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

It's the 18th of the month, and you know what that means: It's time for a new poll at the SMS! But first, we have the results of last month's poll to unveil, and if you remember correctly, I posed this question to you guys: What would you like to see more of in the local metal scene? Only 24 votes this month, which isn't bad, and thanks to everyone for voting! So, which choice won out? Here are the results:

More support for the scene/bands (5 votes, 21%)

More bands playing live (4 votes, 17%)
More Essar Center/Kewadin Casino concerts (3 votes, 13%)
More local music festivals (3 votes, 13%)
More all ages shows (2 votes, 8%)
More out of town headlining bands (2 votes, 8%)
More variety (2 votes, 8%)
More band reunions (1 votes, 4%)
More battles of the bands (1 vote, 4%)
I like the scene as it is (1 vote, 4%)
More concerts in general (0 votes, 0%)
More new albums from local bands (0 votes, 0%)
More new local bands (0 votes, 0%)
Other (0 votes, 0%)

What do you guys think? Well, in ascending order, here's my thoughts. Of the choices with no votes, I'm surprised more people didn't pick wanting more concerts or albums, but there were some other substantial choices that could have got preference from voters. Three choices tied for eighth with a single vote, with someone actually saying that they like the scene as it is. As much as I enjoy what we have, I'm really surprised that someone out there isn't hoping for more of something! The three choices tied for fifth with two votes don't surprise me a whole lot, but I could have saw "More variety" getting some more attention just by individual genre preferences. A desire for more major Essar Center/Kewadin Casino concerts and local music festivals tied for third with three votes each, both high where I expected, as I know many fans out there want some bigger shows! In second with four votes was wanting more bands playing live, which makes sense, as some bands don't gig nearly as much as their talent and sound would assume. But in first place with five votes and 21% of the total, the winner is "More support for the scene/bands". I figured this would win, as we could always use some more attention, coverage, and fans for our local bands and shows, and it's good to see people wanting that!

Thanks to everyone for voting! This month, I thought the poll should be an extension of the highest voted choice in last month's poll, sort of to place some more specific emphasis on an element of the local metal/hard rock scene that could use some attention. That said, we know what won, so we're building on that this month with this question: What would you like to see to help increase support in the local metal scene? I picked 10 choices that hopefully cover the important bases, so here are your choices for this month's poll!

Better concert advertising: Some local concerts get well advertised with coverage in newspapers and news sites, posters around town, and online coverage like on Facebook event pages. Others might not get much advertising beyond online word of mouth. Might an increased effort to promote and advertise local concerts encourage people to support local bands and concerts?

Better/larger concerts: Might fans turn out for concerts more if they were bigger, better, and more of an "event" than current ones could be percieved as? Could support be more prevalent for the scene if the concerts we do get had bigger bands, scopes, venues, or attractions? Vote for this choice if you think so!

Higher band awareness: The fans we do have are dear and loyal to our local bands, but are they as known throughout local and metal communities as they could be? I'd say awareness of our local bands could be higher, but how about you guys? If you think a larger effort to get the names and sounds of local metal bands would be beneficial, pick this option!

Higher concert attendances: Many local metal shows that we have locally have great attendances. Others, not so much. Be it pre-show advertising, individual schedule conflicts, band awareness, or (sigh) "My friend's band isn't playing!", there are many reasons the fan count at a show might be lower than hoped. If you think an effort to boost concert attendance would help the most, vote here!

More booking opportunities: This could apply to either individual concert bookers & agencies, or active concert venues. Some bookers in town may not book shows as consistently as one could like, and some venues might not host concerts as much as you'd expect. Should more people and venues get to hosting great metal shows? If so, this is the option for you in this poll!

More CDs/merchandising: If a local band has some output (musical or otherwise), they're bound to have some more awareness locally. Plus, if you have a band's t-shirt, CD, or any sort of purchased good, they benefit, and you can show your support! Should bands go this route more often to ensure high local support levels?

More concerts in general: What if there was just more local concerts in general in Sault Ontario? Maybe if there was a larger, more consistent, and earlier-announced slate of shows (in your opinion), awareness and support would be larger? Pick this choice if you think so!

More local press/coverage: Do you think support for the scene would be greater if local news sites, merchants, newspapers, and radio stations gave more attention and coverage to local bands and concerts? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to have more, but would it be your top choice?

We have enough support already: Let's say you think our local metal scene gets enough support, coverage, or attention as it is. If you think nothing could be any better, vote here!

