LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Algoma Hope4Haiti) And More Assorted Stuff!!

I promised I'd be back, and I have lots of stuff to get to this afternoon! And we'll start with updated lineups for Algoma Hope4Haiti THIS WEEKEND, including some new metal/hard rock bands at different venues. So in other words, LOCAL CONCERT ALERT time!

According to updated Hope4Haiti lineup listings on the Facebook event page, local hard rockers Sense of Truth will be playing at Coch's Corner on Saturday night! The band have not officially confirmed this, but if it's on the official page, there must be truth to it! Joining them will be fellow locals The Fury, who'll deliver more of their unique brand of music (No genre defining from me) this Saturday! For Sense of Truth, it will be their first show since last month's show at Coch's with Ultraviolence, and it surprised me to see them listed, especially with EP recording in full swing! If this is definitely a go, I'll have to see if I can make it down on Saturday (still need to work out my own plans for Saturday for where I'm going.) Meanwhile, at The Algonquin Pub & Sports Bar (which IS hosting bands despite what I said earlier), local hard rock cover band Turner Up will be there rocking out Saturday night! For them, it will be their first official concert (not counting jam nights) since the Bon Soo shows at The Nicolet Tavern last weekend (Again, I'm sorry for missing those!)

Also, two personnel changes to go over: Firstly, it appears Out Of The Mouth of Babes (who'll be rocking Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club on Saturday) have replaced frontman Josh McNally with Matt Maccarone, who you may recognize from defunct local screamo bands like A Fall From Innocence and Stay Seventeen! No word on how he sounds in this heavier setting, the only audio that's been released so far was from Josh's tenure with the band. We'll get our first glimpse in three days! Thanks to drummer John Mignacca for the update! Also, the Friday lineup at Foggy Notions has been completely changed. It was three local DJs before, but now it features Nebraska Arms with a band (or bands) to be announced. I think Nebraska Arms fit Foggy's better than DJs, but it sucks that they're out, hopefully nothing bad happened!

Remember, for full details on Algoma Hope4Haiti visit this location! All proceeds go to Haiti relief, tickets are $10 at all participating venues and other local establishments, all of which you can find at the link I just provided! This event depends on you guys to make it a success, hopefully you'll be somewhere Friday or Saturday! I'm thinking I'll start at Nite-Life, check out Out Of The Mouth of Babes and a few Bring The Fallen songs, then head to Coch's for Sense of Truth, that's my tentative plan, we'll see though! Full preview post tomorrow!

Next up, I have came across another band that would like to play in Sault Ontario this year! New Brunswick thrash metal band Rusted Dawn are looking to play a show here on April 26th as part of their upcoming Canadian tour! A band member was asking about if they could get help with a booking here on a post on The705Scene forums, nice to see them reaching out to help get booked! If you want a taste of their sound, click here to check out their MySpace page, and I gotta say, I really like what I hear! You know how often we get an awesome out of town thrash band here? Not damn nearly enough, that's how often! I'd be at this show, no fucking questions asked! If anyone wants to book these guys, which I do recommend, e-mail struggles999@hotmail.com to set up a booking!

Now let's update you all on Woods of Ypres, because there's a bunch of new stuff to talk about from them! Firstly, remember when I discussed their appearance in the newest issue of Exclaim! Magazine? Well the interview I mentioned had more than was posted on their site, as David has posted even more than the magazine could fit online! Click here for more, including more insights on their independent status & the green qualities of "The Green Album", how autobiographical David's lyrics are, his work with Necramyth & Musk Ox, the new album's irony & dimensions, the band's musical influences, the lyrics of "I Was Buried In Mount Pleasant Cemetery", the band's frequent lineup changes & infrequent touring, and their musical evolution! Very comprehensive and a great read! Also, the band are now selling a limited edition t-shirt through The End Records that's essentially the artwork for "Woods IV" in full t-shirt form, which you can see in the image on your left! The shirts are LIMITED EDITION, and are available in sizes S-2XL for $16.99 at this location! Buy before it's too late!

And finally, though this band isn't really "metal/hard rock" per say, it's only fair for me to mention this, as they do play a few heavier songs live: There's videos on YouTube of local classic rock cover band That's Chester, including performances of songs by AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Sammy Hagar, and Queen! Now they mostly cover non-metal stuff, like INXS, The Tragically Hip, Molly Hatchet, and The Kinks, but they're still a very talented band! Also nice to see Greg from Stiffler's Mom fully fronting a band too! Reminder that they play often at various local venues, including this weekend at The Rockstar Bar as part of Algoma Hope4Haiti, so head on out there for some great classic rock covers, and maybe something heavy! They're not the only non-metal band that plays metal songs in town, if I come across any other metal covers from bands like that online, I'll share them here! So check out this clip of That's Chester playing "The Number Of The Beast"!



