A New Local Hard Rock Band, Sykotyk Rampage's New Music, And More!!

In our last news post of the month, we have new media and plans from a local punk project, plenty of new material from a popular veteran hard rock band, and first, a new local band, so here's what you need to know! (Updated at 2:07 PM)

We have a new local hard rock band to add to our listings, and they are Long Shot! A newer local quartet that formed as early as January of this year (months prior to their Facebook page's launch), their lineup is mostly comprised of artists that are largely unknown from other recent bands, including singer/guitarist Evan Dawe, guitarist Nathan Muto, bassist Adam Dawe (presumably Evan's brother?), and drummer Jeremy Ganuelas. Long Shot have largely played at unfamiliar venues and corporate events so far in their run, including debuting at a Sault Community Career Center function in January (Evan and Nathan both work there), playing private gigs in Heyden & Echo Bay, and even playing at two functions relating to the Soo's new ultimate frisbee association, most recently at LopLops. For a taste of Long Shot's sound, the band has uploaded six (generally incomplete) cover videos onto Facebook, including bass-less covers of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman", Velvet Revolver's "Fall To Pieces", and The Darkness' "I Believe In A Thing Called Love"  at their debut in January, so click each link to see them!

The videos are rounded out by a cover of The Who's "Baba O'Riley" at The Bellevue Park Bandshell to launch the SUPA ultimate frisbee association, and covers of the Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" and "Baba O'Riley" again at a private birthday party in Echo Bay (both sans Jeremy, but with cowbell for the former clip!) From what I've heard so far, Long Shot have a good sound that doesn't stick to predictable covers, and Nathan's a very solid guitarist, but Evan's vocals could be a bit more forceful on louder songs. I'm curious to see what Long Shot are up to next, so check them out above, and here's their Darkness cover from January!



Next up, local "blue Chinese metal crash punk" quartet Sykotyk Rampage released their newest "albums" to their Reverbnation page between August 11th & 13th! I apologize for the delay on these, as we were both waiting to make sure the songs went up in full, and making sure that every album went up. Originally, Sykotyk Rampage had indicated plans to release seven albums in February, but 4 of the previously announced albums ("Wyrd Radio", "Padre Pwj with Ready for Revival", "Santa's Night Out", and "Double LIVE) have either been cancelled or postponed for unannounced reasons. The three of those albums that actually did come out this month (the band's 44th-46th) are "Kitty Farts & Other Play Full Noises", and two sequels to earlier concept releases, those being "Environ-Mental Suits 2: Anvil of Antioch" & "Captain Awesome Sex & Chastity Boy Episode 3: Who's Driving Spaceship Earth?", though I'll note that a fourth separate release that wasn't announced in February entitled "Bring The Heavy", is still listed for a September release, but has no online songs yet.

The second batch of new Sykotyk Rampage original songs with current bassist Tony Briglio, each album is fairly long as far as SKR releases go, with none having less than 17 songs, and "Who's Driving Spaceship Earth" having 24, so that might make up for the dropped albums! "Kitty Farts..." appears to be a general new release, while the other two albums exploit the conceptual nature with between song "scenes" to explain each album's storyline, and both are humorous and irreverent, just like long time Sykotyk Rampage fans should expect! Of the songs I've heard, fans can expect Sykotyk Rampage's usual improvised crash stylings, and like on prior releases, drummer Paul Becker appears to sing on most tracks. Now, like Sykotyk Rampage's other post-2011 albums, all three of these are available for free streams without a full album purchase option (though certain songs can be bought), though I will note that according to a recent e-mail that Reverbnation users (like myself) recieved, Reverbnation's store is being discontinued on September 30th, so a sale posting there wouldn't have done much good anyway.

The reason for the move is due to Reverbnation's new relationship with MerchOutfitters, who they encourage bands with stores on Reverbnation to switch over to for merchandise sales, but it's unclear as of yet how many local bands will launch presences there. Regardless of the release nature of Sykotyk Rampage's new "albums", fans have a lot to like, so give them all a listen at the above links, and stay tuned for more new Sykotyk Rampage song uploads on Reverbnation!

Finally for today, here's the latest media from the revived local pop punk solo project For July! Frontman Dave Hunter uploaded a work in progress clip of a new original song onto their Facebook page on Tuesday which has a definite emo/power punk sound going for it, and a bit more aggression to it than some of For July's earlier songs! Also, Dave's YouTube channel has been recently updated regarding For July, which included a video looking for donations to crowdfund their debut album, but it's since been privatized for unknown reasons (though I'll note that Dave was very hard to hear in the video.) I liked the idea of a Kickstarter-esque funding model, hopefully Dave still pursues that for an album! Instead, embedded below is their new YouTube posting of their original "The Emo Song", which is basically what is says on the tin, but fans of mid-2000s pop punk should be right at home with it, and it's well recorded! Give it a look below, and stay tuned for more on For July!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's CD review TOMORROW, and I'll see you guys TONIGHT at The Rockstar Bar for Soo Band Roulette, the most unpredictable battle of the bands that Sault Ontario has ever seen! Thanks everyone!