Friday, August 26, 2016

YouTube Channel Profile Series: DivisionOfSanity's Channel

It's now time for our last monthly feature post of the summer, courtesy of this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series looks at 1-3 randomly selected YouTube channels with at least half of their posted content being relevant to local metal, hard rock, or punk artists & shows, so we can spotlight their content and encourage readers to subscribe to them! This month's random channel features a defunct band from the Sault Michigan area that showcased a unique sound during their brief run in the early 2010s, so check out this month's profile below!
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DivisionOfSanity's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/divisionofsanity)

Owner: Former Division of Sanity singer/guitarist and local solo artist Caine VanderMolen

Channel Timeline: Launched on February 21st, 2013; Videos posted from the following month until July 2014

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for defunct Sault Michigan hard rock trio Division of Sanity, their postings include an introductory video, three live concert videos, five studio demos, four vlog entries from Caine, a jam session clip where Caine & Half Stupid/Plastic alum Zac Crook jammed the sampled songs from Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" in their separate original forms, and the planned first installment of a "T-Fat Talks" webseries where Caine and ex-drummer Nick Morgan talked about random topics.

Why You Should Watch: Give Division of Sanity's channel a watch primarily as it's by far the best remaining source of the band's material and news, especially with the quiet deletion of their Facebook page in the past year! However, their channel only features video footage from one late concert of theirs, and it hasn't been visibly updated since July 2014, shortly before the band fell inactive, in case that affects whether you subscribe or not.

Our Recommended Videos To Check Out

1st Vlog -New SD Card-: Four of Division of Sanity's first nine videos are solo vlogs hosted by Caine VanderMolen to bring fans up to date on their current activity, and while intended to be weekly, the series only ran infrequently between March and May of 2013. All are brief, with none exceeding two minutes, but you can watch the other three here, here, and here. The first and longest vlog features Caine discussing his recent purchase of a larger SD card, plans to record jam footage and post more original material, and more, ending with a portion of their song "Time" in it's early acoustic form. Nothing shocking here, but they do provide much of D.O.S.' now minimal surviving public postings!



Seasons featuring Bob on drums: Division of Sanity posted five studio demos to their YouTube channel through February 2014, four of which included "The Start Again Feel", "Time", their own self-titled song, and the instrumental "Just Listen (Slow Song)", all harbouring an acoustic style sans drums. The other song, entitled "Seasons", featured Creepy Little Coffee People/I.S.O.M. frontman Bob Helsten on guest drums, joining Caine and bassist Myke Young (ex- Exiled). By far Division of Sanity's most popular video since it's upload in April 2013, this is a lighter, more indie rock-inspired number than they were known for live, but it's well mixed and performed, and you get a good sense of Caine's deep, John Mayer-esque vocals! For much more audio recordings (and select covers) from Division of Sanity, visit their Soundcloud page & Caine's old solo YouTube channel.



Lemma Fest-Division Of Sanity-Division Of Sanity: This channel's last three videos come from Division of Sanity's set at the (to date) final LemmaFest from June 2014 outside of Dondee Lanes, also one of their own final concert appearances. Shot by prolific local filmmaker Wayne Kozeyah of W.K. Media, he filmed Division of Sanity playing "Seasons", "Isn't What I Said", and as embedded below, their own self-titled song. Now featuring Gabe Nunez on drums, this is among Division of Sanity's heavier songs, and it's a well played grungy track that shows a lot of potential, and while the vocals may be an acquired taste for some, I'd like to see them come back in the future if the cards fall the right way! Check out more of Wayne's excellently filmed videos from the final LemmaFest at his YouTube channel, including his summative video of the festival which has extra overhead angles of this song, plus their song "Glare" that wasn't featured on the band's own channel.


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Next month in this series, we'll be looking at two videos due to the first randomly selected channel only having two videos total, both distinct ones at that, so we added one with only one video type to round things out. With that said, we'll be looking at former State of Misery frontman Steve Rhodes' channel (featuring two videos from his later local metal bands) and Billy Bastards guitarist Paul Michael Stos' YouTube channel (featuring six videos from one of their headlining gigs), so look for them on or around September 26th! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news soon! Thanks everyone!

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