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!