Weekend Concert Previews, Woods of Ypres Tour Dates, And A New I.S.O.M. Video!

Happy April Fools Day! And before anyone asks, no, nothing in this post is an April Fools joke, I'm not in the prankster mood today (though turning the site into the Sault Emo Scene or Sault Polka Scene for a day would be amusing!) Today, we have previews of the three metal concerts this weekend, along with two news stories, so here we go!

Firstly, a big concert in Sault Ontario tomorrow night, as Garden of Bedlam hit The Canadian Nightclub to officially celebrate the launch of their official website! Though it's already active and ready to check out online at http://www.gardenofbedlam.com, the official launch of it will be tomorrow night when they take the stage for what may be the last time before they hit the studio! (And by "may", I mean if a rescheduled date for their Garden River fundraiser is announced.) Supporting Garden of Bedlam tomorrow will be Half Past, in their debut appearance at The Canadian Nightclub, and their first concert since February! With Garden of Bedlam soon to record a new album, expect lots of unreleased songs from them tomorrow, but Half Past also have a new original up their sleeve tomorrow, so look out for that! Crank Sound Distribution are handling the sound tomorrow, and The Rad Zone will be on hand to sell Garden of Bedlam merchandise! The concert will start around 11:00 PM tomorrow night, NOT TONIGHT like The Canadian's radio ads had been saying earlier in the week. There is a cover charge of $5, a Half Past Facebook status is my source.

This should be a great concert, especially if you're itching to see Garden of Bedlam live, because as I already said, this could be their last concert for a few months. Whether you want to celebrate their website, rock out to some awesome metal, or both, hopefully you'll be at The Canadian tomorrow! Same goes for Half Past, hopefully we'll see a lot more from them soon, but tomorrow's a must if you wanna see them too! Click on the bands' names above to check out their material, confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page, and for a video preview, here's their video for their song "The Truth Shall Set You Free"!



The other two metal shows this weekend will be on Saturday, and we'll stay in Sault Ontario for the first one, as a major tribute band will make their way here! Destroyer: Canada's Number One Tribute To Kiss will be headlining on Saturday night at The Rockstar Bar, for a show that I'm sure will appease some of the disgruntled Kiss fans who are anxiously (or impatiently) awaiting their rescheduled date here! A very authentic Kiss experience will await ticketholders, with full costumes, makeup, and big-show quality lighting, effects, fire breathing, and most importantly, an authentic Kiss sound! The family friendly, well travelled, and nationally recognized Destroyer will be sure to deliver the closest thing to Kiss that we can get for the time being, so be sure to head out to The Rockstar Bar on Saturday! Doors open at 9:00 PM for this concert, tickets are $12 in advance at either The Algonquin Hotel's front desk or The Rad Zone! If you're buying at the door, the price jumps to $15. Steep for a show at a bar, maybe, but you're going to get a lot of bang for your buck! Plus, $12-15 for a faithful Kiss tribute is arguably a better deal than $100 for the real thing, but that depends on who you ask. Check out more from Destroyer at their official website!

Sounds like a great concert, though I do find it ironic that since Kiss announced they were coming here, we've gotten Ace Frehley and a tribute band at separate shows for less combined than Kiss themselves this summer. But hey, it all works out for Kiss fans! If you want the next best thing to Kiss themselves, you'll want to be at The Rockstar Bar on Saturday, you won't be disappointed! Click here to confirm your attendance on Facebook, and for a preview, here's a video of Destroyer performing the Kiss classic "Rock N' Roll All Night" from a Calgary concert! And yes, that really was their stage setup, these guys are no joke!



Finally, there is a concert in Sault Michigan on Saturday as well, which I'm putting last to not fragment the Sault Ontario shows. Muskegon hard rockers Kilacel finally make their long awaited return to the area on Saturday night when they return to The Corner Pub Bar & Grill! Now compared to when I first mentioned this show last week, nothing's any different, but I'll go over what I know again: The show's in honour of the birthday of a person named Sandy, with an associated afterparty afterwards. It's a listed concert on their MySpace page, so it can't be a private deal, probably more akin to Fitswitch's one-off reunion for a birthday show last year. A cover charge of $3 has been announced, and the show starts at 9:00 PM. I'd been wondering what happened to Kilacel for local shows, they had a decent amount early last year and then it just dried up! (I noticed the same with bands like Orange October and Graveyard Tan, though the latter played here in February.) Great to see them back! If you want some radio hard rock, Kilacel play that style very well, and should put on an awesome show for the fans in Sault Michigan on Saturday!

For a preview, check them out on MySpace, and check out this really good video of Kilacel performing the song "Shotgun Bullet Baby" from the 2009 Muskegon Summer Celebration! I'm impressed!



