A New Local Band, And Much More Assorted News!!

Update time! I found a bunch of stuff yesterday, and heard some interesting news as well! So here we go with a new local band!

I discovered this band yesterday, and they are known as Silent Despair! From Kincheloe (which is just 20 minutes outside of Sault Michigan), they play modern hard rock/metal, with influences ranging from Motley Crue and Quiet Riot to Atreyu and Three Days Grace. They appear to have been active since April, and they have three songs posted on their MySpace page! But from what I can gather, they all appear to be generated off of a MIDI-style program, so I can't accurately judge on their material until I hear some actual band stuff. But they do have a mostly complete band, and are looking for a keyboard player and a female vocalist. Might you be able to help fill the void? Send them a message! They do sound like a promising band, and I'll be sure to keep tabs on them from here on out! Also, check them out on GarageBand and on Facebook!

Next up, I got some insights on some new Lion Ride material that I figured would be cool to share. Garden of Bedlam frontman Buzz e-mailed me and told me that when he was in Southern Ontario earlier this month, he was able to see Lion Ride live in London, and then visit them in-studio in Toronto and hear one of their new songs being recorded! According to Buzz, the song he saw get laid down is his favourite Lion Ride song yet and it may be their best one to date! He says it has a ton of punch, and he listened to it repeatedly on the drive back to Sault Ste. Marie! I gotta say, this gets me even more excited for new Lion Ride material, it should be well worth picking up upon release! Thanks to Buzz for the scoop on that!

Now, here's something interesting I saw completely by chance yesterday. As you guys know, I always update you all with today's metal news, which you can find on the right hand side of the page. I get my news from the 5 most popular stories on Blabbermouth.net, which is hands down the best metal news site going. And when I was checking it last night, the banner ad at the top of the page caught my eye. It was for the Noctis Metal Music Conference, an open forum next month in Calgary that will discuss survival in the music business, how to improve your profile and notoriety, and other things that would no doubt appeal to many rising metal musicians.

But why would I mention it here? Simple, because Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold is on the panel for the conference! How about that? He'll join such notables as former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, ex-Death guitarist Paul Masvidal, and noted metal journalist Martin Popoff, among many others! Now that's just cool, I have no doubt David will be a worthy addition to the panel, and it was cool to see his name listed on the ad! I'd love to see a conference of this type in the Sault, I'm sure it could help some local bands get some assistance to furthering their musical dreams!

And finally, we have new video online from Sault Michigan grunge rockers Half Stupid! Three videos of their performance at The September Music Festival from this weekend are now on YouTube! Check them all out at frontman Zac Crook's official YouTube channel! One features the band backing up fellow local singer Amanda Rairigh on a cover of the Radiohead song "Creep", but there's also two live clips of the band's original songs "The Letter E" and this one, "937 Years"! It will be on their upcoming EP too! Thanks to the band for giving me the heads up!



That's all for today, I will be back tomorrow with your local concert previews for this weekend, including shows by Nudge and Free Refill! Hopefully some more news too, stay tuned for more! And remember, I will review a new local metal CD by next Wednesday, keep on the lookout for that!