LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym & Caveman Morrison) And Weekend Concert Previews!!!

Before we get to today's post, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert, as Sault Michigan hard rock trio Powerslug returned to The Corner Pub Bar & Grill last Saturday. I only just heard about it today via The Corner Pub's Facebook page, and band members' personal Facebook pages (that I can see) didn't plug them in advance. This happens a lot for Powerslug concerts (especially with the lack of online pages), but regardless, I'm very sorry for missing that show for coverage on here, and I'll try harder to stay on top of their next ones! Now, to our previews of this weekend's known metal/hard rock concerts, along with some LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for shows early next month and TONIGHT, so here's what you need to know!

I apologize profusely for the short notice (the show's actually already started), but these shows were only just announced yesterday. Fresh off of his successful debut at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on Trunk Road last weekend, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison will return to this East End venue for two more solo concerts in the next few weeks, one RIGHT NOW and one on November 2nd! Tym only just heard about tonight's show yesterday himself, so I can understand the rush notice for it. It sounds like this could be the start of another successful relationship with this venue (not to be confused with the Zone Roadhouse in Goulais River), so if you want some proficient metal/hard rock covers in a more intimate style, head down to this Trunk Road venue either TONIGHT or the first Friday after Halloween! Admission should be free for both of these 19+ events, and while the November 2nd show is a 10:00 PM affair, Tym's set tonight oddly started at 6:00 PM, so be there A.S.A.P. to avoid missing too much more! For more details, visit the official Facebook event pages at this link & this link!

Hopefully Tym continues his run at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill with some more great shows to come, and definitely go see his unplugged solo shows either NOW or on the 2nd! For a preview, here's Tym covering Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" at Bossy's earlier this year!

Also in the new Tym Morrison-related concert front, his metal cover band Caveman Morrison will return to the stage themselves on November 9th & 10th at The Roosevelt Hotel for another full weekend set of metal & hard rock hits! Three weeks after their latest shows at The Nicolet Tavern, Tym, Dutch, and Johnny will be sure to rock The Rosie to it's core in their return to this West End bar & concert spot, so keep it in mind if you miss Caveman Morrison's diverse blend of heavy classics! As you would expect, they'll be on at around 10:00 PM on the Friday and Saturday that weekend, you must be 19 or older to attend, and there is no cover charge. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! These should be some entertaining concerts from this oft-seen trio, so keep Caveman Morrison's return in mind for November 9th & 10th, and stay tuned for more updates and news on Tym's upcoming solo & band events!

And finally for today, here's the other concert preview for this weekend, and if you've missed heavier original local bands for a metal concert package, you'll wanna pay attention to this, as the Soo Zombie Walk is once again hosting an afterparty on Saturday night following this year's fourth annual Zombie Walk! Of course, the walk itself will see hundreds of local zombie aficionados dressing up in their best undead costumes to tackle the resistance and seek brains in downtown Sault Ontario, all for great charitable causes, so click here for full details on the walk itself and how you can be a part! The afterparty itself will return to the Zombie Walk's homebase (The Grand Theater) for a second straight year (after debuting at what's now Coch's Corner in 2010), and after a smaller performer lineup last year, no less than 5 acts will bring musical and other entertainment to the undead masses on Saturday night, including local horror punk quintet Frightlight in their Grand Theater! One of five bands from the 2010 afterparty, this is the first in their busy stretch of Halloween season concerts (including their Misfits show in Toronto next week and the Halloween Party at the Algonquin Hotel), and the guys have new merchandise & a fitting set of horror influenced punk/metal material ready for their, so don't miss them this weekend!

Note that I have heard references to Redundant frontman Justin Langlois filling in on guitar with Frightlight for at least one of this month's concerts, but I can't confirm yet if he'll be playing at the Zombie Walk afterparty or not. If I hear anything positively, I'll let you guys know! They'll also be joined by alternative/improv hard rock quartet Sykotyk Rampage (themselves returning from last year's afterparty), and with one of their newest albums being 2011's "Zombiez", they should fit well with their unique originals and drinking songs! Note that I don't know yet whether their bassist for this show will be Brian Cattapan, fill-in bassist Tony Briglio, or no one (as they had last year.) The third band will be local grunge quartet Haggith in their own Grand Theater debut, and look for them to continue their local ascension with another entertaining set of original material! Though early reports suggested they'd play their upcoming zombie-themed third album "Apocalypse" in it's entirety, they've since confirmed that they'll only play five songs from the album, along with two other unreleased tracks and three from their debut "Dragon Joy Ride", so click here for more details on their set on Saturday night!