Two big news stories to cap today's post (I have more than this, just spreading things out!) And we'll start with the announcement of new tour dates from your favourite local black/doom metal band, Woods of Ypres! Frontman David Gold has announced the band's first tour dates since the release of "Woods IV: The Green Album" on a topic on the band's official forum! This leg of the tour is strictly in Western Canada, kicking off in Thunder Bay on June 18th, then making it's way west before the leg wraps up June 26th in Vancouver. It includes a stretch of 6 shows in 6 days, and a possible Victoria show if they can get a booking. Now before anyone panics that there's no Sault Ste. Marie show, even though we were slotted in the Western Canada tour leg last year, do you really consider us "Western"? If that's all for that leg, we're probably in the Eastern half of the tour, whenever that's announced. Either way, I'm hopeful that they're back in our little burial ground this year, I can't wait to hear W4 songs live!

The tour dates, with associated Facebook event pages where available, are all posted at this location! David also mentions a U.S. tour, which would be awesome! I'll keep you posted with more, especially if a local show is announced, and all of the present tour dates are in the "Out of Town Concerts" section on your right!

And finally for today, here's a rarity: Video footage of inactive Sault Michigan death metal band Integrated System of Machines! Keyboardist Craig Harrison uploaded a new clip onto his YouTube channel of the band performing in June 2009 in Stanton, Michigan at last year's Carnival of Chaos! I'm thinking this was one of their last concerts before the band parted ways with frontman Orb Hearthstone and mostly vanished from major activity. This clip comes from their set on the "Ozzfest Stage", and it's of their self-titled song from their 2008 debut album "Apocalyptic Vision" (expect an SMS review of that next week!) It's a bit more accessible than their typical death metal fare, but you should dig it! Check it out below, or head to their MySpace page for more from the band! Hopefully we hear more from I.S.O.M. in the near future!



That's all for today, I thought I had stuff about this year's Rotaryfest to share, but the link for it disappeared, so that can wait until something pops up again. More Woods of Ypres stuff, and much more await my next post, and depending on when it goes up, there may be a Garden of Bedlam concert review attached! Stay tuned, thanks everyone!

A Possible New Local Concert & Concert Venue, More Concert Videos, And Much More!

How's everyone doing? In what could be the last post of the month, I have scattered news stories to share with everyone today! One of those days, nothing super major, but there's enough stuff I haven't mentioned here before to warrant a new post! And we'll start with some intriguing possibilities, for a concert and for a venue!

Firstly, the concert: Toronto metal band Skull Fist are looking to play here in May! They have a "TBA" date listed for here on May 8th during a short Northern Ontario tour stretch, and you know what that means: They need a venue! If you wanna know how these guys sound, expect a really cool classic metal sound, they sound straight off an old vinyl record, and that's not a bad thing! They describe their sound as "chariots ripping through The Great Lakes" and named their E.P. "Heavier Than Metal", and really, doesn't that sound promising in itself? They'd fit very nicely here, especially with the popularity the classic-sounding bands have here, so why not help them get a booking?! If you're interested in booking Skull Fist for a concert here on May 8th, send them a message A.S.A.P. at their official MySpace page! Remember, the more metal, the better, and these guys bring it in spades! I'll keep you posted if I hear more!

...speaking of bands looking to play here, when I was browsing the MySpaces of bands looking for a show here in the coming months, I noticed something intriguing: New Brunswick experimental hard rockers Cop Shades, who are hoping to play here on August 8th, have none other than locals Sykotyk Rampage listed as playing with them on that show! Not kidding, check out their MySpace page! A very promising sign, just one problem though: No venue yet. Help make this show happen, click here to send Cop Shades a message if you want to book them and Sykotyk Rampage for August 8th!

Next up, might we have a new local concert venue? Maybe, maybe not, and I'll explain. According to a topic on The705Scene forums, Twist N' Shout Bar & Grill on McDonald Avenue is getting a four day trial run for concert bookings, with the potential to become a regular concert venue if the shows are successful. The four dates in question are four consecutive Saturdays: April 24th, May 1st, May 8th and May 15th. Now I don't know full details, but if all goes well, we'll have another venue to hit up for shows! And who's playing on those Saturdays? We don't know, and that's where you come in. If you or your band are interested in playing one of those Saturdays, or you know someone that is, e-mail pegu66@hotmail.com to show your interest! Hopefully we can get a metal band or two on one of those weekends, so we can rock another local venue! Remember, the original topic is at this location, but because The705Scene forums are now restricted from view to non-members, you'll have to log in or sign up to check it out.

Next up, we have some new (well, new to the SMS) videos from local concerts of past years! Firstly, YouTube user osXzealot uploaded another clip from this past December's Three Days Grace concert at The Essar Center online! It's of their performance of the song "World So Cold", and the audio is pretty good, but it was filmed from very far away, looks like a seat in the far corner. That combined with their on-stage lighting, and you cant even make out the band! Still, the audio makes up for it, check out the video below!