That's all for today, tomorrow's post will be a double hit of two big topics: We're going to preview Algoma Hope4Haiti, and we're gonna close voting on this month's poll and open next month's poll! It'll be a big one, so you'll wanna stay tuned for that! Remember to vote for your favourite local metal album of 2009 above, you only have one day left! Tomorrow's poll will be about, once again, the best "something" in 2009. You'll see when we get to it! Stay tuned for all that tomorrow!

Things I've Missed, Some New Stuff, And A New SMS Page Update!

Hey everyone, time to get you all updated on some more local metal-related news!

I'll post this first simply because I can't believe I've missed so much on this band. Local hard rock cover band Turner Up have been way busier than I've noticed in recent weeks! For one, they played two shows this past weekend at The Nicolet Tavern as part of Bon Soo festivities, and I completely missed them to report. My complete apologies, I can't believe I didn't hear about those shows! Well, for those of you who went, hopefully they were awesome, sorry again! Also, the band has went through some lineup changes too, including the exit of drummer Steve Brogno (replaced by Scott McClurg) and the addition of bassist Len Ward, who you'll likely recognize from The Rad Zone! And finally, though this is not a "concert" per say, you'll wanna hear about this: Turner Up are the house band and host of the jam nights taking place every Wednesday at Foggy Notions! Yes, every Wednesday at 9:30, bring your instruments and maybe your best singing voice and jam with a great cover band, have a beer or two, all that fun stuff! Jam nights are always awesome, though Wednesdays may be hard to get to during the work week. But hey, the more hard rock, the better! I'll have to check them out one week! To confirm your attendance for Turner Up jam nights at Foggy's through May, click here! Check out more from Turner Up at this location, and I'll try my hardest not to forget news about them in the future!

Speaking of weekly events at Foggy Notions, Energy Rock Radio are also making their presence felt there! Monday nights are now Manic Mondays at Foggy's! DJ Ryan McQueen is broadcasting there LIVE Monday nights, parting, playing great music, and giving away ERR swag every Monday night! Sure, it's also a late weekday, but it's still great stuff! Energy Rock Radio's an awesome station, Ryan's put tons of work into it in the last few years, and who doesn't love free stuff either? Always a great way to spend your Monday night, I'd say! The first Manic Monday was last night, and it looks like they'll be live at Foggy's for the forseeable future, so head down there if you get a chance! And if not, you can always stream it live by clicking here, cause it broadcasts 24/7!)

Alright, now remember when I first reported on the full lineups for THIS WEEKEND'S Algoma Hope4Haiti benefit concert event? Well even after I updated the lineups, one venue stood out with no confirmed bands, and it was Coch's Corner. J.D. Pearce from Coch's Corner told me that if there's any bands out there who are willing to rock for the cause, to call him at 946-2867! Hint hint people, do you (or your band) wanna support Haiti and play a benefit show at Coch's Corner this weekend? Give J.D. a call, or e-mail cochscorner@hotmail.com to show your interest (also e-mail there if you wanna play a normal show there on an upcoming weekend, there's lots of bookings!) Sure, I'd love to see a metal band get on the bill, but genre differences aside for a second, this is a charity event, ANY band would be welcome! Hopefully a band shows interest, maybe it'll be YOUR band? Full details on Hope4Haiti, including participating venues/bands and ticket info, at this location! And remember metalheads, Bring The Fallen and Out Of The Mouth of Babes rock Nite-Life on Saturday!

Next up, remember when I was posting those remastered Sykotyk Rampage videos from their podium finish at the Sault College Battle of the Bands? Well, Dirk Becker did something I wasn't expecting: He took MY video that I shot, added new effects, transitions, and stuff, and has posted it on YouTube for the world to see! Now that's cool, I never thought anything I'd shoot would get a post-production treatment! And even if I wouldn't have filmed it, I'd still have mentioned it, so no saying I'm self-serving. Check out the video below, and thanks Dirk for the credit in the description! For more videos from Sykotyk Rampage, click here!



And finally, were you wondering why Garden of Bedlam's Buzz and Josh Belleau were in the banner image at the top of the page? (And no, they haven't bribed me.) I'm trying something, having different banners every day, and I picked that one to be first cause I liked how it turned out! I have a couple dozen made up to rotate, mostly with band members, but there's a few that are more unique and "artsy", if that makes sense. Some allude to the old "Sault Music Scene", others will just look really cool, you'll see! I was hoping for them to randomly rotate on new page visits, but HTML is not my friend for that, so I'm not gonna risk screwing up the SMS itself. Stay tuned for more banners, I've got some cool ones, it'll make the SMS a bit fresher and more fun to look at, I'd say! I'll show you guys another one of them, but we'll let the rest be a secret:

I have more news coming tomorrow, but I'm spreading out things to not make this post too long, things would get lost in the shuffle that way. But I do have news on Woods of Ypres and more coming, so keep on the lookout! Thanks everyone!

