Blood Shed Productions Updates, Jack Spades' New Second Guitarist, And Much More!!

We're back with some more news today (most of what's left of our recent cache, in fact), including recent feature profile updates, new solo cover discoveries, and a new guitarist addition to a local band, but first, here's some assorted notes from a rising local metal label/studio!

Let's start today with the newest updates from Sault Ontario goregrind label Blood Shed Productions, which have been staying busy after their well received Devil's Night concert last month! Flagship project Crucify The Whore have announced their new full length demo "Welcome To Earth" last week via their own Facebook page, which will likely include their newest song "People These Days", with a winter 2014 release date planned. Recent materials have been a bit more elaborate and liked too, so hopefully this helps continue their growth, along with the label! Other 2014 plans so far include new demos and albums from pornogrind duo Rotopsy, local rapper Chris "Gnostic" Downey", and Strange Coyotes guitarist Chase Wigmore's experimental solo project, with new uploads from all three now on Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel, though the new Rotopsy upload is just a combined upload of their songs from their three-way split disc, with nothing new included in the video.

There were also some reposts of Crucify The Whore videos from the Devil's Night show, after the originals were deleted for unannounced reasons. It sounds like Ringsnaps and company have a busy slate coming up, so stay tuned for updates for what their metal artists have planned next!

Next up, we have a surprise lineup addition for newer local punk/metal band Jack Spades, as they've enlisted Winkstinger's Jesse Cook as a second guitarist, officially making them a quintet. The news was revealed earlier today on the band's Facebook page, and the addition reunites Jesse with his former Operation: Killdozer bandmate Justin Lam. Arguably best known for his work as the lead guitarist of Winkstinger since 2010 (and before then in the mid-2000s fan favourites Soldiers of Misfortune), this is a really good addition that should add to the awesome guitar work at future concerts, including his debut with the band at the Fuckface Unstoppable concert on December 14th, so don't miss the expanded Jack Spades lineup's first show then! Note however that I don't know what this means (if anything) for Winkstinger's active status, but they have offered no public updates since their most recent show at The Oddfellows Hall on May 29th, which was their only live date in the past 16 months. If I hear any confirmation on if Winkstinger are still alive or not, I'll be sure to let you guys know!

Also today, remember on Friday when we mentioned the new lineup additions to the reunited local hard rock band These Sins of Time? Well, after checking some links related to the band, I found some new (to me, at least) videos on frontwoman Alexa LeClair's YouTube channel, including audio postings from her solo EP (featuring Sailor's Tongue frontman Kyle McKey) and some new solo acoustic covers! Two are actually both acapella covers of Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life", one of which was from October of last year, and the other (which is longer and with a closer camera angle) coming from November 1st of this year. However, I've embedded her other October 2012 performance video below due to it's length and guitar inclusion, that being an acoustic cover of Papa Roach's "Lifeline"! All three videos are well performed, and Alexa has a nice voice that should work well for the full band, but I'm curious still to hear how it expands to heavier electric material. Check out her "Lifeline" cover below, and see more at the above links!

Finally for today, here's some new updates and additions to our past Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles, mainly to reflect later results from common performers at last week's Viva La Battle! In our profiles of the Skid Row, Kiss, and Sault College Battles, I added references to new local punk band North West's runner up finish at the newest battle, given that their lineup included Blockade/Nebraska Arms alum Wayne Watkins up front and Terminal's Mike Yakasovich & Greg Callaghan on guitar, all of which equalled or improved on their recent highs! I also replaced the now defunct-Nebraska Arms and the still-to-debut Crawfather with North West when noting performers' later bands on the Skid Row & Sault College Battle profiles. As well, I added notes on The Bear Hunters' victory to the YMCA & Sault Humane Society Battle profiles, given that bassist Justin Lam played in the former with Operation: Killdozer, and the band as a whole competed in the latter, and I also noted on the Humane Society Battle profile that Wishbone bassist Steven Flint competed too in his newer band Punch. Stay tuned soon for more updates to this series' profiles!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results & this month's new poll at the SMS tomorrow! Thanks everyone!