Recent Sault Michigan Updates, Including Band Breakups, Songs, Page Deletions, And More!!

While I'm out at The Algonquin Pub with The Ripcordz and local metal openers, I have a special auto-post for you Sault Michigan/Eastern U.P. readers on our 48th straight day of SMS posts, so what do we have today? Along with some recent assorted news, we have two likely band breakups and two other familiar hard rock band page deletions, but first, let's start with some more upbeat news courtesy of new material from a regional solo artist, that being Dafter solo musician Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton, who posted a couple of new original songs onto his YouTube channel in the past couple of weeks! One is "I'm Lost Without You" from his most recent EP "Doo Hickey", but the other is a brand new track named "Burn Notice" (title inspired by the show), and the song comes complete with an epic action movie-style graphic! A hard rock instrumental, it's not blisteringly fast, but it's well performed and has a nice groove to it's riffs (though no word on if it will be on an album of the same name or his announced next disc "Perception".) Check out "Burn Notice" below, and stay tuned for more SweetKenny updates!

Next up, we have two band breakups/descents into inactivity to note across the river, starting with the news that young Sault Michigan hardcore band The Eleventh Hour have apparently parted ways. A reason wasn't announced, but their Facebook page (and only online page, sadly) was recently deleted, which usually indicates that a band broke up. Featuring Hoist The Sails & Chained Memories alumni, their early demos showed promise, but I've found that newer extreme metal bands in Sault Michigan have often struggled to get off the ground. Hopefully the guys all stay active in music, and best of luck to Sean, Cathy, Cody, Josh, Joe, and their other former bandmates in the future! The other likely defunct band is Elements of Madness, a Sault Michigan/Newberry hard rock project that was active from June 2011 through last April, and they'll have hit a year since their last Facebook page update on Thursday, so it's very likely they've fallen inactive too. Their YouTube samples had glimmers of promise, but I don't think they ever were able to get off the ground beyond those clips. Like with The Eleventh Hour, I wish Cody, Tyler, Joe, Kyle, and Landon nothing but the best going forward, and hopefully they get in new bands down the road!

Also today, here's notes on two defunct Sault Michigan hard rock bands that now have no surviving online pages, those being the early 2010s Nixxon Dixxon-successor bands Splitshot & Trail's End. Both had their Facebook pages deleted for unknown reasons at some point in recent months, though both haven't been active in a year or more anyway, so that's likely linked. As you may remember, Splitshot saw Nixxon Dixxon's Chris Hubbard & Kyle Beaumont joining forces with their dads and singer Dave Menard for covers-centric shows all over the Eastern U.P. from late 2010 until the end of the next year, later adding Nixxon Dixxon bandmate Jake LaLonde on drums after he returned from the Musicians Institute in California. After Chris, Kyle, and Jake launched Trail's End in the fall of 2011, Splitshot disbanded by the end of the year, and Trail's End (who had some original material) played live a handful of times in early 2012 before quietly parting ways, with Chris joining Dave from Splitshot in 415E, and Kyle & Jake joining forces with Fallen Heroes in The London Gentlemen.

These page deletions haven't meant a loss of major info, and aside from Trail's End's song "Run" (which was deleted from their YouTube channel for unknown reasons too), they had no media, but these (and The Eleventh Hour) still contribute to a pet peeve of mine, which is broken up bands deleting any trace of their existence. Fans still wanna read up on & check out defunct bands, and I wish old pages would be left alone so that we didn't rely mainly on memories for our old band remembrances. Still, I know their current bands have already accomplished a lot more than Splitshot & Trail's End did, and hopefully they see much more success soon, but maybe down the road, "Run" or some videos of either band will finally surface!

Finally for today, here's four shorter recent stories from the Sault Michigan area, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band or artist name:

• Toast guitarist Mike Libertoski is looking for a singer to provide vocals for at least three of his solo technical/progressive metal original songs ("Information", "Matter", and "Particles"), all of which are streamable on his Soundcloud page. If you're interested, send vocal samples or a message to Mike at this location, and hopefully he finds someone who can match his noticeable talents!
• Local classical metal standouts Theatre of Night have posted a new song named "Winter" onto their Reverbnation page, which may be a reworked variant of the deleted "A Wintery Mix", but it has a very heavy symphonic metal feel that fans of their earlier original work should appreciate! Check it out at the above links, and look for more Theatre of Night originals soon!
• After a few months of quiet activity, Eckerman studio/label Werehold Records revealed on their Facebook page yesterday that they may find some new material to share online during "spring cleaning", and it may not have to wait for another Friday the 13th posting spree in September to get unveiled. Might we finally hear Awaken Eidolon in these plans, among their diverse metal/techno roster of Michigan artists? I'll keep you guys posted!

That's all for now, but stay tuned later today for my review of the Ripcordz concert! Thanks everyone!