The other new video I have is actually an old concert clip from The Oddfellows Hall! You don't see much videos from shows there, and especially not many of this quality! It's a two minute clip of the now broken up Sudbury hardcore band Three For Fallacy (remember them?) performing their song "Best Before Dates" in support of Blind Witness on August 21st, 2008! I've seen this video twice online: YouTube user katefantham uploaded it on YouTube the day after the show, while Three For Fallacy guitarist Kai Kinos uploaded a better quality version of the same clip onto Vimeo, though it's not as reliable to watch. Things that strike me about this video: I like their lighting, frontman Kyle Blake's attire is....interesting, and the crowd is really small. Where is everyone? Still, it's great quality for an Oddfellows Hall show, usually videos I see from there are very dark and/or choppy! Check it out below, and Kate also uploaded their performance of "Eleda" onto YouTube, click here to take a look! Always great to find old concert clips like this!



Two more items to get to, and it appears that Social Play have lost another member. Apparently, bassist Tiffany Emmerson has also left the former Browbeat. This leaves frontman Dutch Vanderploeg as the sole remaining member, and he's still looking to get the band back out there! He's looking for a dedicated hard rock bassist and drummer each, and having equipment is not a requirement, he has a bass and drums. He really wants to get Social Play going and play live again, and I'm sure many of you want to see Dutch back on stage, like myself! So if you play bass or drums, or know of someone that does, message Dutch on Facebook today!!! Let's not make it another year before their next show!

And finally, I meant to mention this days ago, but it slipped my mind way too many times. Popular heavy metal website Metal Storm has recently ran it's annual Metal Storm Awards, and this year, there was a local connection! In the category of Best Black Metal Album of 2009, the sixth place finisher was none other than.....Woods of Ypres, for their newest release "Woods IV: The Green Album"! Now technically, this was a doom metal album and the black metal days are behind them, but who am I to argue semantics when they got this kind of press? David Gold and company were just 10 votes out of third place, with first place going to Immortal's new album, "All Shall Fall"! Even though they didn't win, it's awesome to see "The Green Album" continue to grow and gain attention! Buy "The Green Album" today!!

That's all I have compiled for today, but mark my words, there's more on the horizon! This weekend will have my review of Garden of Bedlam's concert this Friday, along with any news and updates I come across throughout! And next week, stay tuned for my review of Integrated System of Machines' debut album, and much more! Keep your browsers pointed here!

Turner Up Concert Review, Tyler Yuke Memorial Video, And Lion Ride News!

Hey guys, sorry again for the lack of news the last couple days, it looks like the busy stretch ended kinda abruptly. But today, we're back with new video from the Tyler Yuke Memorial, Lion Ride news, and the top story, my review of last night's Turner Up concert! So here's what went down at my first ever Turner Up live experience!

Well, the show didn't start as early as Facebook announced, not getting underway until 11:00, but I had no plans, so all worked out! Also, there was a cover charge, $3, that wasn't posted beforehand, but no worries there either! Now in terms of Turner Up themselves, let me start by saying that they actually theme their sets around specific sounds, which I don't think I've seen other local bands do. Frontman Todd Killam used the "first/second/third base" analogy to describe their progression throughout the night. The first set was more classic/general rock, the second set was more party/dance tunes, and third set was generally hard rock and more metal stuff! But before I caught on to what each set was like, I wasn't sure what I was in for, when Turner Up played INXS, 54-50, and Green Day in their first set!

Don't get me wrong though, as much of a metalhead as I am, I saw the talent these guys had in their first set, they're really good musicians! Todd Killam has a pretty good rock singing voice, it suits a band that covers a wide variety of stuff! I like his on-stage presence and the way he ad-libbed references to the other Turner Up members mid-song! The guitarists were Rob Brown and The Rad Zone's Len Ward, who are both really proficient guitarists! Len especially surprised me, I knew he was in bands way back, but man. I didn't think he'd nail the solo on "Ice Cream Man" so well! Other songs too, but that got my attention the most! Former Johnny Lunchbox guitarist Jeff Gray handled bass, which caught me a bit off guard. Still, he's a very good bassist! And drummer Scott McClorg kept the beat nicely throughout, also picking up lead vocals for a few songs! I think one was a Tragically Hip song (shades of Jeff from Caveman Morrison?), but he also shown his hard rock voice on a cover of Kiss' "Cold Gin"!

Their second set was essentially, as I said before, the party set, breaking out some Lenny Kravitz, Van Halen, and Collective Soul, among other songs, and this was where Todd encouraged fans to get up and dance! And dance they did, a few girls even pulled their stools up real close to the stage to enjoy themselves! This is where the concert got very loose and casual, with everyone up front singing along, getting on stage, and dancing the night away! Members of Turner Up hit the floor too to mingle mid-song, which was cool to see! Hell, the dancing continued during the break between the second and third sets, even to the house music on the P.A.! They sure do love to just have a beer and party, and I welcome that! The third set brought heavier stuff like Def Leppard and Ozzy, and it was arguably my favourite set of the night, and the exact reason why they're discussed on the SMS! Sucks that I had to leave early though. Also, they gave out free t-shirts during the last two sets, and it impressed me how they had multiple sizes and colours!