Other: Did I miss an element of the local scene that could be adjusted or raised to increase support? This is your choice if one is missing!

VOTE TODAY!! You have until October 18th to cast your votes, and you can do so in the red voting form on the upper left of the page. These should be interesting results, so make your voices heard over the next month! That's all for today, but I promise to have more news early this week, so keep an eye out! Thanks everyone!

Sault Michigan Weekend Concert Previews, A New Half Past Video, And More!!

As promised, here's my Sault Michigan concert previews for this weekend! I only know of 4 shows by 2 bands of a heavier genre across the river this weekend, but with the amount of concerts this weekend, I thought it'd be best to split them up to not go into overkill. To fill things out, I have a new video from a local band and some more shorter news stories at the end, so stay tuned for those! Now, here's what you need to know for your Sault Michigan hard rock concertgoing this weekend!

Pickford hard rock quintet NoXcape will return to The Satisfied Frog this weekend for two heavy nights of covers! This will be the band's second set of shows with Donny Newell on vocals, and first since officially confirming him as an official band member, so old fans of Absolute will sure want to take note of that! Should be some solid shows this weekend, NoXcape have obvious talent from the members' past bands, so definitely check them out on Friday or Saturday night! There does not appear to be a cover charge either night, you must be 21 to attend, and both shows have 10:00 PM start times. For more details, visit NoXcape's Facebook page to see both nights' respective event pages! Don't miss NoXcape at The Frog this weekend for some great hard rock covers, and for a taste of what to expect, check out Absolute videos and audio clips at this location, seeing as both bands are almost identical!

Also this weekend, hard rockers Monkey's Uncle are scheduled to return to The Rapids Lounge at Kewadin Casino once again! That said, while they're listed as playing at Kewadin on Friday & Saturday night on both their MySpace page and on Kewadin Casino's entertainment page, I should note that singer/guitarist Donny Newell is also booked for this weekend with NoXcape at The Frog, so what's happening with Monkey's Uncle's shows? Chances are they'll just play as a three piece, seeing as they did that frequently without issue before Donny joined, but even if that's incorrect, Monkey's Uncle pages don't get updated frequently enough for anything official to be stated. So with that said, I assume they're still playing this weekend, but if I hear different, I'll let you know! This weekend's shows should have 9:00 PM start times, there's no cover charge, and you must be 21 to attend. Check the above links for more details! Should be good no matter what lineup is playing, so make note of Monkey's Uncle's likely shows this weekend at Kewadin! For a preview, here's Monkey's Uncle covering Nickelback's "Figured You Out" circa 2008 in St. Ignace!



Now to some news, and first, here's a new YouTube video of Sault Ontario hard rock quartet Half Past in action! It's sort of half new and half not though, as we've seen this video before, just not in this state. As you may remember, five videos of Half Past's set at Hempfest this year were uploaded onto their Facebook page shortly afterwards, one of which was a cover of the Silverchair instrumental "Madman". Drummer Chris Thompson took the original video, applied some effects and an intro to it, and uploaded it to his YouTube channel this morning, but how does it look now? It's now zoomed in more to focus on the band, and the colour is grayscaled, with varying effects also put on to invert colours, make everything blue, and make the video rotate and swirl around a bit. Doesn't look too bad, and I think this kind of editing works better for an instrumental than a song with vocals, so good choice on Chris' part! Check out this new version of Half Past's Silverchair cover below, and stay tuned for more Half Past news as I hear it!



And finally, here's three assorted shorter stories from the last little while. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by band, venue, or publication name:

• Still curious as to how The Canadian Nightclub looks following the July flood and the seven-week-long renovations? YouTube user Jesse Souliere has you covered thanks to this video from one of the opening week dance parties that the Pim Street bar held this month! It's filled with techno music and dance party lighting, but it's a taste of what it now looks like on the interior. Promising, but we'll have to see how it looks for concerts! Stay tuned!
  
• I've replaced the link for local newspaper The Fresh Magazine in our Other Local Band Links due to the fact that their website is currently offline. Don't know why, but I'll assume the domain name wasn't renewed. The Fresh Magazine lives on though, so keep an eye out for their next issues! Their new link on the SMS is for their Facebook group.
• Newly reunited death metal quintet State of Misery have launched a new band page on the Canadian music website BandMix! Nothing "new" is posted there, but it does say that the band are releasing a demo "this year." Time will tell, but fingers crossed! Check the above links for more, and also check out Mike Cliffe & Neno Jovanovic's BandMix profiles!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our next poll on Sunday and more news as we hear it! Thanks everyone, and go see Thekillingfield and/or Late & Loud TONIGHT!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Thekillingfield) & Sault Ontario Weekend Concert Previews!!

