Saturday, June 25, 2011

Two New Local Bands, A Band Looking To Play Here, And Shit Liver Updates!!

It's time for some more news, but before we get too much farther, I will wish all the Sault Michiganders well today as the first annual LemmaFest debuted this afternoon at Dondee Lanes! I hope it's a roaring success, and I hope to make next year's when I'll hopefully have long since gotten my vehicle insurance! Now to today's news, and we have a band looking to play here, new Shit Liver updates, and leading things off, two new Sault Ontario local bands, so here's what you should know!

Firstly, we have a new local metal band named AlterWhite, who I've actually heard about for a few weeks now since they launched a now-deleted "personal" Facebook page, but now they have a more general band page, and yes, they are metal! AlterWhite formed in January, and currently only have two members, singer/drummer Mike Matthews and guitarist Kevin McCarthy, neither of which I'm familiar with from recent local bands. According to their Facebook page, they currently play covers, but are working towards new original material. There isn't too much about the band specifically to say yet, but they have two original demos posted! They're of songs titled "Lost Souls" and "Help From Above", and were uploaded via Facebook videos. Both are obviously unfinished (only two members), but there is something promising there! Slower heavy riffs and James Hetfield-inspired vocals are cool to hear, but the production needs some work, and of course, a full lineup (and some solos) would fill out these songs better, which sound empty on their own. I have a hunch we'll hear more from AlterWhite sooner or later, so give them a look and see if you think there's something there! I'll keep you posted as updates come in!

The other new band I have today actually just broke up yesterday, but they also only launched their Facebook page in May, so they're kinda both old AND new! The band's name was T.E.N., which stands for the band members' first initials (a'la SBD.) The band featured singer Eric Weiker, bassist Nick Ritchie, and guitarist Tyler Gibson, who also handled drum programming. These guys appear to be high school students, so I don't think they did much before T.E.N. in local metal circles. This band appeared to be active for about seven weeks (May 10th through yesterday) but they managed to get a lot done in that span! Last month, they finished a demo CD of some type and sold it for $5 or less (I'm unsure of it's form or content), and I believe it was mostly distributed to fans and classmates. Plans were also in place for an EP called "When Play Time Ends" that apparently was close to completion before they abruptly broke up yesterday. Tyler did upload some original material samples onto his YouTube channel, so follow that link to check them out! The posted songs are short, and apparently take on a dark comedy/metal hybrid sound, but the comedy aspects are barely heard due to a lack of extensive singing on the posted songs.

Tyler's guitar work has promise though, but there isn't much to the posted samples. I hope their demo had more substance, It's surprising T.E.N. broke up so fast, though hopefully the members stay in music in some form, I'd be curious to see how far they could take a comedic metal approach locally! Check out the longest T.E.N. original demo below, and check out more on them at the above links!



Thirdly today, we have another band who's looking to get booked for a concert in Sault Ontario! On Thursday, James Bok (a.k.a. Mortis), singer from the Sudbury black/death metal band Before The Black Gates posted on our Facebook page inquiring about booking a show in town. I forwarded him to Dismembertainment, but in the event nothing comes from that, I opted to plug them on here to see if any of you guys are interested in booking them! Sudbury's proven to be a solid base for Ontario black metal (Wolven Ancestry are the best example), and Before The Black Gates sound like a really solid black metal band in their own right! They have some good guitar melodies intertwined with brutal black and death metal vocals, and really good drumming too! James/Mortis didn't specify a date for a local show, so I imagine the band are flexible for a possible local booking. If you're at all interested in booking, helping, or playing with James and Before The Black Gates in their local show quest, give him a shout at this location or the above links! And of course, if I hear anything from them on a local concert, I'll be sure to tell you guys when the coast is clear!

Finally today, here's the latest from local grimecore trio Shit Liver! The band posted no less than eight new videos onto their YouTube channel yesterday, all from Thursday's Roosevelt Hotel metal night, so here's what you should know! The videos are of their originals "Shit Liver", "Survival of the Shittest", "Friendly Old (Uncle Joe)", and "Contribute or Perish", their old band OBCD's song "You Speak of Weak, And We Don't Care", and three newly recorded songs, "You're Scared", "Fabricated Nonsense", and "Hateroleum"! The videos, in terms of quality, are actually worse than the ones they uploaded in January, because the filmer was much further from the stage (why didn't he/she get closer?), and with fans on the floor, the view's often obstructed. I did notice that Josh and Mike flipped spots, which is odd! The audio quality makes up for it though, if you like their sound! As well, all of their original songs (and OBCD covers) were also recorded on audio at this show using a different device and posted on their MySpace page yesterday as well! This includes two originals that went unfilmed ("Sooer Living" and "Drowning in Shit"), and the audio quality is actually really nice, so check out their posted live audio clips from Thursday at this location!

Nice to see new media from these guys, who leave an impression at every show they play with their crusty brand of death metal! Now this will likely be the last time we see Shit Liver on stage until maybe late July or August, as the band said yesterday on their Facebook page "cya guys in a month er so." Though a reason for the hiatus wasn't mentioned, I believe drummer Matt Baic is travelling east next month, though don't quote me, I may be wrong. When they come back though, they'll be out in full force! Check the above links for all the latest Shit Liver shit, and here's the longest of the brand new songs recorded on video, "Fabricated Nonsense"!



That's all for today, but I will see you guys at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT for The Saigon Hookers! Thanks everyone!

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