Overall, this was a fun concert, and I gotta thank Todd and Len for the free t-shirts (I like them, but they don't say "Official Crew Member"!), and Len for the Black Label Society guitar pick! Really nice guys! I felt so young at this show though, there can't have been too many people there around my age. Turner Up are an entertaining live band, though you know me, I'd really like to see them play a straight complete hard rock/metal set! But really, what they played last night appeals to everyone, there was a set for everyone to enjoy! Mine was the last set, and the dancing partiers loved the second set, they're diverse and wide-ranging in that regard! Fun show, hopefully I'll get to check them out again soon! As you can tell, I took lots of photos, click here to check them out, or head to The Sault Metal Scene's official Facebook page!

And I got a video! A bit of an issue timing some earlier attempts at a video, but I got one good one on time! So here's Turner Up's cover of the Def Leppard classic, Hysteria! (Oh, and expect better pictures and video from this concert in the near future, Turner Up had some pro quality video and pics being taken at the show!)



Next up, we have more videos from the Tyler Yuke Memorial Concert last weekend at The Outback! Remember when I mentioned that a guitarist with a Zakk Wylde custom Gibson Les Paul really impressed me? Well, we have video of his set online! As it turns out, his name is Mike Laprade, and he is a current Sault College student! Not in a band though. He added me on MSN the other day, we were talking about the local scene and his set, he's a nice guy! He told me that him and his friend were supposed to cover "Mr. Crowley", but couldn't thanks to all the delays. On his YouTube channel, he has videos of his two songs with the other guitarist (YouTube user myapplecore) covering "Mama I'm Comin' Home" and "Blackened Waters" by Black Label Society! I KNEW that song was familiar! Soft vocals, but they work well! The audio is still worse than their playing would assume, Mike's got some serious skill! Check out their rendition of "Blackened Waters" below! Also check out his original farewell ballad at this location!



And finally, we'll leave you with some assorted Lion Ride news! First off, they sadly did not win Thursday's Great Canadian T-Shirt Battle. Marky Lion's Facebook statuses confirmed that Whale Tooth, a Toronto indie band, won the 200 custom band t-shirts. I was hoping Lion Ride would win, but hey, what can you do? In more positive news, Lion Ride are now on Twitter! If you use Twitter, click here to follow Lion Ride! I imagine the "tweeting", as it were, will pick up soon! If I used Twitter, I would follow them, but I'm still boycotting it. No SMS Twitter page yet either, but I can't predict the future. And finally, in their Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands quest, they're currently in 74th place, so they're slowly climbing! They can crack the top 70 with just 8 votes, so VOTE FOR THEM TODAY! They won't be considered to play at The Warped Tour's Toronto stop in July unless YOU VOTE!!!

That's all for now, I promise to have more news and updates real soon! I shall return before you know it!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Kilacel & Driven), Weekend Concert Previews, And A Potential New Show!!

Yep, March sure is picking up news-wise, I'm glad to say! And today's a good one, with three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, previews for this weekend's Turner Up and Caveman Morrison concerts, and a potential new show that needs your help to make it happen! Let's start with the new concerts, all of which are in Sault Michigan, so here's what you need to know!

Remember Kilacel, the Muskegon-based hard rock band last seen in the Sault area this past June? Well, they're coming back up here, finally! Kilacel will be playing in honor of the birthday of someone named Sandy on April 3rd at The Corner Pub Bar & Grill, the same venue where they played their four 2009 local shows! A cover charge of $3 is announced, the concert has a listed start time of 9:00 PM. The show is confirmed, but keep in mind that the band are apparently looking for a new bassist; whether that will impact the April 3rd show here is unknown. Still, it's great to see Kilacel back up here, I was wondering if they'd ever return to Sault Michigan! Hopefully this won't be the last we see of them, they have a really good modern hard rock sound! Check out more from Kilacel at their official MySpace page, and some live concert videos at this location!

The other two shows are a ways off from now, but even still, they're announced, so why not make some advance plans? Cheboygan hard rockers Driven will be playing at The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino for a pair of weekend dates on September 17th and 18th! Both are 9:00 PM shows with no announced cover charge. I vaguely recall hearing of a band named Driven playing at the casino, but I never came across a band page before. These are the only local shows Driven have listed, though they have plenty of other U.P. and Mackinac-area concerts planned throughout the year! If you're wondering how they sound, so am I, they have no audio or video on their MySpace page to speak of, nor anywhere else online I've searched. However, they look promising, especially with their influences being "anything with a groove thats gets people off there ass and party"! I'm positive they're a hard rock band, though their MySpace also says they play a little bit of R&B too? Interesting! If I hear more on these two shows, or Driven themselves, I'll keep you posted!