The other performers on Saturday will be local burlesque troupe The Salty Mollies (returning from last year) and a live DJ (no word on if it's DJ Seith from last year or not) after the bands, so if some burlesque or dance party action are up your alley, stick around! The afterparty (which starts after 9:00 PM) will cost $10 admission, which will also secure you admission to see the first ever zombie movie "White Zombie" (with Bela Lugosi) at 8:00 PM! The movie is all ages, but the afterparty is 19+, so you younglings can't stay for the bands (but the movie by itself is just $5.) Check the above links for more details! This should be a great event, and it's nice to see it much larger than last year's afterparty, so hopefully it's a big success! I just hope the lighting's fixed this year. It's been far too long since I've been to a concert, and I was going to the zombie walk anyway, so I will definitely see you guys there! For a preview, here's Frightlight playing their song "She Screams" at the 2010 Zombie Walk afterparty!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news hopefully soon, including brand new Destroilet material! Thanks everyone!

Last Month's Poll Results & This Month's Newest Poll!

It's the 18th of the month, and as always, we're closing down our most recent monthly poll at the SMS and launching another one today! We'll start with the results from our latest poll, and as you may remember, we posed this question to you guys: Which of these defunct or recently inactive bands would you most want to see hit the stage again? We actually hit exactly 44 votes in this poll, which was the same amount in our first stab at this poll format last year, so thanks to everyone for the interest! So, which bands did you guys vote as your most preferred returnees to local concerts? The results lie below!

Nixxon Dixxon (25%, 11 votes)
Fitswitch (16%, 7 votes)
Gates of Winter (11%, 5 votes)
Lion Ride (11%, 5 votes)
Bring the Fallen (7%, 3 votes)
Half Past (7%, 3 votes)
Clownsack (5%, 2 votes)
Sativa Rose (5%, 2 votes)
Other (5%, 2 votes)
Dirty Virgin (2%, 1 vote)
Insipid Brutality (2%, 1 vote)
SBD (2%, 1 vote)
Soldiers of Misfortune (2%, 1 vote)
Absolute (0 votes)
Bad Side (0 votes)
Bent Rollercoaster (0 votes)
Borderline Divine/Stillbroke (0 votes)
Detroit (0 votes)
Elipzis (0 votes)
Integrated System of Machines (0 votes)
Oddfellow (0 votes)
Renderware (0 votes)
Sense of Truth (0 votes)
Shift (0 votes)
State of Misery (0 votes)

What do you guys think? In ascending order, I'm surprised that half of the poll choices got no votes, including 7 of the 10 Sault Michigan bands we included. I'm most surprised that Bad Side & Sense of Truth (who themselves scored 3 votes last year) got no love, but I guess it's all in who votes! The votes with 1-2 votes didn't surprise me too much (aside from Clownsack), but I am glad to see the "Other" totals plummet compared to last year's poll! Maybe the American band choices helped level things out more? Bring The Fallen & Half Past's 5th place tie with 3 votes each is encouraging and where I expected for them, and the same goes for Gates of Winter & Lion Ride's 3rd place tie with 5 votes each (but early high totals for Lion Ride in this poll did taper off.) Second place was Fitswitch (who won last year's poll), which shows that their local following remains strong, even though 4 ex-members now play in the similar local quintet Frightlight at present, but while they won the Sault Ontario vote, the Sault Michigan (and total) winners were defunct local hard rock quartet Nixxon Dixxon!

Over two years removed from their disbandment, the result here does show that they are missed locally, and their talents and chemistry were always present during their late 2000s heyday! While most of the band kept active in the now-inactive Splitshot & Trail's End through early this year, their still-active members are now split up between The London Gentlemen & 415E, so there's that much, if nothing else. Hopefully the guys come together down the road to bring Nixxon Dixxon back in some form or another, and thanks to everyone for voting!

