The End Of That's Chester, Weekend Concert Previews, And The Return Of Weekly Classic Videos!!

Keeping with our recent daily pace of new posts at the SMS, we have another update to share on this Friday morning, so what's on the docket? Today, we have the return of an SMS feature to our news posts and previews of this weekend's select metal & hard rock concerts, but first, here's news on a prominent local hard rock band's breakup that you guys should know about!

Sault Ontario classic hard rock quintet That's Chester have surprisingly announced that they are parting ways, as per a posting on their Facebook page yesterday. A direct reason for their split was not announced, other than saying that they've "decided it's just time", but the lack of new concerts since June might have been a hint about their status. The band thanked family & friends for their support over their lengthy 8 year run, while indicating the bands that their now final members can also be seen in, such as Bone Yard, Agave Blue, Stiffler's Mom reunions, and Fusion (who drummer Ric Datson recently joined.) That's Chester had became a popular sight at local concert venues and events since their 2004 launch, and no matter who was singing for them (be it Rich Fullerton, Jim O'Leary, or Greg Simpson), they delivered a lot of well played classic & newer hard & classic rock covers in their sets, and fans ate it up pretty well! It is somewhat fitting that their last recorded public concerts in Sault Ontario were at the Ride For Sight and Relay For Life events in June, as they wrapped things up on bigger scales, which suits their profiles & talents well!

It's still disappointing to see That's Chester break up, but with all of the members working on other musical projects, this might be best to free up their schedules towards their other active bands. Still, lasting 8 years together is incredible compared to many of the other hard rock/metal bands of the present day in Sault Ontario, so kudos to them on that alone! Everything sounds amicable, at least, but best of luck to Greg, Gabe, Eugene, Aubrey, and Ric in the future, and hopefully this isn't the absolute last of That's Chester we'll see in the area!

Now, to the weekend concert previews, and though it's a quiet weekend overall on the metal/hard rock front, we do have a few notable concerts to address, starting with the return of Tym Morrison's solo acoustic concerts! Last seen breaking out unplugged covers in July, the Caveman Morrison frontman will make his first appearances at The Steamy Bean at 357 Great Northern Road (just down the road from Staples) TONIGHT & TOMORROW NIGHT for what should be entertaining concerts of acoustic metal and hard rock covers! Note that we accidentally only covered one show over this weekend when we originally plugged these shows, which I apologize a ton for, as that's my own error. While a frequent venue for local acoustic performers (and a popular coffee shop), The Steamy Bean isn't traditionally known for attracting heavier acts, so might Tym help shift the tide there? Time will tell, but if you've missed his solo gigs, head down to The Steamy Bean tonight or tomorrow!

Both shows will take place at 8:00 PM (changed from 10:00 PM), but indications are that he's only playing for two hours tonight & tomorrow, which is a lot shorter (and earlier) than we're generally used to from him. A cover charge hasn't been announced, nor has a possible age limit, but as this is a coffee shop, there might be none. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Tym bringing his acoustic solo concerts back this weekend, and hopefully The Steamy Bean works well for his music and covers, so if you want some proficient unplugged metal covers, you know where to go! For a preview, here's Tym covering Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" at Bossy's earlier this year!

The other known heavier concerts in the area this weekend (and I stress "known") are tonight & tomorrow night as well, as Charlevoix metal trio Peril will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino for two shows this weekend! Though the band curiously doesn't have a custom poster online for these gigs (as they often do for their concerts), their classic metal covers will go over well as usual with their Sault Michigan fans in their latest Eastern U.P. concert weekend! Both tonight's & tomorrow's shows should begin at or around 10:00 PM, with no announced cover charge and a 21+ age limit. For more details, check the above links! Peril's proficient and entertaining metal covers should go over as well as ever this weekend, so if you don't want to wait until next weekend's St. Ignace shows, make your way to the Soo Kewadin this weekend for all of the action! For a preview, here's Peril covering an Ozzy Osbourne classic a few years back!

And finally for today, I wanted to reintroduce a weekly feature at the SMS, that being our weekly classic videos! We had uploaded one older (and off-YouTube) local metal-relevant video a week to our YouTube channel since the start of 2011 through June 2012 before I sort of drifted away from uploading them. I never outright cancelled them, I just forgot about them for a while, but with the recent slowdown of news, I thought bringing them back would help supplant some posts and create some interesting spotlights like they had last year & early this year! With that said, I thought we should reintroduce the weekly classic videos with a bang, and a good way to do that would be with a new Woods of Ypres video that's only now on YouTube! Though late frontman David Gold uploaded most of his videos to his YouTube channel, some were Facebook-exclusive, including a few from their fall 2008 tour run with their "Gates of Ypres" lineup. We already uploaded that incarnation playing "Awaiting The Inevitable", but this time, we're focusing on Woods' song about the Soo, "Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground"!

Filmed by an attendee of Woods of Ypres' concert at The New Bayou in Ottawa on November 21st, 2008, the band (at the time) featured David on vocals & guitar, plus their final live drummer Evan Madden, and David's then-Gates of Winter bandmates (guitarists Bryan Belleau & Lee Maines, bassist Steve Fµrgiuele, and keyboardist Brian Holmes) completing their then-sextet lineup. The audio quality's solid, and the side angle captures the band fairly well, if darkly (but I did try to correct the lighting after uploading it.) I like the more aggressive take on the song, even if Brian's keyboard playing was a bit loud at points, but overall, it's great to see another video of Woods of Ypres' largest (and most local) lineup in action! The original video can be seen at http://facebook.com/photo.php?v=42138275671 and NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED!! All credit for this video goes to Woods of Ypres & the original filmer, I'm just trying to share it with a deserving wider audience! This is a solid clip for sure, so check it out below, and stay tuned for more classic videos in the coming weeks!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes hopefully over the weekend! Thanks everyone!