Gates Of Winter Are BACK!!! Plus News On Stillbroke, Half Past, And More!!

Huge news here to kick off today's post, this has me VERY excited, but let's see what you guys think! Some other news stories after this, but you'll find this very intriguing! Do you miss Gates of Winter? Then check this out:



They're baaaaaaaaaack! This is, in case you couldn't tell without clicking, a short 2010 demo clip for a NEW GATES OF WINTER SONG! It's called "The Stars Call My True Name", and it was just uploaded to frontman Lee Maines' new Youtube account this morning! It appears to have essentially the same lineup they've always had, save for the drums, which sound programmed (just like on their first E.P.) The song sounds really cool, well, what we hear of it! Lee's definitely gotten better at death growling and the rest of the guys are playing some really heavy stuff! Just listen to it, it's 86 seconds of promising awesome stuff! What a way to open my morning, I was NOT expecting this at all! At the end it just says "Coming Soon", I wonder how soon? After their 2009 hiatus, it's great to see them back, even if it is just in-studio, but I have no clue. I'll keep you guys posted!

Continuing with the big news concerning local bands, here's something that should affect fans of Stillbroke. The band have announced the departure of drummer Jenny Hooper, apparently to "move on to her own endeavours." Well that was unexpected! I liked her drumming, and she gave the band a unique quality too! But hey, there must have been a reason, hopefully she'll get into a new band down the road! Replacing her behind the drumkit is existing rhythm guitarist Sam DeDominicis! Never heard him on drums before, I wonder how he'll do? And of course, with his instrument change, the band have a new guitarist replacing Sam, and his name is Chris Villeneuve! (That's him on the left of the picture.) I don't recall him from any other local bands, we'll have to see how he sounds! All of this was announced on the band's Facebook page, so there's my source. I wonder when the new look Stillbroke lineup will be back live, I'll wanna check them out!

Next up, I have recently been in contact with Yes FM DJ John Gilbert on Facebook, and he tells me he's back on the air with 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear! Not sure how that works when he's a Sovereign employee, but hey, I'll take any sign of life there is for The Bear! He told me he doesn't know what they're going to do, but if bringing a DJ back is any sign, there might be hope for saving the station yet! I had wrote on the wall of the Boycott Yes FM group (now with 1,848 members) before John messaged me, to bring up The Bear as an issue to be concerned about, amidst the furor of the Yes FM DJ firings. Throughout all this, The Bear has indeed been a lesser focus. Yes FM may lose DJs wrongfully, but us classic rock/Bob & Tom/Alice Cooper fans could lose a whole station! Fingers crossed that things work out for both stations! Melissa and Jason from Bad Side & the rest of them don't deserve this, join the Facebook group to show your support for bringing them back!

Alright, now do you guys remember when I talked about newer young local band The Curtis J. McKenzie Project? Looks like Curtis is keeping that for his softer material, as he's transferred all the heavier songs to a new band, entitled Restricted Illusions! Both projects share the same website, so the link for the new band isn't wrong. Same lineup as The Curtis J. McKenzie Project, except for Daylan Dorricott in place of drummer Darren Vlassoff. So songs like "Happy Trails" and "The Married Massacre" will now be songs performed by Restricted Illusions! With that in mind, I've swapped the two bands in the band links on your left! So here's a live Restricted Illusions performance from a recent Dunnplugged concert at Sir James Dunn Collegiate, of the song "Kiss Me Goodbye"! Definitely heavier, I'd love to hear it with clearer audio though. Check it out, and thanks to Curtis for uploading this!



And finally, Half Past drummer Chris Thompson has uploaded a handful of new live clips onto YouTube from the band's recent weekend sets at Foggy Notions! Among the clips are covers of Shinedown, Tool, System of a Down, Helmet, and this clip, of Half Past covering the Godsmack song "Keep Away"! Nice cover, check it out below, and the rest of the clips at this location!



That's all for now, hopefully we'll have news on the rest of the Algoma Hope4Haiti lineup and much more very soon! Hope the Who Made Who show went well, homework got the better of me last night. And, for those of you who celebrate, have a great Valentines Day! I'll be watching the Daytona 500 instead! Cheers everyone, lots more stuff in the near future!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Algoma Hope4Haiti), Plus More Hope4Haiti Bands/Lineup Announcements!