Now, what are we discussing with this month's poll? I'm addressing a topic that many Sault Ontario metalheads have been lamenting lately, and that's the lack of new concerts. Though we had a decent amount of local metal and hard rock shows through August, the last two months have been noticeably barer & more scattered for non-bar cover bands. Rich Moreland's move out west & the continued hiatus of the Roosevelt Hotel Metal Nights likely don't help, but we've also seen a few musicians move away and a few bands either break up or take a break in recent months (intentional or otherwise.) While the Halloween season is seeing an expected bump in new concerts, this happens every year, and the only announced heavier Sault Ontario shows beyond Halloween (that I know of right now) don't involve original material-playing bands. I know there are a lot of factors at play (like the new school year), but I'm sure there's a lot of people with ideas & preferences to get more concerts going around here, so this month, I'm posing this question to you guys: In your opinion, what does the local scene need most to ensure more metal/hard rock concerts?

I've picked 8 choices (along with "Other") that hopefully address most of the opinions relating to the lack of recent concerts and metal events in Sault Ontario, so what are this poll's choices? Read on to get a little background!

More active concert promoters: While some bands self-promote or go through venues, many major concerts locally depend on the right promoter to put them on, but lately, there hasn't been as many bookers scheduling heavier concerts. Do we just need more local concert promoters active to book some new shows, or is something else a more pressing issue?

More metal-friendly concert venues: This might be a larger issue in Sault Michigan, but you will occasionally hear complaints about there being a lack of local concert venues that are open to metal concerts beyond weekend cover bands. The Coch's/Foggy's merger & acoustic focus could be a contributing factor, but other venues likely have their own concerns and preferences to take into account. Do we just need more places to play?

More active live bands: Aside from the higher than normal amount of broken up/inactive local bands in 2012, of the ones that are still alive in Sault Ontario (41 at last count), only 23 have played live this year, and some only a couple of times or less. Would just seeing more studio-only or newer projects hitting the stage help create a larger pool of bands to encourage more shows, or do the ones we have just need to play more often?

More musicians to start/join bands: Maybe the problem isn't in encouraging bands with no recent concert history to play live, maybe we just need those who are actively looking (no matter the age) to join bands with a missing piece, or form a new act from scratch. There's always band turnover locally, so do we just need new blood or new band units to inject some life into the local metal concert scene?

More news coverage from local media: The SMS aside, local newspapers and websites do occasionally cover metal concerts and festivals, depending on the size, cause, and if promoters send a press release. SooToday are arguably the best for covering local metal shows of the major local news media, but I know many people would prefer better or more extensive coverage from these sources. Are you among them?

More touring bands playing locally: Especially during the existence of Dismembertainment, touring out of town headlining bands were fairly common at local metal concerts, but in the last couple of months, the amount of metal touring bands in the Soo has dropped off a bit. Do we need to encourage or book more out of town bands to stimulate local concert development, or should locally-focused concerns come first?

The scene's cyclical, it will naturally improve soon: This is a belief that I hold about the local scene (for any genre), and it's that concert activity and related stuff is cyclical. There will be low & high points and turnover as people get older, move, focus on school, and so on. In the short term, things seem to peak in the mid-summer, Halloween, and Christmas, with shows and activity fading and/or rising in between each. Aside from holiday bumps, things should improve by next year, but is this an opinion you share?

Nothing, everything's perfect as it is: Though I'm not sure how someone could prefer the current activity level (unless you dislike metal), this option's here in case any readers actually think the recent slow activity for metal concerts is just fine by them. If you like the slow pace and scattered shows, vote here!

Other: Do you have another idea for what would encourage local metal concerts locally? Maybe integrating Sault Michigan more, or forming a committee/grant to fund/put on shows? Maybe something completely different? If your preferred idea isn't above, vote for "Other"!

VOTE TODAY!!! You have until November 18th to vote in this month's poll, which might be our last before starting our "Favourite ________ of 2012" polls, so make your votes count over the next four weeks or so! Our next post will likely focus on weekend concert previews, so stay tuned for that shortly! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Garden Of Bedlam), Their Newest Video, And Lots More!!

In what will likely be our last non-poll/preview/review post for a few days (I'm clean out of back news stories right now), we have some assorted topics and randomness for you guys on this Wednesday morning, including more updates to our monthly CD reviews, some shorter news & notes, a new video from a local metal band, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for said band's next concert, so read on below for all that you need to know!

