Destroilet & Toast Videos, A Concert Postponement, And Much More!!

I was wrong, we do have just enough to push our posting streak into it's 70th day! For tonight's SMS post, we have a bunch of assorted recent news items, and some recent feature profile updates, but first, we have videos from a pair of area bands, starting with this new video of local hardcore/punk quintet Destroilet's return set at The Algonquin Pub last month! Filmed by YouTube user Richard Dryfist (who Destroilet's Facebook page confirmed is AlgomA bassist Kevin Campbell) and uploaded yesterday, this is of Destroilet playing their original song "End Me" followed by covers of the Fuckin' Burnouts/Fistmagnet original "Evil God Hater" and Nirvana's "Tourettes" (all of which are on their newest CD.) The quality's good, and Kevin got a nice high angle of the proceedings, though aside from the lit band area, you can't generally see the crowd response. Audio quality's nice & clear too, and it's good to see more videos of Destroilet in action, so check out this 5 minute blitz of 3 short songs (complete with titles) below!

Next up, remember the Sault Michigan rock cover quartet named Toast that we've alluded to on here? Well, there's finally some YouTube videos of them to share, courtesy of frontwoman Melissa Strand's YouTube channel, and yes, there are some heavier songs there! As you may know, Toast are more or less the successors to the early 2010s hard rock band Swayze Train (albeit with only one guitarist and Bob Helsten on drums), though their sound strikes a more general rock tone, complete with a number of acoustic drummer-less sets in the area, but they still do some heavier material! All of the new YouTube videos were filmed by attendee Paul Steinkohl, and were originally posted on Toast's Facebook page last month (and on YouTube last week), including the Rev Theory, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Deee-Lite songs that we already mentioned on here. The other new videos are of Toast covering The Foo Fighters' "My Hero", Alice In Chains' "Would?", Seether's "Gasoline", and Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy", so click each link to check them out! (Note however that only the Rev Theory & Deee-Lite covers are from non-acoustic gigs.)

I like Toast's sound & talents, and Melissa's vocals are strong and capable on each track, but something happened in the video conversion for Paul's earlier videos, as they all look incredibly pixelated. The other cell-phone clips are better for the YouTube copies, and they help back up my earlier thoughts on Toast: A mix of the rock style of Swayze Train with the acoustic & more varied sound of Melissa & bassist Tony Rogers' earlier band Electric Motor Fish. Good stuff, so check out their Alice In Chains unplugged cover below, and stay tuned for more from Melissa's channel!



Also today, here's three assorted recent news updates, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Peterborough hardcore/stoner punk band Cross Dog (who are opening for The Dayglo Abortions locally in September) now have a BandCamp page with their first song "Black Hole" posted, so check it out at the above links! They in fact have no guitars (my apologies, Mark!), but their sound has a unique yet familiar edge to it (think a female fronted mix of Detroit & The Fury), so give Cross Dog a listen, and don't miss the Soo's own Mark Rand's return to the local stage this fall!
• The planned SNFU/Death By Stereo concert at The Canadian Nightclub on July 8th has been postponed, according to promoter J.D. Pearce on the Facebook event page tonight. A reason wasn't announced, but he will re-book the concert for a later date when the tour is rescheduled, so keep an eye out for news on that front and any possible changes!
• Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands winners The Suicide Kings posted some Facebook exclusive videos of covers they played during their finals set on April 24th onto their Facebook page late last month, including renditions of System of a Down's "Toxicity" and Velvet Revolver's "Slither", so click the above links to check them out! (I can't embed them here.) Though short and low quality, they at least give a clear view of the guys, so give them a look, and go see them at The Rosie next Friday!

Finally for today, here's some assorted updates to some of our Defunct Local Band Profiles! I updated our AtrophiA profile to note ex-bassist Ryan Gray's more prominent band Free Beer's name change to Sarah's Valley, while I restored photos on both their profile as well as the profiles on M7K & The White Knights in this series. I edited the State of Misery profile to add references to the second version of With Blood Build Character (who have featured 3 S.O.M. alumni in their lineups), along with restoring a photo, and replacing Social Suicide with The Unforgiven for lead guitarist Ray Cowan's notable other bands. Also, I updated our Detroit profile to freshen up band members' other projects (including adding drummer Mikey Hawdon's current punk band The Fairmounts and bassist Mark Rand's current projects Cross Dog & Kidshit.) Finally, I updated our Mugwort profile to restore a photo and add references to singer Bob Helsten's current work in Toast and to note the project's similarity to his older bands that he fronted. Check the above links for the updates, and stay tuned for more!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!