It took a while, but we finally have updates on most of the lineups for the Algoma Hope4Haiti benefit concert event taking place on February 19th and 20th! As you're likely aware, this event is being set up by SooToday's Donna Hopper and The Sault Youth Association to raise money for The Canadian Red Cross towards relief in Haiti after last month's devastating earthquake. Eight local bars will host concerts on Saturday, February 20th (with some also hosting bands on the 19th), with all proceeds going to the Red Cross, and for just $10, you can get into all venues! Now I did say when reporting on this event in earlier weeks that metal bands were likely, and I was right! With that in mind, here is a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

Local death/thrash metal band Bring The Fallen will be headlining one of the Hope4Haiti concerts, this one at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, marking their first ever performance at this venue! Nice to see Nite-Life involved, I hadn't heard they were in my earlier reports on all of this! They'll be rocking out for Haiti on February 20th, the Saturday of that weekend! But there will be support too, starting with, in their live debut, local hardcore band Out Of The Mouth Of Babes! Yes, the band featuring the instrumental members of As It Stands and Deter/The Fury's Josh McNally on vocals will finally play their first live concert at the Nite-Life Hope4Haiti concert! This sure has been a long time coming to see them live, huh? And though not metal, DJ Spruceau from The Level Vibe Sound Tribe will be performing as well. Hey, it never hurts to give a show some extra flavour, I'm sure he's a great DJ! I'll get to ticket and time information in a second when I go over all the shows, but check out each of the bands performing at Nite-Life on the 20th by clicking on their names! (Also, I love the poster! If it was black and white and photocopied, I'd swear it was a classic 1980s/90s local poster of some type!) Confirm your attendance for this part of Hope4Haiti at this location!

But as you may have guessed from earlier reports, this is far from all that is scheduled next weekend! Now the above show at Nite-Life is, as of 3:30 PM Friday, the only concert with metal bands confirmed for Hope4Haiti, but seeing as all the shows tie together in the same event, it'd be ignorant of me to leave any out. So here's what's confirmed so far at the other 6 bars, in alphabetical order by venue name!

(EDIT, FRIDAY AT 3:28 PM: I have updated the lineups for Hope4Haiti, including the acts playing Friday at Foggy's and The Rockstar Bar. Also, it looks like The Algonquin Pub & Sports Bar itself will NOT have bands. This will be edited if new updates come in prior to my next post. All band info comes from either the Facebook event page, SooToday's article about Hope4Haiti, or the official poster.)

The Bottoms Up Lounge: The bar above Vincenzo's Restaurant on Queen Street East will play host to local indie band The Pine Cones, with special guests Broken House on February 20th. I can't tell you much on either band, neither has an internet page, but they appear to be talented at their genre, and popular among indie circles! No concert on the 19th is scheduled.

The Canadian Nightclub: The only participating venue not downtown, The Canadian will be featuring local country act Thin Ice! You may recognize bassist Josh Donofrio from his work in inactive local metal band Garage Inc.! A frequent sight at venues like Docks and The Canadian, country music lovers should find a lot to like on February 20th, click on their name for more info! No concert on the 19th is scheduled.

Coch's Corner: No bands have been announced as of 3:30 PM Friday. They will only be featuring bands on February 20th. If I was a betting man, I'd put money on Coch's Corner as being likely to get a heavier act, though we'll have to see. I shall keep you guys posted!

Foggy Notions: On February 19th, Foggy's will be headlined DJ Seith, who'll mix some cool tracks for you dance music lovers! He'll be joined by two other local DJs, Aries and DJ Damaging D! Then on the 20th, Foggy's will feature The Tenagens and local punk band The Scary Uncles (featuring Justin Langlois from SIGHdEFECT & Andrew McDonald from Fitswitch), with a band to be named later. Both shows sound promising as well, I'm a fan of The Scary Uncles especially!

LopLops Lounge: The local art gallery/concert spot will host bands on both days of Hope4Haiti. As previously announced on here, Kalle Mattson (featuring ex-Gates drummer Jimmie Chiverelli) will headline the February 19th show with special guests Craig West & Kathy O'Neil. The next night, local funk band Big Wheel & The Spokes will headline at LopLops, with special guests Shannon Moan and Mark Kuntsi from Honeythroat. A silent art auction was also in the works for this location, but updates on it have not came recently.

The Rockstar Bar: Local classic rock band That's Chester (who have been known to cover some AC/DC and Iron Maiden along with INXS and The Kinks-kind of stuff) will be playing at The Rockstar Bar on February 19th AND 20th! You may recognize frontman Greg Simpson from his work in Stiffler's Mom & Sin Stereo! One of the better local cover bands, though not metal enough for the SMS, I do enjoy their metal covers when they throw them into their sets! Definitely worth hitting!