Local metal standouts Garden of Bedlam are returning to the stage near the end of the month! Three months since opening for Anvil, the guys will make their first Rockstar Bar appearance since May for a concert on Tuesday, October 30th, which will double as both a Halloween/Devil's Night concert and as an 18th birthday celebration for local music/skate shop The Rad Zone! Awesome to see them still thriving & rocking the Soo, and they're helping present this concert from their friends (and one employee) that should attract a sizeable crowd! Similarly to other Halloween-timeframe concerts in town, there will be a costume contest (and a door prize) with Rad Zone gift certificates at stake, so bring your best costume if you want in on some of the action! Like Garden of Bedlam's previous Rockstar Bar shows, there is no announced opening band, and there will be a 19+ age limit, a $5 cover charge, and a start time likely around 10:00 PM or later. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

It's great to see Garden of Bedlam finally back on the local stage, and this adds really nicely to a busy stretch of Halloween shows in town, which (for one weekend at least) will help alleviate the slow stretch of heavier concerts in Sault Ontario! Though it's odd that this isn't on Halloween weekend itself, hopefully Devil's Night is a blast, and I definitely hope to be at The Rockstar Bar on the 30th! Possibly to promote the new show, Garden of Bedlam posted this new drum-cam video onto their current YouTube channel yesterday, and it's of drummer Derek Turner playing "Everything Will Die" during a recent band rehearsal! Great quality, and you get some closer glimpses of Derek drumming than we ever tend to see, but part of me would like to see the full band's angle as well. We'll get our chance on Devil's Night, but before then, check out their new "Everything Will Die" drum-cam video below!



Also, here's three assorted shorter news stories from the last little while, and as always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• I've moved Bear Hunters guitarist Mitch Sirie's black metal solo project Eden Plague to our inactive band links due to his deletion of their Facebook page (and impending year's inactivity next week.) Mitch worked on this project for about a year from 2010-2011, and he had some heavy material, but he's focused more on his bands lately, including the yet-revealed Sorrow Fields, another solo project. I like his Eden Plague work, and hopefully Mitch revisits this stuff down the road!
• Eckerman, Michigan metal quartet Life's Eclipse posted another promising instrumental metal demo named "The Beaten, The Fallen, The Mercy" onto their mainman Jason Mills' SoundCloud page last week, so check it out at this location! Very heavy and technical, and it should add well to their newly planned "Dark Kingdom" album when finished, so give it a listen above!
• If you were curious on who the new local band/Dearly Beloved openers The Northern Tragedy were, they're a punk trio featuring Changing Waves bassist Terrence Gomes on drums & vocals alongside guitarist Mike Ivany & bassist Corry Rideout, and they're somewhat similar to Terrence's old Good Morning Gorilla work. Not metal, but their first video has catchy parts, so click here to check it out! Thanks to Terrence for the info! (Note that I don't know if The Northern Tragedy's existence means anything negative for Changing Waves' status.)

And finally for today, here's some more updates to the information and pictures used in our monthly CD reviews! Note that almost all of these include restored or replaced photos to make up for MySpace/Facebook link changes or photo deletions. On our review of Stillbroke's only EP "Never Enough", I edited references to their now-inactive status, the EP being out of print, their later name change to Borderline Divine, and indicating that the only song to survive into the Borderline Divine era was "No Reason". In our reviews of Woods of Ypres' 1st, 2nd, and 4th albums,  I've updated & detailed references to their then-lineups (including frontman David Gold's passing) along with the availability and release statuses of the albums, which are for the most part online-only at the moment. For our review of Detroit's "Brace For Impact" EP, I freshened up some references and reinforced their inactive status and this album's status as their last release, while on our review of Garden of Bedlam's first EP, I noted where you can hear it for free at present, as the band has posted it on some of their pages. Stay tuned for more updates to our monthly CD reviews at some point in the future!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for next month's new poll at the SMS and this month's poll results tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Pillory, Inhuman Methods, And Chris Hubbard Videos, Plus This Week's Classic Video!!

