In a very odd coincidence, today's post will mean that we'll have had exactly 29 posts a month on the SMS for
five straight months. We didn't even have that exact amount in a month at all last year! I just found that a little strange. For our last post of June 2014, we have new updates from a Sault Michigan band, and a new studio track from one in Sault Ontario, but first, here's two likely inactive metal bands on this side of the border to take note of, and check out our review of Mike Haggith's newest CD in the post below this one!
One band that we're now considering to be defunct on the SMS is local funk/metal trio
The Strange Coyotes, as per the recent deletion of their Facebook page, which followed a few months of band inactivity. A reason for the band's end wasn't made beforehand, but updates were minimal following drummer
Mike Haggith's departure in February, and while a name change to the singular "Strange Coyote" implied that frontman
Chase Wigmore was once planning to continue the project solo, announced concerts in early 2014 became either straight solo sets or shows for his newer death metal duo
This Is Your Band On Drugs. Succeeding their similar predecessors Project Legion after that band's last show in October, The Strange Coyotes (also featuring James Watterworth on bass) surprisingly released
a digital album just two weeks later, which they followed with a well recieved opening set at Haggith's "farewell" show in December, though activity slowed in 2014, with members splintering off into new and old projects alike.
The Strange Coyotes were a creative mix of three diversely talented local musicians, and they had a lot of promise late last year (even finishing second in our poll on your favourite new bands of 2013), but who knows what happened behind the scenes this year. We don't have to delete them from our links entirely though (I just replaced their Facebook with
their Bandcamp page), and hopefully everyone stays active musically, so best of luck to Chase, James, and Mike in the future!
The other likely defunct band is local classic/power metal quartet The Hydra's Teeth, as their Facebook & Reverbnation pages were recently deleted without explanation. As above, there hasn't been a known public reason for their breakup, but there have been rumours relating to a key band member moving out of the area, so that may be related. Launched as The Hydra in the fall of 2012, the band ostensibly served as the successors to frontman
Brendan Christie & bassist Benn Garside's more successful band
Late & Loud, whose future was in flux around that time. After a year's worth of preparation, lineup additions, and songwriting, the renamed Hydra's Teeth finally debuted at
The Algonquin Pub on September 20th to a great reception, and later unveiled optimistic plans for future song recordings and concerts, but no finite news followed in 2014. It's disappointing to see The Hydra's Teeth likely end operations, as they had tons of talent and experience that seemed likely to take them far in the area, but it's anyone's guess why they only played live once during their run.
Sadly, The Hydra's Teeth no longer have an active online page (I wish bands wouldn't do that), so I regrettably have to remove them from our band links, but videos still exist on YouTube of some of their surprisingly large array of original songs. Hopefully everyone stays active in music wherever the road takes them, and best of luck to Brendan, Anthony, Benn, Roy, and Talon in the future!
We'll close with new videos, including the long awaited debut studio single from local hard rock quintet
Skeyes of Seven! Uploaded to
their YouTube channel late last week (though sadly after the band deleted all of their concert videos), the song is named "Fallen Faith", and existing fans should like this track, possessing a dark yet heavy essence with nicely written lyrics that builds well on itself! If you've heard members Cory Murchison & Ron Baxter's unreleased Sense of Truth EP, this is a worthy successor to that material as well. Nicely done, and we'll have to see where else this leads, so check out Skeyes of Seven's new song below!
Finally for today, here's some new studio session videos from Sault Michigan classical metal band
Theatre of Night! Before them, I just want to note that
their website has recently been updated to reflect coming changes that will showcase both drummer Greg Giles' artistic work and the band itself, along with a teased side project, though the band's other online pages now only list guitarist Steve Giles and keyboardist Craig Harrison in their current lineup, without Greg or singer Gaby Koss, with many older photos and posts deleted. Did something happen recently? We'll let you know when/if we get confirmation! In any event, three new studio clips have been shared via Craig's personal Facebook page over the weekend, and they include
this 20 second clip of Steve running effects on his iPad,
this similar longer video that gives more of a glimpse of the material, this filter-laden clip featuring a solo piano composition with backing orchestration featuring close-ups of Craig playing and the band's gear. Dramatic and effective without teasing much of what's to come, give the full video a look below, and see more at the above links!
That's all for this month, but stay tuned for an all-Sault Michigan post tomorrow, plus this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on Wednesday! Thanks everyone!
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