Tuesday, January 26, 2016

YouTube Channel Profile Series: bffcfka's Channel & GIWAKWA GIWAKWA

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, as we're back in the new year for more looks at YouTube channels that have at least a 50% base of local metal, hard rock, and/or punk videos, in order to spotlight and feature them for readers! This month's random selections netted us two channels, as the first only had one video, hence the second channel (with just two videos) to fill things out, but there's some familiar faces and interesting clips to check out, so read on for this month's YouTube profiles!
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bffcfka's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/bffcfka)

Owner: YouTube user bffcfka (identity unknown, but they were likely a student at Central Algoma Secondary School in Desbarats in the late 2000s)

Channel Timeline: Launched on August 11th, 2008; Only video posted on January 2nd, 2010

Channel Summary: The only video posted to bffcfka's channel is of early Crimson Crusade guitarist Brent Beaulieu playing a guitar riff on stage during a CASS Cafe event circa the turn of 2010. Brent had guitar talent here, and while this is a short video, it's nice to see him at work, and check out more CASS Cafe videos from this era on other YouTube channels! Also, note that this channel in particular hasn't visibly been used since this video's upload.


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GIWAKWA GIWAKWA (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-j7LyfO3fUVmSmVF10UksQ)

Owner: A member of local death/sludge metal band Giwakwa, identity unclear (likely guitarist Chris Page or drummer Chris Thompson)

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 27th, 2012; Videos uploaded in January & March 2015

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for the recently dormant Giwakwa, this channel currently has two videos from their run, one from a 2013 concert and one from a jam session last year.

Why Should You Watch: It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Giwakwa, particularly from their main run in mid-2013! However, this channel has not been visibly updated since these videos were posted, and it's not clear if the band is even still functioning, so keep both in mind if you're thinking about subscribing. As well, I believe the band has deleted at least one past upload on their channel.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

GIWAKWA -- ENDLESS BUMMER & IRON LUNG @ THE ROCKSTAR BOTB 2013: Giwakwa's first (and only concert) video on their channel comes from The Rockstar Bar Battle of the Bands semifinals on April 17th, 2013, where they played their songs "Endless Bummer" & "Iron Lung" to close their set. Featuring their then-lineup of Chris & Chris alongside Bring The Fallen alums Josh Stephney on vocals & Nolan Rainville on bass, they finished in second place behind Josh's current band The Bear Hunters that night, but did not advance to the finals the next week. Filmed at a far angle to the stage's right, these are strongly performed songs at a neat angle, but Chris Thompson is often hard to see, and the audio can be a little tinny. Note that this is a 2015 re-upload of one of two videos posted by a separate filmer on their own YouTube channel at the time, but they later deleted both videos, and Giwakwa themselves never uploaded the first one.



GIWAKWA -- BLOOD SKIN AND SINUE -- SNEAK PEAK: Giwakwa's last major public activity to date came via this Friday the 13th video posting from March of last year, which has Chris Page & Chris Thompson jamming a new original song named "Blood, Skin, and Sinew". Notably just a duo performance (Josh & Nolan moved out of town in late 2013, and Mitch Sirie hadn't replaced either yet), it is a fast & heavy song that seems to point at a sound evolution, but it's obviously incomplete, and the camera slowly tilts upward and falls over during the recording. Hopefully this isn't the last we've seen of Giwakwa, they had a lot of promise!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! Next month in this series, we'll again be looking at multiple channels due to the first randomly selected channel only having one local video, so on (or around) February 26th, we'll be looking at user ninezero's channel (featuring a Treble Charger music video),  and to fill things out, ex-Scofflaw drummer Ivan Schliska's YouTube channel (featuring a pair of videos from the Sault Michigan artist.) This should be a good one again, so watch for it next month, and stay tuned for more news and notes this week! Thanks everyone!

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