Let's start with some more updates for the Ypres Metal Fest (a.k.a. the local David Gold memorial concert) at The Canadian Nightclub on April 7th, including the addition of a new band! Local deathcore quartet The Valentine's Day Massacre (formerly View To A Kill) have officially been confirmed as the 11th band for this major concert event, joining 4 other local acts! I'd heard about their potential addition before, but it's good to see official word that they'll be a part, and they're also a fitting act for the concert, as frontman Steve Rhodes backed up Woods of Ypres at their last local show in March while still in State of Misery. Sounds good to me, and stay tuned for any other potential lineup additions or changes! The other big news about this show is that it's ALL AGES, as confirmed by David's sister Marie on the Facebook event page yesterday! This is now the latest all ages show at a bar on the spring concert schedule locally, joining this Sunday's Dead In The Van fundraiser and March 15th's 43rd Rosie metal night, and this is a trend I'd definitely like to see continue locally if these shows are hits! Still, it's great to see the Gold family & Dismembertainment open the Ypres Metal Fest to fans and metalheads of all ages, and definitely stay tuned to the SMS for further updates on this huge concert!
Next up, here's the latest Half A Man updates! The Brimley metal quartet have been keeping busy towards work on their debut album, and they're giving fans a taste of their recent work via a new short audio demo on their YouTube channel! Posted on Monday, this is just 78 seconds long and doesn't feature new singer Dillion Semasky (that I can tell), but it's a promising hard charging track from what I can tell, and I'm curious to hear a fuller version! Check the video out below, and also, the band expressed interest two weeks ago in playing with Sault Ontario metal bands for shows across the river, even offering to lend their own instruments to preclude needing visas to play across. It'd be cool to see a cross-border metal set from a local band (we haven't had that since Nixxon Dixxon's Kiss battle finals appearance in December 2009), but if any of you Sault Ontario band members wanna take Half A Man up on their offer, give them a shout at this location and see where it leads! For now, give their new audio demo clip a listen, and stay tuned for more Half A Man updates!
Also in new video-related topics, Sault Ontario solo guitarist Mike Cliffe has posted some new solo songs with accompanying videos onto his YouTube channel! One is called "Erotic Snowflake" (which isn't relevant to the song's theme), but it's an interesting techno-tinged rock number with some neat background effects and a video featuring what looks like a filter-laden spotlight moving across the screen. The one I'm embedding below though is "Snow Bugs", another electronic sounding rocker with some catchy guitar work and more exciting visualizations that remind me of a mishmash of different things. Solid work all around, so check out these and his other newer audio recordings at the above links, and check out "Snow Bugs" below! (Also, give Mike a shout at this location if you're in a band with female members and you'd be interested in being featured in his upcoming AudioFumes podcast for International Women's Day on March 8th!)
And finally for today, I wanted to note a band I'm (at least for now) considering to be inactive on the SMS band links, that being local grunge trio No Arrow. They were last visibly active last February when their Murder Playground-era lineup (including SBD frontman Dann Pichette, ex-Fitswitch bassist Jason Bourcier, and his Faithless Sin bandmate Joe Falco on drums) opened for RedD Monkey at their Swamp Donkey Romp at Foggy Notions. Essentially, that was a one-off gig due to SBD's withdrawal from that show, as no new public updates have come since, though Dann has mentioned possible reunions to me off & on informally. That was the only No Arrow gig that I've heard of since 2008, though they remained active in recent years with scattered jam sessions & tentative plans to release their still-unreleased debut album "Souls For Sale". It's disappointing to consider them inactive, especially coming from a grunge fan and definite supporter of No Arrow in recent years, and I was hoping they'd pick up the grunge torch that area bands like Half Stupid are no longer carrying locally. Hopefully Dann and company revisit No Arrow again down the road, as there's a lot of good stuff and talent there, but with a year since the last public update, I've gotta consider them inactive for now. However, stay tuned to the SMS for news on SBD and other members' newer bands!That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews, our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post, and more news as we kick off March! Thanks everyone!
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