Prolific local rock drummer Glen Thomas (most notable from his recent work in Flat Stanley) has been a constant source of music and divisive opinion for many years, and now, his newest music venture is "The Barking Eye: The Sault's Music News Blog", a new local music-based magazine! It's a new creation that Glen launched on Tuesday, where he looks to talk about more local music, past and present! Do NOT write it off as an SMS copycat, it has many differences! It looks to be more expansive to other genres, and Glen appears to be talking more about older stuff as well, and he injects some cool personal opinion and reflection into his stories, largely from his diverse history in the local scene. Also, individual posts are just one story each, and he put his graphic design skills to great use, I love the look! There's lots of room to grow this, I just hope he keeps it up! Click here to check it out, and remember, websites need readers to grow, so follow it and read the stories! Also, thanks to Glen for adding the SMS as a link, I have returned the favour!So many local music blogs/sites/magazines/et cetera have died from a lack of dedication or support, so I really hope Glen keeps this up! After all, he's managed to keep his forum Freq's Music Planet going strong for years, and message boards are very hard to start and keep alive (I know that from experience), so hopefully this will succeed! Plus, as I tell people all the time, I wish other people would do exactly what I'm doing for their own musical preferences or viewpoints. Maybe this will help open the floodgates? We cover metal and hard rock, and hopefully Glen covers even more genres to give them even more coverage!
Now, seeing as this is a local music news source, no matter how recent it is, I've already found a new story there that will be worth your while, particularly to band members. Did you know that there actually is a local musicians union? Yes, you and your band can be unionized, by becoming members of The American Federation of Musicians, Local 276! Don't be fooled by the name either, the AFM is based out of Toronto. I'll give you guys info on how to join in a second, but are you wondering why joining a union would help you and your band? Glen points out that one major benefit to joining the AFM is that they will help you figure out how to work through red tape to play shows outside of Canada, particularly across the river. I'm not a musician or legal expert, but rest assured, it's not just a "grab your gear and go" situation. The AFM can help you figure out any legal issues your band may need to worry about, so you can focus on your music. This also includes contract issues and copyright-related stuff, so you and your band can get back to music and not worry too much about legal crap. There are many benefits to joining, and their website will fill you in on anything else you may want to know. Also, read Glen's piece on the AFM, Local 276, at this location!
The AFM is a legit union, it's been around since 1896 (our chapter was born in 1918), and has 90,000 members across Canada and the United States. This could be very beneficial to bands out there who hope to make it big, rather than just play local bar shows on weekends. So what else should you know? If you join, your annual membership dues are $125, $75 if you want to pay semi-annually, with initiation fees of $10 (local) and $65 (national). If you want more information from the AFM, Local 276, e-mail afm276@soonet.ca or dragonslayer52ca@yahoo.ca, or call 254-2210. Click here for their full mailing address, fax number, key personnel, and more information! At least consider joining this, guys, this could benefit your music career going forward! And if you Sault Michiganders are wondering if you have a local AFM chapter, you do not. There isn't even one in the Upper Peninsula. If you want to be unionized, you'll either have to join Local 276 (whether Americans can join a Canadian chapter, I can't say), or you'll have to try the nearest American chapter, which is Local 57 out of Saginaw. If you're at all interested in joining Saginaw's AFM branch, click here, but try for the Sault Ontario one first, one must be open to letting you guys in!Now, three more assorted news stories for today, still clearing those out! I have more to come, but those will be in my next major news post. These are, once again, in alphabetical order by band or event name:
- If you're a fan of Vancouver death metal band Doom Cannon, you're probably aware of the still-pending show they may or may not be headlining at The Oddfellows Hall on...Tuesday. With 4 days left until then and no official announcements confirming it from the promoters, what is it's status? Unclear. While the event page still has no new updates, Doom Cannon's new tour poster DOES list a "Saulte Ste Marie" show for May 18th, spelling as printed. Honestly, I doubt the show's on, especially with such little time to promote and advertise, but if I hear otherwise, you'll of course hear it here!
- The Downtown Showdown battle of the bands on May 28th at The Oddfellows Hall is still looking for local bands interested in competing! But is that upper age limit of 25 still in your way? Well, this might help. Organizer Tiffy Thompson confirmed in a post on the 705 Video Magazine forums that 25 can be the maximum AVERAGE age for your band too! So if you have someone 26 or older, but your combined average age is 25, you can still enter! Contact info at the links above if your band wants in! So if your band has people 22, 24, 26, and 28 years old, you're good to go!
- Sault Michigan solo artist/Grooves Music instructor Mike Libertoski posted an update to MySpace friends of his inactive death metal band Slackjawed Rats that he has a new solo song posted on his MySpace page! It's called "By Rights", and it's a slower jazzier number. Not bad, but if it's not your thing, he has heavier recent songs up too, my favourite being "A Lifelong Burden"! Great stuff he's putting out, still like to get a hold of his albums though. Check his solo work out!
Finally for today, have you been following my CD review schedule closely? Probably not, but I've deliberately not been reminding you guys just to see if you'd remember what I have coming up! And yes, tomorrow, I WILL be posting my re-review of Garden of Bedlam's debut EP! I originally gave it a review upon my purchase of it last April, but since I started monthly reviews, my style has grown and honestly, I really don't like my initial review of it. Not nearly as in-depth as I'd like. So that's tomorrow at some point, stay tuned for it! As for my June album review? I'm actually gonna keep my choice secret for now. Two reasons: A. I don't know if any local bands will have a release for June, as there could be a new release of note next month. And B. I want my review next month to connect to something, rather than just be a random selection from the library of local albums I have. Remember when I reviewed Fitswitch's E.P. in October to coincide with Frightlight's debut show? Yeah, same deal. So as shows pop up for June, keep in mind albums that those musicians might have played on, cause a review of that album could very well be in store! As for a timeframe, look for it to be between June 16th and 22nd, unless a link to a certain day or an album release is too good of a day to pass up.That's all for today, my next news post will likely be Sunday or Monday, and my next post of any type will be TOMORROW with my revisit of Garden of Bedlam's debut E.P.! Also keep an eye out for a post on Tuesday, where we close down our current poll on Kiss' upcoming concert, share the results, and get down to business with a brand new poll! Busy stretch coming up, so stay tuned!
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