Updates On Another Sault Ontario Battle Of The Bands, Plus An Interview With AlgomA!!

Keeping our busy stretch alive on the site, we have more big updates on another battle of the bands taking place in the Soo early next year, so if these don't make up for the lack of 2014 battles, I'm not sure what will! That will lead off the vast majority of this post, but we also have a recent interview with a local band to cap things off, so here's what you need to know, and check out the rest of the weekend's concert previews in the post below this one!

The second Sault Ontario battle of the bands of 2015 will go down in March at The Canadian Nightclub, and if you remember April 2013's Rockstar Bar Battle, this will be very familiar! Promoted by local concert promoter & singer J.D. Pearce (a.k.a. Johnny Pints), this battle is a spiritual sequel to that 2013 battle that he co-promoted, and it will also be an all-month event, with four nights of battling taking place on each Wednesday in March! Specifically, there will be semifinals of an intended 4 bands each on March 4th, 11th, and 18th, with each night's winning band (and the highest scoring runner up as a wild card) returning on March 25th for the finals. The first place band that night will win $1,000 in cash and recording time, with more prizes to be announced. Judging criteria has not been announced yet, but crowd engagement, originality, talent, and stage presence are all locks to be among what the judges (yet to be announced) are looking for.

A maximum of 12 bands are being sought for the battle, who would each play 30 minute sets on each night of the battle, but who's confirmed so far? As of this writing, eight bands are confirmed, including local rap/metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty, all female hard rock quartet The Danger Cats, local grunge/hard rock quartet Haggith, folk rock quartet Honest Job, pageless local hard/funk rock quartet Late Shift, classic metal quartet Project 421, doom/punk trio The Revolution, and a new local metal project named Them. Of these bands, only Haggith have competed in a recent battle (they were runners-up at the Rockstar Bar's battle last year), but members of some of the above bands have been seen in other recent battles! For example, Apocalypse Afterparty "songwriter" Paul Stanghetta is a two time battle runner up with The Fury, Late Shift's Clint Wilson finished in second with his old band Northwest in last fall's Viva La Battle, and Project 421's Daniel Horton is of course also in Haggith.

In case you're wondering, the debuting Them play a variety of genres (everything from death metal to hardcore punk), and their lineup includes Heavy North Entertainment owner Tyler St. Amour on vocals and guitar, ex-Revolution bassist Rainey Vincent, and Infamous guitarist Anthony Boudreau on drums  You may recognize them from being briefly scheduled for February's Commencing Human Desperation show, and while information at the time implied that they were a ska punk band featuring The Pixo Control's Keeghan Rosso, that's either erroneous or now outdated. Thanks to Tyler for the info!

Also, Tyler's involvement gives him a chance to repeat his 2008 Case's Music Battle of the Bands win with Fountain of Betrayal, so keep that angle in mind! The identity of the other four bands is forthcoming, so be sure to stay tuned for updates! If you or your band want in on the four night battle at The Canadian in March, the entry fee for bands will once again be $100 per act, but like in February (and in April 2013), bands will be given tickets to sell, so they can make their money back (and more) if they sell them all! These sets will be premium tickets that will cost $15 and guarantee attendance for all four nights of this battle, and a savings of $10 if you bought tickets separately or at the door. If you don't get tickets from a competing band, admission will be $5 for each night of the semifinals and $10 for the finals, though outside ticket availability is to be confirmed.

A licensed ALL AGES event throughout March, each night has an 8:00 PM start time, though additional details (including the remaining bands, battle sponsors, judges and their scoring criteria, and complete semifinal schedule) are to be confirmed. For now, visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and if you or your band want in on the Canadian Nightclub Battle in March, message Johnny Pints on Facebook A.S.A.P.! I enjoyed the first all-month battle at The Rockstar Bar last year, and it's great to see a sequel from some of the same crew behind that event for next year! For sake of clarity, Beaumont Avenue (the former Suicide Kings) will not be defending their Rockstar Bar Battle title in March, as drummer Ben Boudreau won't be back from college out of town by then. Given the gap between November 2013's Viva La Battle and February/March 2015's new battles, the field is theoretically wide open for both of next year, so be sure to stay tuned to the SMS for complete impartial details on each, and SIGN UP A.S.A.P. BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

Finally for today, here's a recent interview conducted by the music website Grand Sounds Promotion with local sludge/doom metal trio AlgomA! Posted on November 18th at this link, the in-depth interview features the members of AlgomA discussing their music's themes & influences, their new album "Reclaimed By The Forest", how they'd describe their music, their past & other band work, their relationship with label Deadbeat Media, their friends and relationships in the music scene, and the specific inspiration behind their song "Tertiary Syphillis", among other topics. Note that this interview is almost a month old now, so it does still list frontman Darby Wigwaas' side project Das Skalpell Kampf under their original name Scalpel Fight, and it still name drops the now defunct Pillory among their friends in local bands. There's no real "scoops" for new info in the interview (though the band confirmed that they'd like to release their CD on vinyl), but it's still a very entertaining read!

The over-usage of exclamation points in the transcription is a little amusing for a depressive doom metal band, but give it a look above, and stay tuned for more updates from AlgomA! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more on both upcoming battles of the bands and other news and notes soon! Thanks everyone!