Sykotyk Rampage, Barking Eye, And WLSO Updates, Plus More News!!

Time to clear out some more assorted stories from the newsdesk before we get to tomorrow's SBD CD review! Today, we have another new album announcement, the latest news on a local music site, how some of you could become a local radio DJ, and more! Let's begin this news post!

Just days after the release of their new album "Bella Disgusta", Sykotyk Rampage have officially announced their 24th album for release in a few months! Entitled "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of Intellect", you may remember this being mentioned during Sykotyk Rampage's "Attack Of The Garage Bands" feature on The Barking Eye from this past June. Well, the band have finally expanded on that, and have announced the first concrete details on this new album onto their Facebook page! The new album will have no less than 25 SONGS, clocking in at a 90 minute runtime. Curiously, all 25 songs have one word titles, and the album as whole is described as "A double album delving into the realm of hallucinogenic musical brainscans.". Might "G.M.W.T.O.I." return to more psychedelic effects-filled past works like on early Sykotyk Rampage albums? Time will tell! This album is completely recorded and has an announced release date of December 1st (pushed back from the original September date they gave on The Barking Eye.) I dunno if that date will hold though, as Sykotyk Rampage's past two albums were delayed from the listed release date on Facebook, but again, time will tell! I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime, click here for the current details on "Genius Mushrooms With Thoughts Of Intellect", and buy "Bella Disgusta" today!

...speaking of The Barking Eye, Glen Thomas has been adding some new stories to the rising local music news blog, so here's the new stories he's posted! The newest article is a new installment in his "Attack of the Garage Bands" series, where he details the recording processes used by Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison to record his 2006 "Solo Project" CD! Tym discussed the equipment and programs he used to construct it, and he makes some interesting notes about the work it took and what he learned. For example, he mentions that he considered getting an outside singer for the songs because of his lack of vocal strength then, and that he readily admitted the flaws from his recordings then, including giving allusions to a second solo album! I'd love to hear more originals from Tym, here's hoping something else comes out! Whether you're a fan of his work, or want to see another way to self-record material, check this out by clicking here! The other new article doesn't directly relate to metal, but if you own musical instruments, this should interest you. It led from the recent news story about Blues Harvest saxophonist Josh Norling getting two of his saxophones stolen, followed by a lot of very good suggestions from Glen about how to prevent music gear theft, and other stuff you should know.

Definitely read that article if you own musical instruments or other music gear, this could help more musicians avoid what happened to Josh. Click here to read that article as well! Good stuff, I'll have more from Glen and The Barking Eye as it comes out!

Thirdly today is a note that is mostly geared towards those of you who attend Lake Superior State University. The fall semester just started today, and already, notices have popped up on campus to find new DJs for LSSU's campus radio station! Yes, WLSO: The Sounds of Lake State (that's 90.1 FM) is on the hunt for new on-air DJs, radio show hosts, and mobile DJs for live broadcasts and events, and if you go to LSSU, you are eligible! Paper ads are floating around the school, but in case you haven't seen them yet, here's what you should know if you wanna be a WLSO DJ! There will be a meeting at 6:00 PM TOMORROW EVENING at the WLSO office downstairs at The Cisler Center for interested students. There will be free pizza and pop on hand, and the guys will give you all the details you need on how you can host your own show or programming block on WLSO! Because remember, there won't be metal blocks this semester unless some metalheads become DJs, so consider heading to that meeting! For more info, e-mail WLSO's Brian Springett at station_manager@lssu.edu, and watch out for details on verified metal programming when a schedule pops up online! Remember, that's 90.1 FM!

And now, we have three assorted news stories to share today that deserve mention, even if there isn't a lot to say on them. So here's what you need to know from three local bands, in alphabetical order:

• Caveman Morrison have updated their official website to reflect the addition of Bear Hunters drummer Johnny Belanger to their new lineup, and to add many new songs to their live setlist. Oddly, Johnny's profile doesn't reference his other bands, but it's a good read, while their setlist now has a ton more metal songs and tracks of other genres that you could see live, so check that out too at this location!
• Sault Michigan's Free Refill have launched an official YouTube channel! No videos yet, but The Sault Metal Scene has subscribed, and as soon as a video is uploaded there, I'll let you know! For more, click here!
• Lion Ride have announced their return to the live stage, which will take place on October 14th for a show at Toronto's Bovine Sex Club as part of this year's Indie Week Showcase! Click here for more details, or visit Lion Ride's official Facebook page! No word on a local return or on their upcoming debut album, but when something does come out, I will let you know!

And finally today, I wanted to share something SMS related that is now online. A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed by CBC Radio 3's Lisa Christiansen for a piece that is featured in the newest installment of CBC Radio 3's Full Metal Podcast! I was interviewed about the SMS site itself and about our local scene, and it takes place 67:25 into the podcast, running for about 4 1/2 minutes. I was admittedly VERY nervous for this, as I've never had an audio interview like that before, so if you listen and noticed that I said something incorrect, lacking in details, or poorly thought out, my apologies! I think it went well though, and if you wanna check it out, click the above links! I was also asked to select a local band to be featured on the podcast after my interview, and I selected "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)" by Woods of Ypres! The band I picked had to have a CBC Radio 3 page already, so I chose the most prominent of the local metal bands on there, if you're wondering why I picked them over another band. So if you want to check out my interview (and the rest of the podcast, which is great), click the above links, but remember this: Regardless of the attention the SMS gets, I'll always want it to be for the bands over myself. They put the hard work in, and they deserve the most attention!

That's all for today, but stay tuned tomorrow, for our next post WILL be my review of SBD's "Sonic Experiments: Mulligan Edition"! Then, stay tuned afterwards for our "Where Are The New Albums?" update post, my reviews of Sykotyk Rampage's "Bella Disgusta" and Thursday's Endast show, weekend concert previews, and much more local metal news and updates! Thanks everyone!