It's been too long since we last updated you guys on the local metal scene, and I try hard to make sure there's always something up every three days (or sooner), so I've scraped together some stories for a new post today, all of the new video variety! These include a new solo performance, a few Facebook-only videos from two local metal acts, and this week's classic video, so let's get to today's updates!

We'll start with new Facebook videos from a pair of local metal bands, which I can't embed here (get on that, Mark), but are still worth mentioning! First, the first new videos of local thrash metal band Pillory with new bassist Jonathan Tiberi (Late & Loud) are now online, as uploaded by Jon over the last couple of days to his personal Facebook page. They are jam session videos of the guys playing a faster version of "Fatal Woods" and a brand new track named "Cringe At The Cross", so click each link to check them out! Jon fits in well so far, but the audio on the new song is oddly distorted compared to "Fatal Woods" despite it being the same camera. I wanna see a new video with better audio quality for "Cringe at the Cross", but even still, there's lots of promising thrash fury to be had in both videos, and the angle's good to see each member in action! Check them out above, and stay tuned for more Pillory news as it rolls in!

The other new Facebook video is from Central Algoma death metal band Inhuman Methods, and it's nice to hear from them again! We haven't heard a lot from them over the summer, but a new jam session video of them (sans singer Anthony Tverdal) playing their original song "Inside" was posted onto their Facebook group by guitarist Alex Swain on October 4th, so check the above links to give it a look! Note that the video features a third guitarist who is hard to identify (he's sitting down & wearing a hood), but my best guess is that he's drummer Robert Crossley's brother Nathan, who does play guitar. If I'm wrong, let me know! I don't know if he's officially in Inhuman Methods or not (nothing official has been announced yet), but he adds well to a fuller & heavier sound in this video, and hopefully we'll hear more shows & sets from Inhuman Methods (with vocals) in the near future, so check the above links for more, and stay tuned for more updates as I hear of them!

Next up is a video we actually can embed here, and it's a new solo performance video from 415E/ex-Nixxon Dixxon guitarist Chris Hubbard! Uploaded to his YouTube channel on Sunday, this is the first solo video of him playing guitar since May, but like the vast majority of his other similar clips, it's of him covering a Van Halen song, this time "She's The Woman" on his new EVH Wolfgang Stealth guitar (which he previewed in this other new video of his.) Also featuring his own pre-recorded bass & drum tracks, this is a solid cover that does Van Halen justice, as Chris always seems to deliver, and if you like Van Halen, you should check this out, so give it a look below, and stay tuned for more from Chris' solo & band work soon!



Finally for today, here's this week's classic video! I have it early to fill out this post, and tying in with the Zombie Walk afterparty on Saturday, we're featuring a video relating to local blue Chinese metal crash punk quartet Sykotyk Rampage! As you may know, their bassist Brian Cattapan currently lives in Sudbury (but still plays at most of the band's concerts), and he has worked on some solo acoustic projects out of Sudbury in recent years, recently under the "Aggressively Acoustic" branding. These have included some open mic performances at the SRO Nightclub there, such as an August 3rd, 2010 set where he covered the Sykotyk Rampage song "Clay Thighs"! Though this song actually predates Brian's tenure with the band (it was on Sykotyk Rampage's 2006 album "Pro Pagan Da", two years before he joined), it's still a fun (if "blue") alt-rock number, and Brian gives an interesting unplugged spin on it! That said, his vocals aren't terribly strong, but he flows with the song similarly to how it originally sounded, so it all works out alright!

Brian originally posted this video to his personal Facebook page a day after this set, and you can see the original video at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=415097711294.NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Sykotyk Rampage and the original filmer, I'm just trying to share it with a wider audience like it deserves! Also note that I brightened the video quality, which is alright but a bit dark & fuzzy, after uploading it to YouTube. It's a different spin on a prolific and creative local band's material, so check out Brian's solo cover of "Clay Thighs" below, and go see Sykotyk Rampage (with or without Brian) this Saturday at The Grand Theater with many other local zombies!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes later in the week, including weekend concert previews, our next monthly poll on Thursday, and more! Thanks everyone!

Woods Of Ypres Tribute Album Updates & New Mike Haggith Album Uploads!!

We're back with another news post on this fine Saturday morning, but we only have two stories. Why? Because the first one has a lot to address and cover, I've given it some due space to cover what's new and notable, but we also have some new/old album uploads to share from a prolific local musician, so read on below for what you need to know!