It's time to preview the first batch of our weekend concert previews! As I've done here and there lately, I'm breaking up the previews into two posts: This one for just Sault Ontario concert previews, and I'll have previews of the Sault Michigan hard rock shows this weekend probably tomorrow with some additional news to fill things out with. So today, let's preview the three (possibly four or five) metal/hard rock shows in Sault Ontario between tomorrow and Saturday, along with speculation on two shows that may or may not be on as scheduled. Here's what you need to know, statrting with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TOMORROW NIGHT!

The 33rd Roosevelt Hotel metal night is official for tomorrow night, and there's a big lineup in store for this week, including some local favourites from out of town! North Bay extreme metal trio Thekillingfield will return to Sault Ontario for the first time in 3½ months when they headline this late-announced metal night! Great to see them back so soon, and hopefully their extreme and assaulting sounds will attract some huge moshpits tomorrow night! The local opening bands will be local death metal outfits The Bear Hunters and Shit Liver, who'll both set the tone well with devastating sounds and brutal aggression! Plus, if you missed Shit Liver last night, here's another opportunity to see them! Note that The Bear Hunters' Facebook page says that they're playing with Changing Waves and Redundant tomorrow, but this was not confirmed by Dismembertainment, who posted the actual lineup on their Facebook page earlier today, so don't get confused tomorrow night. Still, it's great to see yet another high quality package of metal at The Rosie on another Thursday, so head down for the show tomorrow night if you can! There will be a nominal cover of $2 (which is easily worth it for the bands you'll get), you must be 19 to attend, and it all starts at around 10:00 PM. Check the above links for more details!

Sounds like a great show, and if you make it out, wish promoter Rich Moreland a happy belated birthday! His birthday's actually today, but what better way to celebrate it than at a metal show, so send the good wishes his way tomorrow night! So go see Thekillingfield, The Bear Hunters, and Shit Liver tomorrow night, it'll be a good one! For a preview, here's Thekillingfield playing their song "To Be Joedy" at The Canadian last year!



Next up, local classic metal quartet Late & Loud are back for another concert tomorrow night! One week after ending their four month hiatus, the talented band will play their first solo headlining show since the spring tomorrow night at The Speak Easy at Algoma University! The show will take place concurrently with a "Heroes vs. Villains" themed pub night at The Speak Easy, so feel free to dress up and join in the fun! I'm sure the band will be dressed up too, so why not break out a costume or disguise for the occasion? This show will have a 10:30 PM start time, there will probably be a 19+ age limit (I don't know if underage Algoma students can get in, but I know they can sometimes), and though there's no announced cover charge, bring cash just in case. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be an entertaining concert, and with a different vibe than you usually see at Late & Loud concerts, so don't miss them tomorrow night (especially if you missed their return last week!) For a preview, here's Late & Loud playing their original song "Never Again" at Foggy Notions earlier this year!



Thirdly, I wanted to mention local classic hard rock quartet Full Circle, who announced a weekend set of shows at The Canadian Nightclub for this Friday and Saturday months ago on the now deleted Turner Up Facebook group. Coincidentally, these were the last shows on that old schedule, but I'm positive they have much more to come! This weekend though, are they still playing at The Canadian? Not on Friday night, at the very least. Since their re-opening last week, The Canadian have been trying country nights on Fridays, and local quartet Asylum Country (featuring Full Circle guitarist Kyle McKey on bass) are scheduled to play there this Friday, as cited here. So with that obvious conflict, it looks like one of two things will happen: Either Full Circle will play at The Canadian (or elsewhere?) on Saturday only, or aren't gigging this weekend at all. If they are still on for Friday, the show would likely start at 10:30 PM with a 19+ age limit and likely cover charge of $5 or less, and it would be the first hard rock show at The Canadian since the flood in July. As of right now though, I'm not confident enough to officially say that Full Circle are playing a show this weekend, but if I hear anything definitive, I'll let you guys know!