So there's what we know so far bandwise! Start times for each venue's shows will vary by location, I can tell you that the Bring The Fallen concert is scheduled to begin at around 9:00 PM, but I don't know general start times for the rest of them. There will be door prizes at all seven venues! And if you were wondering what happened to Top Hat Billiards, they are just hosting the free pool for ticketholders, there's no concert there. Speaking of ticketholders, tickets are now on sale at these locations: All of the participating venues (including Top Hat), MP Tony Martin's office on Queen Street, the Sault Youth Association office at Station Tower, and at the local Red Cross office on Allard Street! Call 946-1299 or contact organizers on the Facebook event page for more details, and to confirm your attendance! Remember, tickers are $10, but they're good at all venues next weekend, and will give you free pool at Top Hat all night! Of course, I will keep you guys posted as I hear more on Algoma Hope4Haiti! Looks like I might be at Nite-Life on that Saturday, though we'll have to see how the other lineups look first!

News and updates and everything else worth discussing are in the near future! Stay tuned, one and all!

Weekend Concert Previews, Plus 97.9 The Bear & Radio Shakeup Updates

Hey guys, time to update the local metal universe once again! There's three metal concerts this weekend, and more local radio-related news, fans of The Bear and supporters of the fired 99.5 DJs might wanna check that out. But first, here are your local concert previews for this weekend!

We'll start in Sault Michigan for something NOT related to the radio stations: There's two concerts this weekend! Local hard rockers Riot! By Night are back this weekend for a pair of shows at Dondee Lanes! Nice to see them somewhere other than The Frog! No cover charge has been announced, both shows (tomorrow night and Saturday night) have a listed start time of 8:00 PM. If you like some modern rock with feeling, Riot! By Night should fit the bill, they have a bunch of really good musicians, and though we still don't have audio to share, they've played live enough times to pretty much guarantee a good show! Check out more from Riot! By Night at their official MySpace page! If I had more to say on these two shows, I would!

And finally, back in Sault Ontario, a popular tribute band are returning to the area! Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC will be playing the Soo for the first time since May of last year when they rocked The Canadian Nightclub! This time, they'll be at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, which you may remember under it's prior monikers GLOW and The Other Place! Actually, this might be the first metal show at what is now Nite-Life since Lion Ride played there in December 2008, but don't quote me on that. But now it's all fixed up and different, so look out for some new stuff if you go! And really, who doesn't love a hard hitting night of AC/DC classics? Tickets are a touch pricey as far as bar shows go, $10 in advance or $15 at the door, but considering their show last year, it'll be worth it! A start time of 9:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page (confirm your attendance there!), but I'd expect they wouldn't play until later.

I'm not sure if I'll be at this concert, but all signs point to a really fun show! They are quite a solid cover band, the guitarist pulls off Angus' look and mannerisms really well, the band sound enough like the real thing, and they'll get a crowd moving! I saw them in May, I felt really young amongst the older crowd, but meh, I had fun! Hopefully a big crowd turns out! Check Who Made Who out at their official website, and for a preview, here's a live clip of Who Made Who playing "Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)" at a Toronto show in 2008!



Just as a side note, I will likely be pulling two local concert venues: The Grand Theater and The Verdi Hall, from the venue contact info on the left of the page and moving them to the "Other Local Metal Links" soon unless bookings pop up for either venue in the next few months. The Verdi hasn't hosted a local metal show since Stillbroke's big show there last April, and The Grand (much to my puzzlement) hasn't had a metal band playing there to my knowledge since Sense of Truth played that free Skate4Cancer show last May. Hopefully both get back in the swing of things, they're very nice venues!

Now, radio time! The uproar among Yes FM fans has been stealing most of the thunder, but I fear that the fate of 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear is getting lost in the shuffle, so I'd like to bring that to everyone's attention again, plus some new stuff I've seen. Now when Sovereign Communications (Rock 101's parent company) bought Yes FM and the 10 other Sault/Iron Mountain/Marquette stations from Northern Star Broadcasting, they didn't pick up one, and it was The Bear. Apparently if Sovereign bought The Bear from Northern Star, they'd violate FCC laws about regional radio monopolies. According to David Helwig's story on SooToday, Northern Star wants out of local radio, but we haven't seen any official statements confirming that.

Here's what else we know about The Bear's fate so far: Northern Star Broadcasting fired 16 employees, including The Bear/Yes FM DJs Jason Mapes (Bad Side's guitarist) and John Gilbert, just before the sale. When Sovereign hired on 10 of those 16 employees, John got his job at 99.5 back, Jason did not. Because The Bear wasn't part of the deal, neither are affiliated with The Bear anymore. Jason changed the name of what was previously The Bear's Facebook group to simply "Classic Rock", with any vestiges of 97.9 removed. John Gilbert posted this on his Facebook page as his job description as on-air DJ with The Bear, ending February 2010: RIP Bear . . . you were a good friend . . . today was my last day, will miss you, Alice, but I hated those bats. No wonder I have no hair . . . Sounds kinda grim for The Bear, doesn't it? Last I heard, The Bear was still broadcasting with Bob and Tom and Alice Cooper still running as scheduled, but I don't know how long that will last. The optimistic side of me hopes a buyer picks it up and saves it, cause even if the reception was patchy, it was still a very good station! But the realistic side of me isn't so sure. If I hear anything more on 97.9 The Bear's future, you'll hear it here! Just in case, listen to it as much as you can now while you can!