The final track listing for the Woods of Ypres tribute album "A Heart of Gold: A Tribute to Woods of Ypres" has been revealed! It was posted onto the project's Facebook page & group on October 5th, and confirms that it will be a two disc set, though not in chronological release order so the songs flow better. The set will feature 19 Woods of Ypres covers from 19 talented acts, though four songs have been removed from the previous track listing that was available, including "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground" by Unbowed, "The Northern Cold" by Deathmarch, and "You Were The Light" by Svarte Krake. Disappointing that those songs won't be on the album, especially "Your Ontario Town...", but hopefully we'll hear them in some form in the future, even if not on the tribute! The other removed track is local death metal quintet The Bear Hunters' cover of the second half of "Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye)", and while I have not heard anything on why their cover won't be on the album, I'll note that they've offered no real band updates since August. If I hear anything on what they're up to, I'll let you guys know!

Now, here's the final track listing in order (according to official Facebook postings), and I hope I have the bands correctly labelled and ordered from older postings (the newest track listing didn't include the bands), but if I'm wrong on anything, please let me know!

Disc 1

Catuvolcus - Thrill Of The Struggle

Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Musk Ox) - Adora Vivos

Earthen - Lightning & Snow

Canopy - Falling Apart

Panzerfaust - A Meeting Place & Time

Kuhrzarth - Finality

Anemic - The Sun Was In My Eyes (Part Doom)

Albieron - Retrosleep In The Morning Calm

Gypsy Chief Goliath - Suicide Cargoload (Drag That Weight)

Reliquis - Career Suicide (Is Not Real Suicide)

Disc 2

Novembers Doom - Wet Leather

Eclipse Eternal - Crossing The 45th Parallel

Amaranth - Allure Of The Earth

Pagan Ritual - Intro: The Shams Of Optimism

Joel Violette & Rae Amitay - Silver

Begotten - The Sea Of Immeasurable Loss

Empyrean Plague - Shedding The Deadwood

Justin Bender (Into Eternity) - Trillium: The Third Of Three Winters, 2004-2007

The Governor & Friends - Intro: The Looming Of Dust In The Dark

Of note for the tracklisting: 7 of the 19 contributing bands participated at the David Gold tribute concerts in April (all of which are doing a Woods song they covered at the events), while (at least) Raphael Weinroth-Browne, Kuhrzarth's Paul Kuhr, and Amaranth's Mark Howitt played at one or both while in other bands. The only Woods alumni on the album that I know of are Joel Violette & Rae Amitay, though Raphael guested on the band's last two albums. In terms of the song makeup, the tribute album will feature four songs each from "Woods I" & "Woods II", two songs from "Woods III", three from "Woods IV", five from "Woods V", and "Falling Apart" from their "Home" single/"Woods 4.5" sessions. The final 19 songs have all been sent for mastering with Dan Swano, and I'm hearing very positive things from album organizers on how it's turning out! It'd have been nice to have seen some local representation, and (on a personal note) some more "Woods III" tracks, but this is shaping up to be quite a package, and as further details on the final product and ordering comes out, I'll be sure to have it here, so stay tuned! David would be proud!

Finally for today, Haggith drummer (and local solo musician) Mike Haggith uploaded two more of his studio albums onto his YouTube channel a few days ago for fans to stream for free! Similarly to his recent free posting of his newest solo album "Neighbourhood Watch", he's posted two other albums (2009's "Hotel For Transients" & 2011's "Suspended Animation") in their entirety, with both featured in full as their own dedicated audio file. The former is one of his many releases before relocating to Sault Ontario in 2010 (so it's not overly familiar locally compared to his newer output), while the latter was Mike's most recent solo work before his latest album came out last week. It's great to see Mike post some more archive albums for free on YouTube, but of course, if you like what you hear, please buy these (and maybe other) albums through his Reverbnation store! I wonder if we'll see any more of Mike's prolific back catalog get a similar treatment? As it's less familiar, I've embedded "Hotel For Transients" below, so give it and the rest of his diverse (and often heavy) solo work a look below & at the above links!



That's probably all for today, but keep your eyes peeled for a new news post either tomorrow or Monday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Zombie Walk Afterparty) And New Solo Performance Videos!!