And finally, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is back for another solo acoustic concert on Saturday! This week however, he'll return to The Zone Roadhouse in Goulais River for the first time in three months on Saturday night! As far as I can tell, he will not be at Service Grill Pizza this weekend, so either he's now only there bi-weekly, or he's not on a rigid schedule like he once was. Still, if you live closer to Goulais River, you'll enjoy that he'll be playing at a closer venue on Saturday! No matter the venue, his acoustic hard rock and metal covers are always worth checking out, so head down to the Highway 17 North bar on Saturday night for the show! He'll be on at the sort of early start time of 8:00 PM, there's no announced cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Should be a great show, hopefully Tym delivers some great rocking covers for his Goulais River fans on Saturday, so make it out if you can! For a preview, here's Tym Morrison covering Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" at the to-be-renamed Foggy Notions in 2009!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for Sault Michigan concert previews and much more either tomorrow or early Friday! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Shit Liver & Tym Morrison) And Two New Local Hard Rock Acts!

Hey guys, here's another news post for your Tuesday, including two newly discovered hard rock acts from Sault Ontario and two LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one of which is extremely short notice), so here's what you need to know!

Local death metal/punk trio Shit Liver will be playing at The Roosevelt Hotel TONIGHT! The rising trio have been named as the openers for this short notice concert which is being headlined by Yellowknife punk quartet Booze Cruise, who are touring Canada in support of their new LP "Moose Stuff"! They're not really a metal band, but they have a nice high energy punk sound with some faster ripping sounds here and there, so they're well worth seeing tonight, despite the late notice! And with Shit Liver opening, you know there'll be some hard hitting crust to kick things off, so if you're free, head to The Rosie TONIGHT! Plus, it's bassist Mike Kyle's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than at a punk/metal show? Remember, this show is TONIGHT at 10:00 PM, you must be 19 to attend, and there's no cover. For more details, visit the above links and the Facebook event page! Should be a fun time, hopefully a good sized crowd turns out despite the late word! For a preview, here's Shit Liver playing their song "Fabricated Nonsense" at The Rosie in June!



Also on the docket for new shows is another solo acoustic show from Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison! He's back out for another concert on Saturday, this time at The Zone Roadhouse on Highway 17 North in Goulais River, for his first solo show there in three months! Note that this is the second Saturday in three weeks that he hasn't played at Service Grill Pizza, so either he's now playing there bi-weekly, or his gigs there aren't as rigidly scheduled as they were in the summer. I'll keep you guys posted on any possible Service Grill shows he may have coming up! So if you want to head to Goulais River for some acoustic hard rock hits, The Zone Roadhouse is the place to be on Saturday night! Tym will take the stage at 8:00 PM, there is no announced cover charge, and I'd assume there's a 19+ age limit. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! Should be a good concert, Tym's solo acoustic show always impresses, and hopefully lots of people turn out! Stay tuned for more on this show later in the week!

Now, we have two newly discovered local hard rock acts to mention on here, so here's all that you need to know! Firstly, we have a local electronic instrumental hard rock project from Sault Ontario named Candle Hour. Led by local musician Hugh Stephens, Candle Hour launched last October, quickly releasing a debut album named "Airplane" on numerous online stores, along with launching band pages on most popular internet music sites (examples: MySpace, Facebook, Reverbnation, YouTube, Soundclick, and many more.) Though a solo project with a mostly unrevealed background, Candle Hour are currently working on a second album, and have released four music videos. I probably missed Candle Hour for SMS coverage for so long because I assumed they were strictly a techno project, but there's a lot of hard rock here! Hugh lists Nine Inch Nails as one of Candle Hour's influences, and on songs like "Astral Transmission" and "Without A Parachute", there's definitely a hard rock sound to be enjoyed! The closest local band I can think of to Candle Hour in terms of sound would be the defunct solo project Divinity Collapsed, though I don't believe there's a link between the two bands.

Candle Hour is an interesting project, and Hugh definitely shows some talent and creativity with this material! The techno and electronic elements are well constructed, and the heavier hard rock sounds are integrated well, though I'd be interested to see him expand on some of the songs, as the songs I've heard can be slightly repetitive. Overall though, I am impressed with Candle Hour, so definitely check them out for a solid blend of electronic and synthesized sounds with hard rock, they work well together! I'll embed one of their videos here, so here's one of Candle Hour's heavier songs "March To The End", as accompanied by old military footage! Good stuff!



