Garden of Bedlam at Rotaryfest Review, Bands Looking To Play Here, And More!!

Hey guys, it's time for my review of Garden of Bedlam's set at the Tenaris Second Stage at Rotaryfest, plus some extra news afterwards, so let's get things rolling! Last night, I decided to check out some of the other activities at Rotaryfest before Garden of Bedlam's set, including some strolls through the vendor area (the potato tornadoes get cold way too quickly), and I did briefly check out a couple of the main stage bands! I saw a part of KT, Kyle, and The Pocket's set, and while they were definitely talented, their set was a lot more mainstream than KT & Kyle's old Turner Up/Full Circle work tended to sound (I think.) I also saw a part of Fusion's set (featuring Middle of Nowhere alumni), and they played some entertaining rock covers from all eras and styles, and I have no major complaints from them! I almost filmed them covering "Jailbreak" by AC/DC (the only heavier song they played), but I missed the opening, and I don't like filming/posting incomplete performances, but hopefully I'll get another chance! Nice to see some bands I don't tend to see much yesterday, but I'm not used to a venue so full of chairs. I will say that the main stage definitely skews towards a noticeably older crowd, but the seating was fairly full when I was there, so while I don't agree with the all-cover band setup, it is pulling in people!

Now to Garden of Bedlam, as they took the stage as the headlining and final band on the Tenaris Second Stage this year, which was pushed down Queen Street East a bit further than it was in 2010 (disappointing, especially with the ambiance that being right outside The Grand Theater gave.) That said, the guys ripped through an awesome set of originals, and the fans on the road definitely ate it up! Their set was largely similar to their 2010 set on the Second Stage, only with "Torment" replaced by "With A Spark", along with their 2009 EP track "The Truth Shall Set You Free" as an extra addition, and for the most part, they sounded on fire! It wasn't a flawless set though, as Josh Belleau had a very rare malfunction with one of his guitars early on, and Buzz's singing voice sounded strained at points, but on the whole, they sounded excellent! Evan Belleau's bass work sounded clear and heavy for their set especially, and Derek Turner's drumming was as fast and proficient as you'd expect! If anything, I'd have thrown in "Emptiness Without A Name" or another older original to vary things a bit more from 2010, but I thoroughly enjoyed Garden of Bedlam's set, and I hope this convinces Rotaryfest's music selection committee to integrate more heavier and alternative music in coming years!

Thanks to Crank Sound Distribution for the awesome sound, and hopefully all of the musical and other activities went flawlessly this year! I did get photos from their set, so click here to check them out or visit our Facebook event page! Nice to get photos this time, as in 2010, I filmed their whole set instead. This time however, I just got one, that being of their song "Three Days", which was well done as you'd expect, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more Rotaryfest fallout as it rolls in!



Next up, here's a couple of bands we're long overdue to give some press to on here, as both are reportedly looking for local concert dates in Sault Ontario! One is the Winnipeg southern hard rock quartet Prophet, who are looking for a late August concert in the Soo during their latest tour run. Bassist Martin Lafreniere messaged the SMS earlier this month looking for some help in finding a local booking, and I'd definitely wanna see them play live around here! Unique sound from what we tend to hear, a nice mix of southern styles and hard charging metal, hopefully someone out there wants to book them! If anyone out there is interested, message Martin on Facebook at this location, and check Prophet out above! Another band looking for a local booking is the Montreal death metal band Fateless, who are apparently looking for shows in Ontario for a future tour, and they are willing to open for bands in order to get some dates in the province, including in the Soo. Fateless guitarist Alexander Clarke messaged the SMS this month as well inquiring about booking contacts, so I sent him some, but I've heard nothing since, so can any of you guys help? Nice brutal death metal sound with some progressive touches, they'd be welcome here, so if you wanna help Fateless play here in the future, message Alexander at this location, and check them out as well at the above links!

Finally today, here's some final updates for our Battle of the Bands Rewind Mini-Series to make them more accurate! Well, not absolute final, just for this latest batch before we update another series next. On the 2008 Case's Music Battle profile, I added a brief note for high school division winners Stillbroke's early 2012 activity as Borderline Divine and current hiatus to the section on the competitors' later moves & statuses, while also adding the new hardcore band With Blood Builds Character (with Fountain of Betrayal bassist Tyler St. Amour & Unforgiven guitarist Ray Cowan) to the section of newer bands replacing battle alumni. For profiles on battles that Bring The Fallen were in, I edited mentions of March Into Regression in the same section to remove Dan Souliere, as he's not in their last full lineup. In another band substitution on that section for the Kiss Battle profile, I replaced Mustang Sally with local rock cover band Fusion, who feature Kiss battle competitors Anthony Fabiano (Gsis Murphy) and Lino D'Orazio (Middle of Nowhere), and I added Fusion to that section on the Sault College/Scotties Tournament battle profile as well, as Middle of Nowhere also played at that event. Finally, I noted that local punk band RedD Monkey now have two albums for their battle aftermath part of the Algoma University battle profile.

Hopefully things are now up to date in that series, so check the above links for all the updates! I'll have some updates for one of our other monthly feature post series soon as well, but that's all for today, and stay tuned for some all-video specialty posts tomorrow! Thanks everyone!