Just as a personal comment, it's stuff like this that makes me wish Sault Ontario had it's own FM rock station. If The Bear does die out, we'll just be left with Rock 101 and, IF it's the right block/show, WLSO, as the only full area rock stations. Both are great, but sometimes you like to change the station if a song comes on you don't like, or something. There is Energy Rock Radio, which is awesome, but you need a computer to listen to it. The twin Saults both have country, adult contemporary, oldies, and Christian stations, why can't we both have a rock station each? The Canadian content regulations don't bother me at all, it'd just be nice to have options, and there'll be less for us rock lovers and metalheads if The Bear leaves us. Who's with me on that? (And before someone suggests Sirius XM satellite radio, what local connection does THAT have?)

As for the Yes FM fiasco (which does have a metal connection, as two of the fired DJs are Melissa and Jason from Bad Side), the Facebook group dedicated to boycotting Yes FM until they and the other fired DJs get brought back now has a grand total of.....1,154 members!!! The 99.5 lovers are pissed now, and rightfully so! There's now talk of boycotting everything from 99.5 sponsors to EVERY station that Sovereign owns until they're brought back. Also, most local news outlets have picked up on this story, including SooToday, SooNews.ca, The Soo Evening News, and The Sault Star, click on each to read the articles! Most notable though is an interview that Craig Huckerby of SooNews.ca conducted with one of the laid-off employees (identity hidden), which you can read here! If anything else major comes up, I'll let you guys know! But just as a final note, I've seen some people ignorantly blaming Rock 101 for this mess, like they went in themselves and took over 99.5. No they didn't, their bosses did. Don't drag Scott & Brian and all them into this, blame the higher-ups!

That's all for now, I hope to have lots more news and updates real soon, keep your eyes peeled! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sense Of Truth), News On The Local Radio Station Buyout/Firings, And More!

Sorry for the lack of a post last night, hardcore studying for a history test. Weekend concert previews are coming tomorrow, and hopefully more news to boot, but today, we have a big story coming out of the world of local radio. Stay tuned for that, but first, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

I could have swore they were gonna be in-studio for the forseeable future, but hey, we thought the same about Garden of Bedlam before they booked an upcoming show, so yeah, here's what I know so far! According to new local band Groove Committee's Facebook group, local hard rockers Sense of Truth are apparently returning to the stage on February 26th! The show will be at The Canadian Nightclub, with support from Groove Committee. Guitarist Steve Myers has since confirmed the show on the band's Facebook group. This will be Sense of Truth's first concert since backing up Ultraviolence last month at Coch's Corner! I could have swore they wouldn't be back live anytime soon thanks to the recording of their EP, but hey, any concert news is welcome! I won't say I can go cause the last 3 times I got excited about a Sense of Truth concert, it backfired when something came up or I went away that same weekend. Let me just say this: If I can go, I will be one happy headbanger! I'll keep you posted as I hear more!

As for that band Groove Committee, they appear to be the new project from former Scary Uncles guitarist Matt Sibilo. I can't confirm with any definite accuracy if they'd be "hard rock" enough for the SMS, but the band does suggest that they could play Pearl Jam and Led Zeppelin live...as well as Ween and Modest Mouse. We'll have to see about these guys! Check out their Facebook group at this location!

Now let's discuss the local radio situation, which sure has a lot of people up in arms. Sovereign Communications, the local company that owns Rock 101, Oldies 93, and two local AM stations, has purchased even more of the Upper Peninsula radio universe from Northern Star Broadcasting, including two more local stations: 99.5 YES FM and Big Country 105.5, as well as AM station Talk Radio 1400. 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear will remain under ownership of Northern Star Broadcasting to avoid FCC violations for Sovereign's concentration of the local market, though reports suggest that Northern Star are getting out of the broadcast business, so The Bear's days could be numbered. The new purchases will not impact Sault Ontario radio stations, WLSO, or any local Christian/adult contemporary stations, as they aren't owned by Northern Star. On the surface, there may seem to be nothing drastically different, as they haven't announced (yet) that any of the new stations will be getting any format changes. So rest easy, Rock 101 fans, nothing's going on there! But here's where we should be concerned:

4 on-air personalities from 99.5 YES FM have been laid off amid this mess. How does this impact us, a metal-centric blog? Well, two of the laid off personalities are Bad Side frontwoman and guitarist Melissa Krahnke and Jason Mapes. As you may know if you listen to YES FM, Melissa's one of the DJs on the Soo Morning Crew, while Jason manned The Afternoon Drive block on the station, as well as DJing on The Bear. I admittedly don't listen to 99.5 most of the time, mainly because of my own musical tastes. But when I do listen, I notice the good work, intelligence, and professionalism that they (and the other fired DJs, Paul VanWagoner and Scott Nason) had over at YES FM. Especially when no just reason was given for the firings, it makes you wonder what a local company was thinking in firing local radio personalities. Is there some "new direction" excuse? Are they planning top to bottom changes? Do they not like Bad Side? I don't know, but answers would be appreciated.

I know some of you guys listen to 99.5 YES FM, Bad Side, or both, so I encourage you to join the cause to hopefully get Sovereign Communications to rehire everyone let go, or at least give us a good reason why they did what they did. A few Facebook groups have popped up in support of the fired DJs, the biggest of which has over 640 members! Click here to join it and voice your opinion! Hopefully our voices can be heard! Also make note of The Bear's situation. If it's true that Northern Star wants out of radio, then The Bear is likely on it's last legs. It would either have to be bought by another radio company, or go out of business all together. I'm a fan of The Bear, as are many of you I'm sure! Jason's a great DJ over there, they air lots of great classic songs, plus they have Bob and Tom and Alice Cooper too! Someone should start a group to support saving The Bear, cause we need all the rock we can get, and it'd be a shame to lose 97.9 over something like this! Make yourselves heard! Also, check out SooToday's article on the whole local radio mess by clicking here! (Also, if you're gonna boycott anything, don't boycott Rock 101, they have no part in this, their superiors do. Boycott the new purchases for not having the DJs you miss.)

(EDIT: 1:23 PM) I think we have some more news about the radio mess: Apparently Sovereign Communications bought the old Northern Star stations for the physical assets rather than personnel. The employees were fired before the sale by Northern Star, and were not picked up by Sovereign because, and I quote "there are not as many jobs available, because staff is already in place." So there was staff already in place at Sovereign in the stations you JUST bought. That does not compute. Yet there was no firings from the stations they bought in the same deal in Iron Bridge and Marquette. Uh huh. No word on The Bear's status yet. Read the new article from The Soo Evening News at this location!

Now back to Sense of Truth. The concert wasn't why I mentioned I had news on them on Monday, I didn't hear about that until this morning. No, I had stuff about the recording of their EP! I've heard more than what I'm telling you, but I'm only going to report on what they've announced. Monday, Sense of Truth hit the studio with Miguel Gauthier at Stereo Soul Studios to record their debut EP, which will have 6 songs! Drummer Ryan Haryett has mentioned to be on the lookout for photos and maybe the odd video, so make sure to stay tuned to their Facebook group for anything like that! That's all I had on the Sense of Truth front! Should be a good spring/summer with new Sense of Truth and Garden of Bedlam releases coming out, both of which will get lots of press and my own reviews when they come out! I'll keep you posted!

And finally for today, Woods of Ypres updates! Firstly, you know the track listing on your copy of "Woods IV: The Green Album"? Get out your erasers, David Gold has decided to alter, lengthen, or shorten five of the track names! Here's what's different: "Shards of Love" now has the subtitle "(Hurt Forever)", "Dirty Window Of Opportunity" is now "Into Exile", with the subtitle "(Can You Get Here In 10 Days?)" still in place, "And I Am Pining (For You)" has had the "And I Am" removed, "To Long Life In The 'Limbo Union'" is now "Our Union (In Limbo)", and "Move On! (The Woman Will Always Leave The Man)" has had it's subtitle completely removed. Make edits of that where necessary so you're up to date! I even edited my review of W4 to reflect this. Thanks to this topic on the band's forum for the update. Speaking of "Woods IV", David's latest topic post on the band's forum hypes to make sure to buy and listen to the album between March 20th and June 19th, as this is the band's spring themed album, after all! He says "Let it rain! We're all in this together. ...We'll have a party at the end." Hey, I like parties! Buy the album, it's a real experience!

That's all for now, more news coming very soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (40 Sons), Plus New Videos And Show Updates!!