Lastly, the other new act finally connects some of the pieces left following a local band's abrupt disappearance last summer. Remember Silver Dream, the local glam rock quartet that crashed and burned last July? Well, at the time, departed frontman Matthew Silver said that the rest of the band would remain together, but we never heard anything else come from that... until now! Drummer Steven Flint launched a solo MySpace page in July, and he credits Silver Dream bandmates Mike LaRue & Chris Stainthorpe for backing instruments and production on his solo material! Specifically, Mike plays bass and handled the technical recording, while Chris played guitar, and Steven handled drums, vocals, and additional guitar & bass. I wouldn't say that Steven's solo project is one and the same as Silver Dream, but it's nice to see the old members sticking together! One song is posted, entitled "Run To You", and it's not bad! Definitely heavier than most of the Silver Dream samples we heard. Has a bit of a classic rock vibe while still being heavy, and Steven's vocals are deeper and grittier than you may expect, reminding me a bit of Mike Haggith vocally.

"Run To You" needs to be filled out more, but the guitar work is promising, the production isn't bad, and with some more work, this could get some deserved local attention! Check out more on Steven's solo project at the above links, and both he and Candle Hour are now in our active Sault Ontario band links!

That's all for today, but GO SEE SHIT LIVER & BOOZE CRUISE TONIGHT! Short notice or not, it'll be worth your time! Thanks everyone, and stay tuned for much more in the next few days!

Local Metal Video Showcase!!

Hey guys, let's end those Monday blahs with a new local metal video showcase! Whenever I get a surplus of local metal-relevant videos, I like to group them together like this, and we've got some good ones today, including a cool old recording from a local band, Mike Cliffe's newest video, an interesting cover you wouldn't expect, and this week's classic video, so let's get things going!

If you've been in and around the local scene for a long time, you'll no doubt recognize guitarist Mario Carlucci from his work in bands like Foothill Road, Unkle Festerr, Exodus, Megaton, and his current band Sneaky Pete. Another band he was part of in the late 1980s was Satric, who also featured singer Cyril Morden, bassist Pat Breen, and drummers Mark Kamsol & Pete Von Althen in their lineups. On Saturday, Mario posted an old live audio clip of Satric from a 1989(?) concert at The Union Hall (now Breakaway's Bar & Grill, I think) onto his YouTube channel, and it's of Satric covering Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze"! It's awesome to hear this, hopefully more local musicians post some old archive clips and videos! Satric sound good here, Mario's got the chops to pull off "Purple Haze", Cyril's vocals suit the song well, and the recording quality's pretty good! Kudos to Mario for uploading this, and definitely give this old Satric cover a listen below!



Next is the latest video from Sault Ontario solo artist Mike Cliffe, who's uploaded a time-lapse video of the major construction at Sault College to his YouTube channel, as accompanied by two of his songs! The video itself has no metal relevance, but it's cool to see the construction of the new additions to the Sault College building, as caught on a webcam between March 2010 and last month. Time lapse footage is always interesting, and my old alma mater's looking good! As for the songs, the first one included is "Angel 2", a progressive hard rock instrumental with some catchy sounds and a nice vibe, while the second song is the previously posted "Rainy Day Romp", which was a quality heavier track of it's own with good distorted riffing, and it flows well to fill in the gaps! Good stuff, so check out Mike's new video below to hear some solid instrumental hard rocking and see the evolution of Sault College over the past 17 months!



Thirdly today, here's an interesting cover of a Woods of Ypres classic that I couldn't not share on here! I don't usually share Woods of Ypres covers on here, but in this case, you've gotta see it. So, can you imagine if Woods of Ypres did the soundtrack for a classic Nintendo Entertainment System game? Well, now you can hear the results for yourself, as YouTube user Chris Kelly has made an 8-bit cover of Woods of Ypres' 2002 classic song "A Meeting Place & Time"! Posted onto his YouTube channel on Friday, it's one of many 8-bit renditions of metal songs that Chris has produced. It's well done, and it really sounds like it could be the soundtrack for a forest level of an NES game like Castlevania or something similar! If you wanna hear this interesting 8-bit rendition of "A Meeting Place & Time", check it out below!