Now let's get to this weekend's concert previews! Three local metal/hard rock shows, all in Sault Ontario, and we'll begin at Coch's Corner, where Caveman Morrison will play for the first time as a band since frontman Tym Morrison returned to the Sault! Tym's played solo shows there in recent months, but this is the full band experience! They'll be there this Friday and Saturday to rock out your favourite metal and hard rock classics, so why not head on out there? Both shows start at 10:00 PM, there is no cover charge. Confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page! It's always a treat to see Caveman Morrison live, hopefully they draw some great crowds this weekend! Your favourite tunes played by a great band for no cost, sounds good to me! Check out more from Caveman Morrison at this location, and for a preview, here's video from a 2009 show at The Rockstar Bar of their version of Metallica's "Seek & Destroy"!



Meanwhile, on Saturday night only, local hard rock cover band Turner Up (not "Turn-R-Up", as Sault This Week misspelled) will play what could be their biggest show since their formation when they hit The Canadian Nightclub! Just announced the other day, Turner Up will have video cameras in tow to film their performance on Saturday, which is cool in itself! Also, they're going to have "Official Crew Member" shirts to give out, and who doesn't love free stuff? But aside from that, you'll get to hear some great hard rock covers from one of the more prolific live bands in recent months! A start time of 10:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page, there is no announced cover. Check out more from Turner Up at their official Facebook group!

Judging by the fact that this is just one show, and they're filming it, this has got to be a big deal, maybe something cool or unexpected will happen? Maybe an original song or two? Or just getting the band's exposure up? Either way, I'll be there! I've been meaning to check Turner Up out live one of these days, and this Saturday is as good as ever! I'll have review, photos, and hopefully my own video posted online on Sunday, so look out for all that! Hope to see you guys there, and if not, hopefully you're at Coch's Corner!

And finally, we have a new local concert....well, maybe. Remember back when local promoters used to gauge interest in a potential show by opening event pages or forum threads asking what the demand would be for the concert? Well, local promoter Jasmin Nott is doing just that for a show she'd like to put on, to see if it worth holding! If this show happens, and it largely depends on local fan interest, it would be on May 18th at a yet-to-be-determined venue. The headlining band would be Vancouver hardcore/death metal outfit Doom Cannon, who have a pretty good sound, it mixes the two styles effectively! They sound perfect for The Oddfellows Hall, but who knows where this show will end up if it's confirmed. Other bands would be on the lineup too. She says if this show's a success, she says she will try and book some more shows, with possibilities like Abandon All Ships and The Cancer Bats being mentioned!

But before any of that can happen, she needs support for this show, so if you would honestly and truly go see Doom Cannon and other bands on May 18th, click here to join this potential show's Facebook event page! Post something on the wall too to help out! Hopefully this works out, Jasmin's at least trying to get more concerts here and I completely welcome that! Plus, we don't get enough hardcore/death metal bands here, there's an audience for Doom Cannon! Let's help Jasmin out to make this show happen!

That's all for today, in my next update, I'll have a local band's placement in a major metal site's voting for Best _____ Album of 2009! Which band and which genre? You'll see! That and hopefully much more are on the horizon, keep your eyes peeled!

New Fitswitch & Sue Inside Videos, More Cancer Bats Stuff, And More!

Things are picking up lately, aren't they? March was seeming to go really slowly for news and updates in the local metal universe, but 5 straight days with new posts most say something! Here's some new news and updates!

(EDIT, MARCH 25: Well, I made a dumb mistake, though to be fair, the link wasn't clear about it at first. I initially reported that hair metal band Cinderella were coming to Kewadin Casino in May. Well, Cinderella will be there, but NOT the band, a live production of the play. Kewadin only updated the info today to clear up that it was the play, rather than the band. I assumed (as I'm sure some of you would have as well) that it was the band coming here in May, not the actual fairy tale story. Might be a dumb mistake, but you can see where I was coming from. The band Cinderella have a tour in the works, and Kewadin Casino frequently books classic hard rock and hair metal bands (like Tesla in June), so that seemingly made more sense than Cinderella the play coming here. And it wouldn't have been the first time that a show was announced on Kewadin's ticket page before the artist announced it, as in last year's Ace Frehley concert. Still, this is my fault, and I give my deepest apologies, especially to anyone who I got the hopes up of!)

Next up, it's time for some more local videos! And we'll start with another clip from this past Saturday's one-off set from Fitswitch's original lineup at The Elks Hall for guitarist Kevin Powe's stag and doe! This time, it's of their song "Only Wanna Be With You", featuring guitarist Rick White on vocals! It appears that Krista Kelly filmed this one as well, or at least the same camera was used. Great audio and decent quality, though the room is really dark. Still good though, check it out below! Now, let's all cross our fingers and hope that Fitswitch, whatever the lineup, play another public concert down the road, I'd for sure be there!



