New Eastern U.P. Concert Videos, Upcoming Album Notes, And More!!

After a few days of concert reviews, we're back to some news and notes today, including new concert videos from recent Eastern U.P. shows, some upcoming album notes, and some recent feature profile updates, so read on below for what you need to know!

No less than nine videos from Munising, Michigan metal quartet Infathom's set at The Nick Cam Jam at Bay Mills Resort & Casino on Saturday night are now on YouTube for you to check out! Uploaded by attendee Michael Cole onto his YouTube channel this weekend, the videos are of Infathom covering Godsmack's "Whatever" & "Straight Out Of Line", part of P.O.D.'s "Boom", Candlebox's "Far Behind", Drowning Pool's "Bodies", Avenged Sevenfold's "Afterlife", Buckcherry's "Crazy Bitch", Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, We're Going Down", and (as embedded below) Pop Evil's "100 in a 55", so click each link to see each video! Filmed at good angles (if occasionally jittery and blurry), Infathom handle each cover well and with nice energy, with Sault-area native Dillion Semasky impressing vocally, but the Fall Out Boy cover (already a clear outlier) featues bassist Keegan Nebel singing lead. Kudos to Michael for filming all of these, so check them all out above, watch their "100 in a 55" cover below, and hopefully the benefit helped Nick Cameron and his family a lot in this time of need!



Next up, here's a new video from Kinross classic/hard rockers Banned! Presumably coming from one of their dates this past weekend at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino, this is of the guys covering Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive", albeit with a smaller lineup than we've seen in quite a while, with singer Tara Starr and guitarist Denny Smith absent. No word on Denny's status with the band, but I believe Tara (who replaced Mike Straw in the band earlier this year) is definitely out, as videos of songs she sang lead for Banned with (both country covers) have quietly been deleted from their YouTube channel in recent days, and though Banned haven't listed a full lineup on their Facebook page in months, she hasn't been present in public postings since the spring. A reason for her departure hasn't been announced, but hopefully things were amicable, and best of luck to Tara in the future! I would like to have seen Banned leave the videos up, as even if the country covers were an adjustment, that was a talented lineup. With that addressed, how does the new video sound?

If Denny is indeed out of Banned too (I'll let you know if I can confirm that), this marks a reunion of their late 2012 trio lineup, and Alex, Don, and Jim handle this cover well! However, like their earlier cover of "Lonely Boy" (their only remaining video with Tara), it's a cover of a very overplayed recent rock song, and I'd have liked to have seen Banned change it up a bit like Late Shift did this past weekend. Still, it's well performed and Alex Traynor's vocals work pretty good, so check out Banned's cover of "Radioactive" below!



Also for this post, here's some news on upcoming albums from two regional solo artists! First (and keeping with the Sault Michigan-area theme), Dafter solo artist Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton is already prepping his 8th solo album for early next year for a tentative March 2014 release date! To be titled "Ink!", 4 songs are already written for it, and some will be posted online as they're completed, but further details on titles, themes, sounds, and album length are forthcoming. Click here for current details, and if all goes well, it or "Cracks In The Wall" could be reviewed as soon as May! The other album notes relates to Strange Coyotes drummer Mike Haggith's next solo album "A Place Of Our Own" (still tentatively lined up for a February release), as Mike released a tentative track listing for the album (pictured) to his solo project's Facebook page yesterday! Six songs are listed with some creative titles relating to it's central concept, though Mike emphasized that like with his past solo albums, this is subject to likely changes. Stay tuned for updates as they roll in for both Mike and Ken's next albums!

Finally for today, here's the last of our recent updates to our Battle of the Bands Rewind Profiles, mostly related to last week's Viva La Battle! On our Skid Row Battle profile, I edited references to third placers Free Beer's 2013 reunion under the name Sarah's Valley, as I've heard from a few sources (including guitarist Dustin Goodall in person) that they broke up earlier this year after only a few concerts. On our Humane Society Battle profile, I replaced Giwakwa (who no longer feature battle alumni in their active lineup) with new local hard rock quartet Punch (featuring then-Wishbone bassist Steven Flint) in the section on current bands featuring battle performers. Then in our profile of the Battle For The Blood, I added a trivia note to reference Viva La Battle, as even though they shared no common performers, both battles had the same promoter, judging method, and guaranteed opening slot at a major concert. Finally, I'll just add that while I could add things to 4 of our past battle profiles to note withdrawn competitors Keep It Lit, I'll wait until they reveal their identities publically, as they had planned to keep that secret until their debut.

Stay tuned for more updates to our monthly feature series soon (including a pile of Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile updates later this month), and of course, keep an eye out for more news and notes! Thanks everyone!