It's time to get some more news and notes up on the site, and if you've been craving a metal/hard rock concert, we've got one sooner than you think, and it's our latest LOCAL CONCERT ALERT! We also have new solo covers from two local musicians with hard rock/metal ties to share after that, so let's kick off today's post!

The performer lineup for this year's Soo Zombie Walk afterparty on October 20th (one week from tomorrow) has been announced, and like the last two years, heavier music will be a part! Returning to The Grand Theater for a second year at the Zombie Walk's own homebase, there will be three bands and two other entertainment acts, and all of the bands have their own zombie ties, but who are they? They would be local horror punk quintet Frightlight, blue Chinese metal crash punk quartet Sykotyk Rampage, and new local grunge quartet Haggith, which is a solid and fitting core of bands! Beyond their own horror personas & material, Frightlight (who I think will be making their Grand Theater debut) also played the Zombie Walk afterparty at the former Foggy Notions in 2010, while Sykotyk Rampage played at last year's afterparty themselves. As well, both they & Haggith have albums concerning zombies in their catalog, including last year's "Zombiez" and Haggith's to be released album "Apocalypse", a concept release that the band plans to play in full on the 20th for their own Grand Theater debut! (as per their Facebook page.) Also note that this will join a very scary end of the month for Frightlight & Sykotyk Rampage, who are both playing at the Halloween Party at The Algonquin Pub the following weekend (oh, and the Misfits show that Frightlight are playing in Toronto on the 25th), so keep all of that in mind as well!

The other scheduled performers for the Zombie Walk afterparty include local burlesque troupe The Salty Mollies (returning from last year) and a live DJ for a dance party of some sort, though I can't yet confirm if DJ Seith is returning from last year's afterparty to provide the music. Admission will be $10 for the afterparty itself, which will also secure you a ticket to see the very first zombie film (1932's "White Zombie", starring Bela Lugosi) at 8:00 PM, though if you want to see just the film, the price drops to $5. The movie is all ages, but you must be 19 to attend the afterparty after the movie concludes in the 9:00 PM hour. Of course, the Zombie Walk itself will see locals dressing up and acting as zombies to terrorize the downtown in the name of great charitable causes, so if you plan to channel your brain eating walking dead selves on October 20th, click here for full details on the entire day's events! As a veteran of two of the last three Zombie Walks, I fully plan on attending this year's event, and with arguably the biggest afterparty yet, you know I won't miss that either! I need to see some more live concert action as it is. Stay tuned for any updates as they roll in!


Closing today's post are some new videos from alumni of local hard rock/metal bands in solo settings, and we'll start with the newest clip from Ashes To Dust guitarist Alex Hemy, who uploaded this video of him covering the 36 Crazyfists song "Bloodwork" to his YouTube channel yesterday! 36 Crazyfists are a band I don't hear many local musicians cover, but from what I know of this song, Alex has a solid handle on it, and on a first glance, it does sound like the original song, if a bit more reserved. Solid stuff, so check out Alex's newest solo cover below, and keep an eye out for more from him & Ashes To Dust!

Finally, the other new cover is from a Sault Michigan musician named Travis Theel, who you may recognize as local metal project Hoist The Sails' original clean singer. Since leaving the band this summer, Travis has kept busy with his own solo material via his Facebook page and YouTube channel, and while his posted covers tend to stray far from his brief metal work, he does have one cover of a heavier band's song on YouTube! In his newest video (which also includes about a minute or so of studio updates), he covers Staind's ballad "So Far Away", and while he does have talent as a singer, I think this is the wrong song for him to do. His voice is a bit too high for Staind material (and his guitar's very quiet), but that's just me talking, and I appreciate the different spin on it! Travis' other covers tend to flow better for his singing talent, so give his stuff a listen if you want something a little mellower, and here's his cover of "So Far Away"!



That's probably all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes hopefully over the weekend! Thanks everyone!

Weekend Concert Previews, A New Local Music Store, And This Week's Classic Video!!

We're back to news and previews for today's post, and these include previews for this weekend's slate of hard rock/metal concerts! It's another light weekend on the heavier side of the spectrum, but if any late notice gigs come up, I'll let you know as soon as possible! Also stay tuned after the previews for notes on Sault Ontario's latest music store and this week's classic video, but for now, here's what you need to know!

