A New Local Band, The End Of Clownsack, And Much More!!

Our nice pacing for new posts at the SMS continues on this Wednesday morning, so what's in the pipeline? Today, we have a band that is likely now broken up, a bunch of new band member searches via the Musicians Wanted Facebook group, and updates to some of our monthly CD reviews, but first, we have a new local band to mention, so here's what you need to know! (Updated on Thursday at 3:44 PM)

We have a new local band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are Kidshit, a new-ish hardcore/thrash project from Sault Ontario natives & former Fuller bandmates Jamie Vincent & Mark Ranᶁ! Though active since at least April, they now count as local following Jamie's recent move back to Sault Ste. Marie after living in Edmonton for a few years, where he recently played bass in the hardcore punk band Flint. As for Mark, you're bound to recognize him from tons of recent musical projects, including Lion Ride, Detroit, Bondar, Bin Hawdon & The Taliband, and the soon-to-be-revealed Cross Dog, and while he currently lives in Peterborough, he's still very well known locally! Public information on Kidshit is fairly minimal so far, with their only current online page being this BandCamp page, which features five songs grouped as a free demo that you can check out or download! Much heavier than Mark & Jamie's old Fuller material, these originals clock in at just over 6 minutes in total length, and they remind me of Mark's Detroit and recent solo work the most.

I like where Kidshit are going here, and there's a lot of intense hardcore punk fury here that calls to mind some similar local bands! If these songs were longer, it might help for the overall substance, but I remember that longer wasn't always better (i.e. Detroit's originals.) Kidshit haven't played live yet, and there are some unanswered questions still, but do check them out, and I've added Kidshit to our Sault Ontario metal band links!

Next up, I'd like to note a band that we're regrettably moving to our inactive Sault Michigan band links, that being local funk/hard rock standouts Clownsack. An official statement on their online pages hasn't been made to confirm their end, but ex-bassist Tony "Slappy" Rogers' confirmed the news on his personal Facebook page on June 27th, where he said that "we are done" in a reply to a question on if they were still playing anywhere. Clownsack were one of the most prominent & successful metal bands in the Eastern U.P. dating back to their 2005 debut, which saw them release two CDs, open for Kiss & Meat Loaf at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, and play numerous shows across Michigan, and their clown personas & song themes helped them really stand out compared to similar sounding bands! However, they haven't played live since the fall of 2010, and have offered very few public updates since the release of their "Funny Farm" EP last year (most recently when Slappy left in April), so this all may have hinted at Clownsack's end to begin with. It's very disappointing to see Clownsack dissolve, as they were one of the most entertaining and well known Sault Michigan metal bands of the late 2000s!

I really enjoyed their albums (particularly "Rotten Candy"), and their stage personas & dedication to their clown characters was admirable & amusing in equal measure! I don't know why activity from their camp slowed down so much in the early 2010s, but as best as I can tell, most of their members are still active musically. Best of luck to Schloppy, Butter Cookie, Sparxx, Slappy, Skronko, and their former bandmates in the future, and hopefully down the road, fans will get their clown sauce once again!

Also today, here's three assorted notes from the Musicians Wanted Facebook group in recent weeks, as there are still Sault Ontario-area musicians looking for a band or musicians to work with! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by name of the artist who made the original post:

• Local musician Jyles LeBoeuf is looking for progressive metal guitarists or bassists (preferably six string) for a new project he's starting, though public details are sparse as of yet. Could this be a Gates of Winter-style band? I don't know, but if you're interested in trying out, message Jyles at this location or read his post on the Facebook group from yesterday!
• Former Bear Hunters/Skull After Betrayl guitarist Mike Vincent is looking for a drummer for his new local metal band, in his latest post on the group for band member searches. He's looking for a drummer with double kick and blast beat experience, but if you're at all interested, message Mike at this location or check out his post on the group from November 1st!
• Asylum Country guitarist and local metal band alum Terry Eaton is looking to start a hard rock band that would cover newer bands like Three Days Grace, The Foo Fighters, Sixx A.M., and various others. He'd share vocals, and he's looking for musicians with lots of experience. This would definitely be an interesting contrast if it takes off, so message him at this link or comment on his Musicians Wanted group post from yesterday!

And finally for today, here's some more recent updates to our monthly CD reviews on the site! Remember as before that these include photo restorations for most of them, including some with no other changes. On our review of Woods of Ypres' last album "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light", I added a brief review of the producer's mix of "Finality", which is only available on the second disc of the album's vinyl pressing, and wasn't present when we first reviewed it in March. Moving to our Sault Michigan-area CD reviews, I edited our reviews of Bad Side's debut CD & their second album to note their breakup and the album's current availability (including that they're now on iTunes and out of print physically), while I also made very similar edits to our review of Clownsack's debut CD "Rotten Candy" & Integrated System of Machines' only album, with lineup updates made for both. Notably, I.S.O.M.'s CD isn't available on any major sites for purchase now, but free streaming links are up on the review! Stay tuned for updates to the rest of our Sault Michigan album reviews shortly!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes at the SMS shortly, including this weekend's metal/hard rock concert previews in our likely next post! Thanks everyone!