A New Local Band, Two Newly Broken Up Bands, And This Week's Classic Video!!

Yes, my review of last night's Mares of Thrace concert is coming, but the videos I shot are giving me a lot of grief. The timing's off on a few of the videos so the music doesn't line up, and these are large files to convert and upload as it is. They're coming though, stay tuned to our Facebook page today for the new videos and photos as they get uploaded!

We have a new local band today, and it's a new Sault Ontario metal project named The Dead Kings! The band features 3/4s of the now broken up Skull After Betrayl (more on that in a second), with guitarist Mike Vincent, drummer Anthony D'Agostini, and bassist Adam Brett joining this new group. However, Adam will switch from bass to vocals in this new band, which should be interesting! I've found his bass skills needed a lot of work, so hopefully he can make his mark singing with The Dead Kings! Joining this new band on bass is Willis Tholberg (Mike and Adam's old bandmate in Despised Eyes), while Jacob Cere has also joined as their second guitarist. Will's a good pickup, but I admit not being familiar with Jacob as a guitarist, though me & him did both attend Bawating around the same time. How will The Dead Kings sound? Not sure yet, but their Facebook page hyped a death metal and hardcore sound, with influences seeming similar to those that influenced the members' older bands. With a new singer and lineup though, The Dead Kings will be interesting to hear once they debut, so stay tuned for updates, and become a fan while we wait for material at this location!

With that said, it's basically clear that Mike, Adam, and Anthony's old band Skull After Betrayal has broken up. Though no statement was officially made concerning their demise, their old Facebook page was quietly deleted recently, and The Dead Kings' Facebook page refers to SAB as one of their members' "past bands". I can say that the breakup did follow their split with guitarist Justin Polutanovich in late July, but rather than replace him, the guys opted to start a brand new band out of respect to Justin. This ends a five month run of public activity for Skull After Betrayal, which included a few high profile sets like opening for The Dayglo Abortions & Titans Eve at The Roosevelt Hotel, and being one of 11 local bands on the massive Sewer Swampstravaganja all ages concert in April. It's disappointing to see Skull After Betrayal end so suddenly, as they were definitely improving with each show they played, but I have a feeling that ending the band to move on to The Dead Kings will work out better with the new lineup and likely sound. We'll be watching, and of course, best of luck to Justin in whatever he moves to next musically, as he is a talented guitarist that would be a worthy addition to another local band!

The other newly broken up band is Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Elipzis, with an announcement posted on their Facebook page late last night. The breakup is due to the formation of a new Muskegon-based hard rock band named RedStone Riot that features Elipzis frontwoman Rachel Kiger, bassist Ryan Harrison, and drummer Wally David in their lineup. Guitarist Chris Webster is not taking part in the new band, despite his own Muskegon connections, with RedStone Riot enlisting two guitarists: Wally's old One Past Mars bandmate Tony Hulings, and a former guitarist in the Muskegon band Tracing Yesterday, though band pages have yet to confirm his name. Rumours had been flying on band pages concerning future Elipzis developments since Rachel and Ryan moved to Muskegon full time a few months ago, but now we know what the big news is. I have faith that RedStone Riot will be a successful and high impact hard rock band, but it is disappointing to see Elipzis end after such a promising run last year and this year, including TV appearances in the Muskegon area and a high profile appearance at least year's Kewadin Casino 25th Anniversary Festival.

When I saw Elipzis in Warren, Michigan in December, they put on a great show, and the guys were all class acts! That will surely be the same for RedStone Riot, and I have a feeling that even though they're not locally based, we'll be mentioning them on here again before you know it! Check the above links for more on RedStone Riot, and also, best of luck to Chris too in the future, he's very talented and we'd love to see him back out there in a new band!

And finally for today, here's this week's classic video! With Hempfest's local return coming fast, I knew this week's video had to connect to a band playing this year, and it was an easy choice, as the band we picked is Half Past! They're returning too after a six month hiatus while they found their new singer (Jordan Rains), and with that in mind, I found a video of theirs not previously on YouTube! This comes from former singer Luke LeBlanc, and it's of a June 2009 jam session where Half Past (then known as Fingerbone) covered "Hypnotize" by System of a Down! Though credited as a "drunken version", the band do a good job, though Luke definitely handles Serj's vocals better than Daron's when you compare to the original song. The video quality's good, but you only really see bassist Arthur Lacasse in frame, with Luke and guitarist Alain Fletcher only visible minimally on the sides, and drummer Chris Thompson isn't in frame at all. Good cover though, but remember, this is an old lineup, so go see Half Past 2.0 THIS WEEKEND at Hempfest, they'll be sure to impress!

Posted onto Luke's personal Facebook page in July 2009, you can view the original video at http://facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1045003220450. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED! All credit goes to Half Past for this video, they did all the hard work! Good stuff, so check out Half Past's cover of "Hypnotize" below!



That's all for now, but stay tuned hopefully tonight for my Mares of Thrace concert review, and my Defunct Local Band Profile on State of Misery tomorrow! Thanks everyone!