And finally, here's this week's classic video! Thought I'd get it out of the way a couple days early, and this week, we'll tie it in with Pickford hard rock quintet NoXcape, who'll rock The Satisfied Frog for two shows this weekend. As you may remember, every member of NoXcape (except guitarist Joey Beairl) played together in 2008 and 2009 as the defunct Pickford quartet Absolute, who had a successful run in the local scene in their heyday! Their MySpace page is loaded with live videos, so it makes perfect sense to share one of them here this week, but which one? I figured the best way to start would be with an original, and they had at least one, which was called "Native Tongue"! Solid hard rocker with some good energy, though the audio quality could be clearer on this video. I can see it on local radio if they made a studio version though, it had lots of promise! This video comes from a February 2009 concert that Absolute played at Golanka's Bar (The Bird), and oddly, the filmer shot the video from the side of the stage, which seems kinda odd, but then you see the dancers in front, so it makes sense. Good video, though hopefully I can find clearer audio of "Native Tongue" eventually!

Posted onto Absolute's MySpace page shortly after the concert, you can see the original video at http://myspace.com/absoluteparty/videos/video/52039115. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Absolute and the original filmer, I just want to share this video with a wider audience like it deserves! So with that said, check out Absolute playing their original "Native Tongue" below, and go see the members' current band NoXcape this weekend at The Frog!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes very soon! Thanks everyone!

SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Tym Morrison & Scofflaw), And Much More!!

I wasn't planning to have a new news post today, but it's amazing how rapidly some big news falls into place, so I felt I should slap one together! In that regard, don't forget my Defunct Local Band Profiles on From The Ashes Of Angels and TraynWreck from this morning, especially if you're from the Sault Michigan area! So today, we have a cool new audio clip from a local band, some updates to one of our monthly feature posts, and kicking things off, two SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, so here's what you need to know!! Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison is indeed back at Service Grill Pizza TODAY! After a one week absence for a St. Joseph Island concert, Tym's back at the Korah Road restaurant today for two sets after he returns from his set this afternoon at The Searchmont Music Festival, and apologies for the short notice, Tym only announced this show earlier today. Also to note, the Facebook event page still says that he's there "every Saturday", so it looks like his weekly summer arrangement there has been extended into at least one fall month! With the Searchmont gig, his usual times at the Service Grill are slightly amended, as he'll now be hitting the stage a bit later at 4:30 PM, with a second set likely to start around 8:00 PM tonight. There's no announced cover charge, and I don't believe there's an age restriction. Check the above links for more details! Sounds good, hopefully Tym knocks it out of the park tonight, even if it's short notice! Remember to go see him TODAY, and for a preview, here's Tym (and a special guest) covering Extreme's "More Than Words" a few years ago! Meanwhile, Sault Michigan hard rock trio Scofflaw will return to the local stage TONIGHT for a set at The Merchant's Bar! The popular band featuring singer/guitarist Jeff Barnes, Bucksaw bassist Barney Gravelle, and PowerSlug drummer Ivan Schliska will make their first advertised local concert appearance since LemmaFest when they rock The Merch for a night of drunken metal originals! They're a fun band and well worth hitting up shows for, but hearing them announced in advance is nice, so it's good to finally be able to plug a concert of theirs on here! That said, it's still short notice for the announcement, and I apologize for that. They'll be on at 10:00 PM tonight, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. For more details, click here! If you like and miss Scofflaw, you'll wanna be at The Merchant's Bar TONIGHT, so don't miss it if you're across the river! For a preview, here's Scofflaw playing their original song "Love Destroyer" at a 2008 jam session! Thirdly today, I received a cool new audio track from Sneaky Pete frontman Bill Brouillard that I'd like to share with you guys! Yesterday, Bill e-mailed me an mp3 file of the band covering both Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" and Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" into a mashup that they call "Another Crazy Thing Comin'", and I decided to post it on The Sault Metal Scene's YouTube channel to show to the world! It basically starts as a "Crazy Train" cover, then segues into Judas Priest, then closes with the "Crazy Train" cover's last portion, resulting in over 10 minutes of hard rocking! The band sounds good, this is probably the best quality audio I've heard of theirs, and though the vocals aren't as rangy, there's added grit and heaviness to them, so it all works out! So enjoy this Sneaky Pete cover mashup, and hopefully it encourages you to check them out at their next live concerts! Give "Another Crazy Thing Comin'" a listen! And finally, I've updated the info on a few of the profiles in our Defunct Local Band Profile Series & our GarageBand Profile Mini-Series to keep them more accurate, so here's what's changed! I've updated both the M7K and Death Rise defunct profiles to add references to Mike Vincent and Adam Brett's current band The Dead Kings, and slightly downplay the now-defunct Skull After Betrayl. I updated the Life's Eclipse* profile to refer to frontman Jason Mills' work in Swampghas, and to note that both he and and his brother, bassist David Mills, share vocal duties in the band. Finally for the defunct profiles, I edited the State of Misery* profile to mention that guitarist Ray Cowan was in the local band The Unforgiven, a band he won "Best Guitarist" at the 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands with. As for the GarageBand Profile Mini-Series, I edited the Sin Stereo profile to change the references to the members' later band Stiffler's Mom, as they broke up earlier this year. Lastly, I edited the Gates of Winter profile to condense things a tiny bit (mostly in the notes on their drummers), and I added references to my reviews of their two released CDs in lieu of substantial song critiquing in that profile. Check the above links for each of the updated profiles in those two monthly feature series! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon, and in case anything doesn't go up tomorrow, pay your respects tomorrow on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and never forget. Thanks everyone!

