Local death metal band State of Misery have officially broken up. The news was surprisingly revealed on the band's Facebook page this morning, with a short statement which said that the band "appears to be done now", and the page will now announce new projects from band members if they come along. Prior to this announcement, drummer Nick Kainula had left the band (as indicated here), but it looks like the remaining members have still pulled the plug. This concludes a tumultuous month that saw the departure of guitarist Ray Cowan and a lot of disappointing and surprising comments and rumours that I won't go into here. In their 6 month run in the local metal scene, they gained a loyal following and had some really cool originals under their belts, and opened for bands like Woods of Ypres & Dead and Divine during that span! I'm in no position to go into detail about what led to their breakup, but it's a disappointing shame all around, and they had such promise and big plans ahead of them! Check the above links for more on the situation, and I definitely wish Steve, Ray, Kevin, Devon, and Nick the best in their future plans! I know I'm not the only one who wants to see them back on stage in some form!
How about some happier news now? Well, do you remember in June of last year when I mentioned that local music store Case's Music had undergone an ownership change from Mike Case to his nephew Jay, and would be re-opening after renovations in September? Well, it looks like the renovations got delayed, but now, Case's Music is celebrating with a grand re-opening party at their 173 Spring Street location on Saturday, May 28th! What's going on that day? Well, in-store, all items are up to 50% off, but outside, there's a lot going on! From 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, bands will be playing outside for fans, including local rock quintet Blues Harvest (one of my favourite non-metal local bands), Jay Case's own funk/blues trio Big Wheel & The Spokes, many Case's Music students, and "special guests"! The first 200 people who show up will get free gift bags with merchandise and deals from Case's Music & it's contained establishments Blush & Shampoo Alley, and there will be free food & draws for varying prizes all afternoon! Click here or check the poster for more details. Sounds like a cool event, especially if you like shopping (or learning) at Case's Music! Keep an eye on it at the end of the month, you might like the store even more if you go on the 28th, and you might get some free stuff out of it! Congratulations on the re-opening!
We'll close today with some new videos, and this one should interest you Gates of Winter fans! Guitarist Bryan Belleau recently launched a brand new YouTube channel to replace his prior now-deleted channel (which had some classic Gates videos that are now gone, sadly. Hopefully they come back!) However, this new channel has a couple new videos, including one of Bryan playing the Iced Earth song "The Phantom Opera Ghost". Well played, and as a big Iced Earth fan, I approve! Click here to check it out, and note the Woods of Ypres guitar too! However, the top story here is a new Gates of Winter rehearsal video that Bryan posted, which is an awesome sign! The video, which is just under 56 seconds long, features Bryan, singer/guitarist Lee Maines, and keyboardist Brian Holmes (Steve Furgiuele & Jon Morrison are absent) jamming part of a promising sounding original from their upcoming CD! It's not much, but for their second rehearsal for the new CD, and with just 3/5ths of the band present, I'm impressed! I can't wait to hear more, but for now, check out the new Gates of Winter rehearsal video below, and check the above links for more Gates of Winter news!
And finally, here's this week's classic video! With a slightly slower weekend overall, I've picked a video from a band not playing this weekend for a change. In fact, we haven't seen them on stage in 15 months! The band in question is Sense of Truth, and I picked one of the few videos I've seen not on YouTube already, this time from the Foggy Notions grand re-opening concert on December 18th, 2009! Featuring the band's most recent full lineup, the video features Sense of Truth playing their original "Push & Pull" and covering Tool's "Stinkfist". It was filmed by an attendee of the show, and later uploaded by drummer Ryan Haryett onto the band's Facebook group. I split the video in half to separate the songs when uploaded to our YouTube channel, but the original uncut video can be seen at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=227628782303&oid=15425932126. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! I want people to see this video, it's from a good performance on a notable night for fans and staff of Foggy's, and it'll get well deserved exposure on YouTube!The quality's about medium, with a smaller resolution and slightly muted audio, but the band sound good, and Cory Murchison's energy level's at a high here during both songs! I missed this show, as I wanted the Foggy's re-opening to be enjoyed by people who actually experienced Foggy's way back (I wasn't of age to go there until May 2008), but this looks like it would have been a great concert! Below is the video for "Push & Pull", but click here or check the above links to see their performance of "Stinkfist", featuring a special guest on vocals!
That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes this week, along with weekend concert previews & my review of "Soo Stories"! Thanks everyone!
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