New Karstens Videos, A New Solo Cover Video, And Much More!!

Today's news post continues our recent increase in Sault Michigan-area coverage, so make that 6 posts in 10 to touch on at least 50% E.U.P. stories! Along with lots of assorted news stories and a new cover video, we have lots of new videos from a recent band discovery, so here's what you should know!

Though still lacking a formal band page, newer Sault Michigan alt-metal group The Karstens have launched their own YouTube channel! Already five videos strong and including our first public glance at original material, it's great to get so much new material so soon, but what's here? The channel includes a cover of The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" live at Pickles Bar & Grill in Brimley (from the same filmer of their earlier Flipper cover), a guitar-less audio recording of their original "Indian Money", and this amusing clip showcasing The Karstens working "behind the scenes" of music video shoots. Yes, I meant music videos, as they have two posted there, namely "Indian Money" in full, and as embedded below, "Dissatisfaction". The former contrasts the slower & more deliberate song with a light, tongue-in-cheek video featuring the band happily playing instruments in & outdoors, and even tracking a song with a joystick?!

As for "Dissatisfaction", it's more of a lo-fi original (the band jokingly noted that it was "recorded with a potato") and features the core three members playing outside in various locales, even if not always seemingly to the track in question, though this video's filming was the source of the "behind the scenes" clip. The Karstens' originals (as presented here, at least) lack the spontaniety and aggression of their live covers, but they're a nice change of pace and a welcome addition to the Sault Michigan-area scene, so give their new YouTube videos a look above & below!



Next up, here's the newest solo guitar cover video from Stegadeth guitarist Tiffany Stocco's YouTube channel! A cover of "Fate" by SNFU (who she has opened for with Jack Spades), the cover is visibly well performed, but the audio quality isn't great, with her playing sounding tinny through this camera. Check out Tiffany's newest cover below, and don't miss Stegadeth TOMORROW NIGHT at Live705's January Jam at The Canadian!



Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, half from Sault Ontario and half from Sault Michigan! As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, event, or company name:

• Local doom metal trio AlgomA acknowledged on their Facebook page on New Year's Day that their upcoming split vinyl EP with Hooded Menace has been delayed, and while they didn't elaborate on why, they did note that "2017 is going to be savage." The status also plugged an article by the metal website No Clean Singing that same day where contributor "Islander" praised the cover art and the teased songs so far, and it's worth a look in the meantime!
• Inactive Strongs, Michigan metal solo project East Branch is back in our band links! Their Facebook page was quietly de-activated in late 2014, but it was restored and made public again earlier this month, complete with a new post linking to a song posted on YouTube in January of that year. As a result, that's not truly a "new" update, so they'll stay in our inactive band links for now, but might J.R. have some new music up his sleeves? Stay tuned!
• In a minor update to our links section, we have changed the link for local music instruments/lessons store Grooves Music from their website (whose domain name has expired) to their Facebook page. Grooves is the only music instruments store in Sault Michigan, and one of few places there that carry local musicians' CDs, so don't miss it at 540 Ashmun Street! Also, note that Tantrym Tyme's Jacob Hotlen is teaching guitar there again.
• Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Highway 63 clarified their break from the stage this month on their Facebook page last week, with frontman Henry Switzer (I believe) noting that the break is to allow him to heal up from a heart infarction that he had a few weeks ago. This is the first we've heard about it, but his health comes first, so hopefully he rests up and comes back even stronger next month!
• Gates of Winter bassist Steve Furgiuele is featured in this new SooToday article by Darren Taylor about his growing culinary career and current work in Edmonton as owner of his own cured meat company Fuge Fine Meat. The article also briefly mentions his Gates of Winter work, noting that he and his wife Mariana first met because she was a Gates fan. Great read, and it's awesome to see that Steve has found so much personal success! For what it's worth, he's quoted there noting that he was in Gates of Winter. Does the past tense mean anything?
• A third annual chili cook-off in support of the Ride For Sight blindness charity motorcycle rally will be held at The Garden River Community Centre on February 25th, but this year, Stiffler's Mom will not be the evening's musical performers for the first time. Instead, singer/drummer Greg Simpson's country cover band Bone Yard will step in, but at least Greg is still playing, and hopefully Bone Yard keep things hot like the chili next month! For reference, Redundant frontman Justin Langlois & his wife Monique are back this year among the competitors.

That's all for today, but in case there's not a new post tomorrow, we'll see you guys at The Canadian for The January Jam! Thanks everyone!