The second new video I have to share today comes from Sault natives Sue Inside! Yes, the metal band featuring Saultites Shane Lipsit-Fraser and Jeff Vogel are still active, though as I've said on here, have since moved to Oil Springs and London. Now a three piece with Adam Veen on bass, the band have periodically released some jam session recordings to Shane's YouTube channel, as well as some new stuff on their CBC Radio 3 page! Shane uploaded three new acoustic video clips the other day, of the songs "New Jersey", "Skeleton Surprise", and "Wine"! They feature Shane and Adam on guitar and a guest, Craig MacDonald, on one of those stand-up hand drums, not sure of the technical name. "Skeleton Surprise" isn't bad, though it does run long. Solid acoustic rock, no major complaints. "New Jersey" takes a stranger turn. It's more spoken word anthology horror story than song. Definitely worth seeing for the uniqueness of it! "Wine" is a bit softer than "Skeleton Surprise", kinda strange even still, but Sue Inside have never stuck to convention, not that that's bad!

The videos are also unique in that Shane's not singing on them, Adam handles the vocals, and you know what? He isn't bad at all, he has a really good hard rock voice on "Skeleton Surprise", that impressed me! He also shows off some unique talents on the other two vocally, nice to see! I'll show you guys one of the new videos, the heaviest of the three, so here's "Skeleton Surprise"! Hopefully we'll see more from Sue Inside real soon, and check out the new videos (and more) at this location!



Now back to stuff from The Cancer Bats' show on Monday, in support of Billy Talent! I still haven't found any new videos from the show of them, or any band for that matter, though a YouTube user from Thessalon may be posting some soon according to one of his other videos, so that may be something! Of course, if you took video of The Cancer Bats, or found footage of their set, let me know! I haven't seen any new news articles either, though Donna Hopper's photo album from the show is now online on SooToday! 44 photos of Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, and the crowd, with no signs of Against Me! or The Cancer Bats. I wasn't sure what to think of that at first, but Lucas Punkari (who covered and photographed the show for SooNews.ca) told me yesterday that press photographers were restricted to only photographing two bands. I find that very odd, but it does makes sense to photograph the two biggest bands rather than the openers. Still, Donna's photos are awesome! I recognized Albert from Out Of The Mouth Of Babes and Wayne from Renderware/Nebraska Arms in a couple pics, and it also includes photos from the afterparty at The Rockstar Bar, so it's definitely worth checking out, which you can do at this location!

And finally, a second Facebook event page has been launched for April 3rd's Destroyer concert at The Rockstar Bar! Remember, Destroyer are "Canada's premier tribute to Kiss", and will surely tide over Kiss Army members impatient for our yet-to-be-announced Sault Ontario show! Nothing new about elements of the concert to be discussed, it's still $12 in advance, $15 at the door, with tickets available at The Algonquin Hotel & The Rad Zone, with a 10:00 PM start time, but it has some great bio info now too! It tells of how they're a family friendly band and talks about their own accomplishments as a Kiss tribute, it's cool to see! Also, there's a poster for the show now, which you can see on your right! Hopefully this show's a success, click here for full details and to confirm your attendance!

That's all for now, hopefully I'll have a new post with some big updates very soon! Keep your browsers pointed here!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Turner Up), Cancer Bats Show Aftermath, New Fitswitch Video, And More!

Hey everyone, lots of news to get to today, and we'll start with LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!! Also, I have stuff coming out of last night's Cancer Bats/Billy Talent show, new video footage of a local band's one-off return, Lion Ride's newest battle of the bands, and a local radio station's logo contest!

SATURDAY NIGHT (short notice again, my apologies), local hard rock cover band Turner Up will be playing for the first time at The Canadian Nightclub! Yes, they're heading up town for this show, and it looks like they have a lot planned for this one! The band are giving out "Official Crew Member" shirts to the fans, and are going to have some professional filming done as well for a video! Might there be an original in store? I don't know, we'll have to find out this weekend! It looks like they're going to try and make this their biggest show yet, so there's all the more reason to go! I'm thinking I might head on out there on Saturday myself, I'm overdue to see Turner Up as it is! No cover charge has been announced, a start time of 10:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page, confirm your attendance there! I'll keep you guys posted with any updates I come across, and hopefully I'll be there!

Also, this is worth noting, Turner Up's weekly jam nights at Foggy Notions have been postponed due to "circumstances beyond our control", according to a post on the jam nights' event page. Apparently though, there is a new band providing the music on Wednesdays at present, but the door is not shut on Turner Up there, so if they return, I'll let you know!

Now as you may know, yesterday was the much-hyped Billy Talent concert at The Essar Center! Remember, it DOES have a metal connection, as The Cancer Bats opened the show, and there's stuff online from the concert! First place most people would go for a review and photos would likely be SooToday, and Donna Hopper indeed has an article up about it! Only about 2,000 fans shown up, which apparently was below expectations, though she praised the concert and environment! I find it curious that she mentioned that everyone was there for a different band, doesn't really seem like a large unifying fanbase was there specifically for one band like usual. She has photos, but they aren't online yet, I'd expect them later today.