First in our previews are the latest solo concerts from Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison, who will bring his acoustic sets to two local venues this weekend! First on his itinerary, Tym will play his first ever solo concert at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill at 743 Trunk Road tomorrow night, which is very eastern compared to most of Tym's past solo venues, but if you on the east end or around this venue, this might be convenient! Note that tomorrow's show is NOT at the similarly named Zone Roadhouse in Goulais River, which Tym has played at in the past. Saturday's concert will take place at The Eagles Club on Old Trout Lake Road, which will be his first show at this venue in over a year & a half. Once a regular there with his own bi-weekly concert arrangement, it'll be good to see Tym back up north for this concert on Saturday, so don't miss it either if you can help it! Admission should be free for both of these concerts, with 10:00 & 9:00 PM start times respectively and a likely 19+ cover charge. For more details, click here & here!

It's great to see Tym ramping up his unplugged solo concerts since their return last week, and hopefully his shows at The Roadhouse & The Eagles Club go swimmingly and encourage future returns there, so go check him out this weekend, and for a preview, here's Tym & former Half Past singer Luke LeBlanc covering Extreme's "More Than Words"!



Now to Sault Michigan for the last known hard rock concerts of the weekend, as local hard rockers Monkey's Uncle will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino tomorrow & Saturday night! Their first announced concerts since the Sault Riverview Music Festival (I stress "announced", as their online pages are rarely updated to plug likely shows at other venues), this veteran hard rock outfit should be raring to go with plenty of entertaining hard rock originals and covers in this latest concert weekend of theirs, so if you're up for some heavier live music across the river tomorrow or Saturday, head to the casino! Admission should be free for these 21+ concerts, and a 10:00 PM start time is likely. For more information, click here! These should be some good nights of music from Monkey's Uncle, who do deliver from what I know, so don't miss them this weekend, and for a preview, here's the guys covering Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" a few years back!

Next up, Sault Ontario has a new music store, and it's in a familiar location! After a brief vacancy, the former Case's Music location at 173 Spring Street returned to the music instrument/lesson business in (I think) August as Colosimo's Music Store! As best as I can tell, this is a new branch of an existing music store in Thunder Bay that has seen it's own successes & longevity there, though I don't know if this is the beginning of a chain or just a small expansion. According to the local store's Facebook page, Colosimo's offers a wide variety of instruments, as well as lessons in everything from singing and guitar to mandolin and banjo, and Facebook features some photos of the interior so you can see some of the instrument stock. Their current hours are 10:00 AM-5:00 PM every day except Sunday, and their current number is (705) 450-4222, so check the above links for details! I wish Colosimo's the best locally, and they seem to have a good track record and everything together, but I wonder if their proximity to the other local music stores will affect them?

Though the Spring Street location is familiar to Case's Music regulars, Colosimo's are now competing with Northland Music, Music Depot, The Thomas Walls School of Music, and the new Case's Music location, all within 5 minutes of each other, and it'll be interesting to see how all 5 fare in the coming months. Still, hopefully Colosimo's does well, and I've added them to our listings of local music stores on the bottom left sidebar on the SMS itself!

And finally, here's this week's classic video! Returning to our general intention of tying these weekly uploads in with performers at upcoming concerts, I've opted to focus on Tym Morrison this week, specifically a previously Facebook-only video of his band Caveman Morrison from a couple of years ago. As you may know, Caveman Morrison are far more known for their covers than for original material (though they have covered Tym's solo originals for certain events), which makes this video from a Rockstar Bar gig on December 11th, 2009 a bit surprising, as it's of Caveman Morrison playing an improvised original song! It's just 77 seconds in length, but it shows their then-lineup (Tym, then-bassist Rick White, and then-drummer Jeff "Shrek Ogre" Richards) in solid form playing a very catchy little number, and it's be interesting to see Tym adapt this to a complete solo track!

This video was filmed by an attendee and later uploaded by Rick to his personal Facebook page a week later, and the original video can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=235603496302. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Caveman Morrison, I'm just trying to share it with a wider audience! It's a fun little clip that would be interesting to see more of from Tym & company, so check out this improvised original below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes hopefully this weekend! Thanks everyone!