now with Tony Briglio on bass) in the third semifinal on April 17th, though neither made the finals.
• After an almost 4 year absence from battles, The Canadian Nightclub hosted the fan-voted Viva La Battle on November 13th, 2013, where Nebraska Arms bassist Wayne Watkins saw greater battle success as the singer & guitarist of his newer indie/punk quintet Northwest, where they finished in second place. Though The Bear Hunters won this battle, Josh Stephney did not compete due to moving to Brampton a few months beforehand, though he did play with them at the Bam Margera concert the following month, which was the first place prize at the battle.
• A few performers at this battle have tried their hand at recent installments of the annual Rock N' Roar Battle of the Bands in Spanish, Ontario in April 2012 & 2013, though none made the top 5 to earn a spot at the annual Rock N' Roar festival. They include Gsis Murphy drummer Anthony Fabiano (with Griphook in 2013), performer Lucas Bugyra (with Havadder in 2014), and a reunited Wishbone in 2014 (though then with Jeff Gray on bass instead of Chris Smith.)

Videos:
Nixxon Dixxon's semifinal set
Stillbroke's first round set
(Due to the deletion of a previously featured Nixxon Dixxon video, a Garden of Bedlam video from a separate concert is also featured below)




Sources/More Information:
Coverage & photos from SooToday (November 30th)
Coverage & photos from SooToday (December 1st)
Coverage & photos from SooToday (Final Round) (second link here)
Sault Star article promoting the final round
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I hope you guys liked this look back at this major local battle of the bands! Next Friday, we'll take a look at the battle this event ran concurrently with (on one day, at least), that being the Algoma University Battle at The Speak Easy from December 1st, 2009. It was a much smaller event, but no less valid, so what happened there? Find out next Friday as this series enters it's latter stretch, and stay tuned for a new news post later today! Thanks everyone!