If you want photos, other sites have you covered! The Sault Star's Rachele LaBrecque has a photo album from the show online, but if you're hoping for shots of Alexisonfire, Against Me!, or The Cancer Bats, this won't be what you're looking for, every picture is of either Billy Talent or the crowd. Great quality, but just one band? Lucas Punkari from SooNews.ca got more photos, though none are of Against Me! or The Cancer Bats. However, he does go into a lot more detail about the concert itself, he said that The Cancer Bats delivered a "fine half hour set", even if their metal sound wasn't expected from many concert-goers. Frontman Liam Cormier told the crowd "The last time we came in 2006, I think like two people watched the whole set, so to have this many people see us tonight is awesome!" Nice to see them finally get a good turnout here, I wish I could have seen them in 2006! And yes, they covered "Sabotage"! Check out Lucas' review at this location!

Is there video from The Cancer Bats' set online yet? Yes, actually, though with a slight catch. It's only about 9 seconds of The Cancer Bats' set, starting 3:35 into this clip, which is partly a video blog posted by YouTube user HAliRoarz! The rest is clips of the other three bands, with about 30 seconds of vlogging at the end. It's the only video I've seen of any segment of the concert yet, the quality isn't terrible but the sound is a bit patchy. Nice to see footage of the show though, I bet there's more coming! Check it out below, and remember, the concert footage begins at around 3:35!



Next up, we have video footage online from the return of a notable local punk/metal band! Well, even if it is just a one-off, it's still new stuff! As you may remember, the original lineup of Fitswitch returned for a one-off performance at The Elks Hall on Saturday night! It was in honor of the stag and doe for original guitarist Kevin Powe, who joined J.D. Pearce, Rick White, Andrew MacDonald, and Larry Mousseau for a night full of classic Fitswitch songs! I didn't consider this as a real "concert" because really, it wasn't, it was a stag and doe graced with the presence of awesome music, and it wasn't a publicly advertised event. And though it'd be awesome to see the original lineup again, I figured I wouldn't take a ticket away from someone who was a close friend/relative or expected guest. Luckily, for those of us that didn't make it out, the band uploaded an HD-quality clip of their performance of the classic song "Bitch Anthem" onto their YouTube channel! The description says the reunion comes after "4 years of no practice", but it still sounds good! The video was filmed by Krista Kelly, and the quality ain't bad, check it out below! Hopefully this isn't the last of Fitswitch we'll get to see, cause I bet even a one-off show at Coch's Corner like last March would draw! Fingers crossed!



And now we come to some more news from the Lion Ride camp! They sure have been busy lately, haven't they? They'll be one of four bands competing on Thursday in a Battle of the Bands in Toronto, but this one has a prize-related twist! They're in The Great Canadian T-Shirt Battle, with the winner recieving 200 free custom band t-shirts! That's the only prize, but for what it's worth, the four judges are all music industry professionals, so this could be a chance to make them take notice of Lion Ride as well! No word on who's playing bass for Lion Ride at this battle, my money's on Carmine Romano again, but the band haven't said. It will be taking place at The Hideout in Toronto on Thursday, best of luck to Lion Ride! I wish I could be there! My sources for this info are from band members' Facebook statuses. As for their Ernie Ball Battle quest, they are currently in 79th place, just five votes out of 74th. VOTE FOR THEM BY CLICKING HERE! (Also, Sykotyk Rampage have just 29 votes, 63 out of the top 100. VOTE FOR THEM TOO!)

And finally for today, a local radio station is looking for help designing a new logo! WLSO 90.1 FM: The Sounds of Lake State announced on campus on Monday that they are looking for student-created designs for a new logo! This was initially announced via e-mail last month, but public campus notice didn't start until Monday. This is ONLY OPEN TO CURRENT LSSU STUDENTS, so keep that in mind if you want to enter. Basically, what you need to do is create a new logo for WLSO (no listed limitations), and submit it to either the WLSO office at the Cisler Center on campus, or e-mail it to wlsomusicdirector@gmail.com! You have until FRIDAY to submit your entry! The winner will be chosen on Sunday, and will win a nice selection of prizes, including the adoption of your design as WLSO's new logo, a $50 Wal-Mart gift card, a stack of CDs from WLSO's music library, two WLSO t-shirts (one with the old logo, one with your design), stickers with your logo, and an on-air shoutout!

So there you are, Lakers, you could design your campus radio station's new logo! It needed an upgrade anyway, to be honest, it looks too plain for a radio station. I've always been a fan of WLSO's, I love the metal blocks that air (thanks to the students who man those slots), and the idea of giving students the power to control the airplay is just cool! If you go to LSSU and have some drawing or graphic design talent, send an entry in! And listen to WLSO at 90.1 FM! (P.S., sorry for the picture quality, I didn't think to not fold the poster.)