Defunct Local Band Profile Series: From The Ashes Of Angels & TraynWreck

Once again, it's time for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile, and for just the second time in this monthly series' history, we're profiling two bands in the same post! One has minimal information and the other has no audio, so it made sense to double up this month. Both are from Sault Michigan too, so if you're across the river, this should get your attention a bit more! As always, this series profiles randomly selected local bands with online pages that are either defunct or have been inactive for at least one year, with no biases whatsoever in the band selection aside from the above criteria. So let's get this month's profile going, and if there's any errors or omissions, give me a shout! (Updated on May 5th, 2012)
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From The Ashes Of Angels

Genre: Death Metal/Grindcore/Thrash

Hometown: Georgetown, Colorado (formerly Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan)

Musicians: (This information may be incomplete. E-mail me at robertfigures@outlook.com if you have any additions or corrections!)

David Waite (Jibber N' The Beanie), vocals/guitar
Scott Savoie (Swayze Train, Insipid Brutality), songwriting

Info/Analysis: Formerly named "The Angel(s) of Suffering", From The Ashes Of Angels was a metal project from Bay Mills native David Waite. The band was active locally from 2007-2009 before David moved to Georgetown, Colorado, where he currently does railroad work. He took the band with him when he moved, giving it it's current name while there, but the band has had no substantial updates since 2009. They didn't appear to expand past a solo project in studio, at least not that I saw, though David still uses the band's page for personal needs. F.T.A.O.A. had just one posted song, which was a metalcore-influenced original demo named "Lie In Hate". It's a very heavy song with brutal riffing & nice screaming, and a harder edge than some other local hardcore bands! It's too bad that F.T.A.O.A. aren't active anymore, but their only song is very brutal, and hopefully David returns to metal at some point, as he has a lot of talent! Also notable for being co-written by Swayze Train guitarist Scott Savoie, you can check out "Lie In Hate" at the project's MySpace page and below!


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TraynWreck

Genre: Rock N' Roll/Hair Metal/Classic Metal

Hometown: Rudyard, Michigan

Members:
Sam Lalruatpuia (Silent Despair), guitar/piano
Alex Traynor (Banned), drums

Audio/Video: No media of theirs was ever posted online that I've seen. However, both Sam and Alex have audio online via Sam's acoustic solo project's page & YouTube videos of Alex's current local band Banned, who probably share the closest resemblance to how TraynWreck would have sounded. Check the above links to hear what we could have seen from TraynWreck!

Info/Analysis: TraynWreck launched in November 2009 as a classic metal cover band from local musicians Sam Lalruatpuia & Alex Traynor. Formed after an impromptu jam session following Sam missing practice for another band, TraynWreck had high hopes to make an impression in the local scene, including plans to begin gigging the following summer, but they never found any additional members to round out their lineup, and they quietly went inactive in the spring of 2010, with Sam later moving to Tyrone, Pennsylvania. I was impressed by Alex & Sam's confidence on their old MySpace biography, but it's a shame that TraynWreck never took off as hoped. There was promise there, as both guys are talented, but hopefully they go far with their next musical projects!
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I hope you guys liked this month's Defunct Profiles! We'll be back for another Sault Michigan profile likely in December, possibly earlier, so stay tuned for that! Our next two profiles will be of Sault Ontario bands, and we're doing just one band as usual next month, but which band will be next? Through completely random selection, I've chosen Detroit, the inactive local hardcore band featuring Lion Ride & The Labour Of... members! This should be good, so watch out for this profile around October 10th, and stay tuned for more news and notes very soon! Thanks everyone!