Before we begin today's news post, I'd like to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of former Warrant frontman Jani Lane, who was found dead yesterday evening in a Los Angeles hotel room at the age of 47. Jani fronted the prominent glam metal band off and on from 1986-2008, and was known for hits like "Cherry Pie", "Forever", and "I Saw Red" during Warrant's heyday. In recent years, his personal demons had overshadowed his music, though the cause of death isn't known yet. I don't believe Warrant ever played a concert in Sault Ste. Marie, but their work with Jani remains a highlight of the glam metal era of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it's tragic to lose anyone this talented so early in life. R.I.P. Jani! Now to some local metal news, and we have some good news to share today, including some more new Banned videos, a page for a local record store you may have heard of, and news concerning Woods of Ypres' next album, but first, here's a newly discovered page for a broken up local band!
Off and on, you may have seen us reference Amethyst, the late 1980s-early 1990s glam metal band from Sault Ontario that were quite prominent and successful in their local run. Well, now they have a posthumous Reverbnation page so you can officially become a fan of theirs and check them out online! I assume a former band member launched it earlier this year, but I can't accurately date the page or determine who's maintaining it (my guess is former singer Rick "Widow" Dellavedova, seeing as the "Snakeye Strut" video he edited is posted there.) Aside from the video and the band's members, the only real information to speak of on the page relates to their 1994 CD "Innocent As Hell", which is uploaded there to both stream AND buy! Yes, you can officially buy Amethyst material again, over 16 years after the album went out of print! Just click here to buy their only CD for $9.99, with mp3s available for 99¢ each and ringtones for $2.49! Why not support the band and physically buy it? Broken up or not, what would it hurt to give them some attention? I will say that I think the page should also feature the band's earlier cassette album(s?), and the sadly-private "Waste of Time" video, which would be awesome to get a hold of, but who knows what could happen. Become a fan at the above links, and Amethyst are now in our inactive Sault Ontario band links on your left!
Next up, it appears that Woods of Ypres have officially begun recording sessions for "Woods V"! Well, the new "Woods V", seeing as the last sessions became "Woods 4.5". Though the local blackened doom metal band has yet to make an official statement regarding these sessions, multiple sources have given us details. It looks like the sessions began on Wednesday, as per guitarist Joel Violette's Twitter page, with the sessions likely to last until September according to Joel's apparent "so long!" to social media until then. As well, Kittie frontwoman Morgan Lander (a good friend of David Gold's) wished David and Joel good luck with the recording sessions on her Twitter page on Wednesday as well. She also confirmed that "Woods V" will be produced by Siegfried Meier at Beach Road Studios out of Goderich, Ontario (two hours northwest of Kitchener.) He's worked with bands like Kittie, Baptized In Blood, The Salads, and Thine Eyes Bleed in the past, so this should work well for Woods of Ypres! Yesterday, Siegfried commented on his Twitter page that he had a "kick ass first day with Woods of Ypres", while also posting a photo of what I presume is David Gold's drumkit for the sessions. Check the above links for more details!
Sounds good so far, though I wonder why David's staying quiet about the recording? When they recorded "Woods IV", he had tons of updates. Oh well, hopefully soon! As for the band's lineup, obviously there's changes due to the absence of the Madden brothers, but I assume David will take over on drums again, seeing as he played drums on every release Evan Madden wasn't on. Also, I have a hunch that Joel will do the bass tracks, seeing as he played bass as well for his black metal project Thrawsunblat. Of course, things could be different or could change, so stay tuned in case I hear anything different, along with any "Woods V" updates that come in! And yes, we'll cover "Woods V" in next month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post!
Thirdly today, we have even more new videos of Kinross hard rock trio Banned from last month's "Music In The Park" show in Rudyard! These just keep coming, don't they? These two are also courtesy of Ashley Traynor, who posted two more videos of her dad & brother's band rocking Rudyard onto her YouTube channel yesterday. One is of the band covering Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", and the other is of the band covering Drowning Pool's "Bodies"! You don't hear either covered much locally, so it's interesting to see some covers of them! Being a metalhead, I expectedly like the "Bodies" cover more, but they do a good job covering Johnny Cash! Both videos feature bassist Alex Schrovenwever on vocals, but the "Bodies" cover features guest bassist Eric Cairns so Alex can focus on just singing. Good cover, but the growling instead of screaming takes time to get used to, and they do change the song structure a bit. Check out the new videos at the above links, and here's Banned's cover of "Bodies"!
And finally for today, have you ever heard of Rockin' Vinyl Records? You may have seen signs and ads for it in the West End of Sault Ontario, and though it's 415 Northland Road location (a street over from Deresti Motors on Wellington Street West) is just a house, feel free to consider checking it out, as it has tons of classic collectible vinyl records! Ran by Steve Roberts, Rockin' Vinyl Records has a nice selection of vinyl records, many of which have a level of collectability and a price to match, and you can order online as well at their official website! Just on a quick look, you can get a excellent condition vinyl copy of Pearl Jam's "Ten" for $200, a rare red vinyl import of AC/DC's "Powerage" for $290, an unopened copy of Alice Cooper's "Trash" for $45, and much more! There's a lot more than that on the website (and at the Northland Road location), but remember that being vinyl records, the vast majority of albums will be from the 1980s and earlier. Great selection from all genres though, and if you're a vinyl lover or collector, definitely head to 415 Northland Road or the website linked above to get shopping! Also click here to check out Rockin' Vinyl Records' Facebook page, which also has a contact phone number and more!
That's all for today, but I will see you guys TONIGHT for the Smeltzer reunion show (with metal bands) at The Oddfellows Hall! Thanks everyone!
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