That's all for now, lots more news and updates in the near future, including the event page for an upcoming show, more photos/video from The Cancer Bats' show, and more! Stay tuned!

Garden of Bedlam's April 2nd Openers, A Possible New Show, A New Destroilet Video, And More!

Back to assorted news this afternoon at the SMS, and we'll start with a new band on the lineup for an upcoming show! Afterwards, a potential new local metal concert, another local concert video, a band's search for a new drummer, and photos from a recent major concert!

Remember yesterday when I mentioned that there would be openers to be announced for Garden of Bedlam's April 2nd website launch concert? Well, I can now confirm that it will be Half Past! It's on the Facebook event page and the band have announced their involvement on Facebook themselves, so there's my sources. This will be Half Past's first concert since last month's weekend set at Foggy Notions, and if I'm not mistaken, will also be their first ever concert at The Canadian Nightclub! Great to see them booking more shows, they should deliver some great hard rocking tunes! So there's all the more reason to head out to The Canadian on Good Friday! Remember, it's at 11:00 PM that night with Crank Sound Distribution and The Rad Zone in tow, it's likely 19+, no cover charges have been announced. I'll be there, and I'll keep you guys posted with any more updates I have on this show! As for the fundraiser in Garden River, I've heard things about the rescheduling, but I won't announce anything until the band does. Stay tuned!

Next up, yet another band is looking to play here this summer! I don't know how the other bands I've mentioned are doing in their venue search for here (click here for which bands are on the hunt), but we have another, so here's what you promoters and venue staffers should know! Toronto progressive metal trio The Isosceles Project are hoping to play in Sault Ste. Marie on their Ontario tour on August 11th! They're bringing a locally familiar band with them on this leg: North Bay's own Thekillingfield, last seen locally last March at The Oddfellows Hall! They're also scheduled to back up Derelict in May, so we could get them here twice in four months! Anyone out there interested in booking The Isosceles Project and Thekillingfield on August 11th? Send them a message at this location! The Isosceles Project are really good, lots of long (by long, I mean 10 minutes+ long) progressive metal songs with tempo changes and dynamics! They're also unique in that they have no singer, they're an instrumental band! I really like these guys, it'd be awesome to have them here, hopefully some bookers out there are interested in getting them here in August!

Thirdly today, new live video from Destroilet! On Saturday, you may remember that I shown you guys a video from their December debut of their Fist Magnet cover "Evil God Hater" (It really is cool that they covered a local band, that doesn't happen enough!) Well, the band have uploaded another video from that concert at Coch's Corner onto their YouTube channel, this one being a cover of the song "My Erection" by The Dayglo Abortions! And if you're offended by the song title or band name, don't blame me! Also, why hide the truth? Same cameraman that filmed the Fist Magnet cover, so the same video issues are present: The backs of my and everyone else's heads are clearer then the band, though the audio is good! However, it is affected a bit by chatty concertgoers nearby. More punk than the last one, good energy, though I wish I could see the band. Check out the video below!



Next up, it appears that Social Play drummer Chris Smith has left the band, as confirmed in frontman Dutch Vanderploeg's Facebook status. That in itself is news, as Chris is a good drummer, a nice guy, and it's sad to see him leave the former Browbeat after only one show since their return! I won't pry into the reasons in case there's anything touchy, but at least you can still see Chris on bass in the local rock band Wishbone! That being said, Social Play are looking for a new drummer! Dutch says that you don't even need a kit, all you need is the will to give it all, be serious about drumming, and be able to learn around 35 original songs. As Social Play don't have a band page at present, e-mail Dutch on Facebook if you, or someone you know, are interested in drumming for Social Play! Hopefully someone comes around, I've always been a fan of Browbeat/Social Play and it'd be great to see them back on stage!

And finally for today, some great pro-quality photos have been posted online by Nixxon Dixxon from their supporting performance at the Pop Evil benefit concert last month! Six photos are now up on their MySpace page's photo album, which take some interesting angles you don't see too often at local concerts, like this one from the side of the stage! They were taken by Dan Dodge from Evart Michigan's Photography By Dodge, so the photography isn't by anyone local, but Evart is Graveyard Tan's hometown, and they were also on the bill for this show, so there may be a connection there! I haven't seen any of Dan's other photos from the Pop Evil show, saying that he took more, but if I do, I'll have them here! For now though, check out the six Nixxon Dixxon photos at this location!

That's all for now, just to spread things out a bit! Remember, tonight is The Cancer Bats at The Essar Center in support of Billy Talent! Sure, it's not a total metal concert, but it's a major show with one metal band playing, so it's worth re-mentioning! If any Cancer Bats videos surface after the show, I'll have them here too! Next post will also have a new event page for an upcoming show, and much more, so stay tuned for all that!