So how about The Super Bowl? Oh wait, this isn't a sports blog, it's a metal blog! Lots of news and updates to get to today, ranging from videos to show updates to just plain interesting stuff! And we'll start with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

A little over six weeks after they last rocked Sault Ontario, Hamilton's own 40 Sons will be returning to the area for a concert on March 4th! This time, they won't be in Coch's Corner like they were in their last couple of local visits. Nope, when they hit the Sault next month, they'll be invading The Speakeasy at Algoma University! A start time of 8:00 PM is given on their MySpace page. Now The Speakeasy have yet to confirm this show, but bear in mind, they are having some issues that have resulted in the bar's closure since Wednesday, so patience will be a virtue! Once I find out details on ticket prices, age restrictions, any additional bands, and whatever all else, you'll find them here! Great to see 40 Sons back so soon, they're a solid band, check some of their stuff out at this location! I might hit this show, we'll have to see!

Now to a trio of announcements concerning upcoming concerts: One with a new band, one that needs bands, and one that needs a venue. We'll start with the show with a new band, and it's the concert on May 6th featuring Derelict at Foggy Notions! I can now confirm that there will be at least one opener, and it's North Bay experimental metal band Thekillingfield! You may recognize them as one of the opening acts for the April 12th, 2009 Cattle Decapitation concert at The Oddfellows Hall! This is shaping up to be one brutal show that death metal fans won't want to miss, I'll keep you posted on anything else I hear from this show! That includes possible additional bands, but I won't say anything that's not confirmed. You'll see if something new's added! Oh, and check Thekillingfield out on MySpace!

Now to the show that needs bands, and we'll start with a personal admission: I'm not as in tune with Sault Michigan as I'd like to be. I don't have a lot of the connections and sites that I have from the Sault Ontario side of things, so I miss stuff here and there across the river. So when I see something new in Sault Michigan being advertised, I don't hesitate to discuss it. That was the case today when I saw this on one of my breaks: Lake Superior State University are holding a Battle of the Bands next month! It will be March 20th at 6:00 PM, running until midnight! No rules or major details are listed on the poster, like exactly where the battle will be held, fan or band fees, rules, prizes, and so on, but contact info is given for this info! E-mail Jacob Winn at jwinn@lssu.edu or Tracy Merony at tmerony@lssu.edu if you are at all interested in attending or playing this battle! Judging from the LSSU stamp on the right, you have until March 12th to enter. Note that the poster doesn't say it's restricted to only bands with an LSSU student in the lineup, but keep it in the back of your head just in case. If I hear anything more on this battle, I'll be sure to share it, especially if metal bands make it on!

And finally for concert updates, here's something I haven't had in a while: A band looking to play here, but needing a venue! New Brunswick experimental hard rockers Cop Shades are looking for a Northern Ontario stop on their upcoming summer tour with bands to be announced. According to their MySpace page, they're hoping for it to be in Sudbury or Sault Ste. Marie on August 8th before heading to Thunder Bay. Seeing as this is The Sault Metal Scene, I'll do my part to help get the word out for a Cop Shades show in the Soo! If you'd like to book or host Cop Shades on August 8th at a local venue, contact them at this location! Unique sound, no guitars and kinda experimental and sludgy, but heavy at the same time! We'll have to see where they'll be heading!

Finally for today, it's video time! A pair of local metal bands have released some new videos, and we'll start with Meatplow! Finally, we have real video of these guys in action, coming from the account of singer/drummer Phil Temporao (a.k.a. Phily S. Tempo from Amethyst!) These are older jam videos, not sure how representative they are of the band today, but if it's any indication, we're in for something special! The clips feature guitarist Dennis Porter and Phil on an electric drumkit (bassist Mike Thiffault isn't present...if the last name's wrong, my apologies!) The first clip is just a random jam of stuff off the top of their heads, and it actually sounds really good considering it's improvised! Phil doesn't have a bad singing voice either, the song has a cool industrial vibe! Maybe it's not James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, but it works! The other clip is their cover of Judas Priest's "Grinder", which I don't think suits their industrial vibe as much, but I really like Phil's vocal range, I'm surprised he could hit that falsetto! Both are good clips, check out the improv jam clip immediately below, or visit Phil's YouTube channel! (The song really kicks in after about 2:30)



Also, we have new video footage of Sykotyk Rampage from the Scotties Tournament of Hearts/Sault College Battle of the Bands! As it turns out, bands received the video footage of their sets afterwards, so guitarist Dirk Becker took the band's video, re-mastered it with effects, and created some unique live clips from the shows! Nice work! He's done two so far, "Called In Dead" and "Drinking on the Weekend", and says he'll make one for "Treating You Bad" soon as well! Nice work, always great to see pro-shot video of any local band! Check out their performance of "Called In Dead" from last Wednesday at The Heartstop Lounge immediately below! And of course, check out both the new clips (and some old) at Sykotyk Rampage's YouTube channel!



More news to come soon, including stuff on Sense of Truth and Woods of Ypres, and hopefully updates on Algoma Hope4Haiti, and much more! Stay tuned!