SweetKenny's New Album, A New/Old Treble Charger Interview, And Much More!!

After a quiet weekend, we're back on this Father's Day with a new news post, so what's in store today? Lots of assorted shorter items, including three removals from our active band links, plus a surprise interview of a local punk band from 18 years ago, but first, here's a new album release!

Dafter, Michigan solo hard rock musician Ken "SweetKenny" Sutton is back with another new score album, so what should you know on it? Quietly released on Wednesday, this album is titled "Management", and is his 26th official solo album and third put out in 2018 alone. Going along with his mid-late 2010s focus on scores intended for use in other media, the intended storyline is about a CIA agent named Kenneth (of course), who finds a spy in "management", and has to find and stop the spy before the Russians do. Definitely a jump in intensity from "Music For The Body", if nothing else! The 12 song score album is available on iTunes for $9.99, but the album is oddly not available yet on SweetKenny's Bandcamp page, similarly to last year's "Music Composed For Film". In any event, you can stream it for free on his website and on Spotify. That all said, is a review of either of SweetKenny's last two albums imminent on The Sault Metal Scene?

Not in June, as it's the last month of our 6 month anti-bias buffer from our review of "The Dogs Are Watching" in January, but next month is entirely possible! Given the intensity, themes, and length, I would go with "Management" over the fitness/aerobics-themed "Music For The Body" for our next SweetKenny album review. Stream or buy these and other albums from this prolific E.U.P. artist at the above links!

Next up, here's a surprise new video find of Sault Ontario/Toronto indie/punk quartet Treble Charger, as uploaded by YouTube user Miker Phone yesterday! The channel is best known from commercials and bumpers from children's television channels, and that's perfectly in line with this video, a late 2000 interview with Treble Charger conducted by then-YTV PJ Pat Kelly (now of CBC Radio One's This & That) during their after school programming block The Zone, specifically following a Rugrats episode. After a clip of the "Friend of Mine" music video, the interview proper kicks in with Pat talking to the guys at a playground (remember, YTV) about their then-new album "Wide Awake Bored", though an advertised quiz segment where Pat tested their rock 'n roll acumen has not made this channel... yet? The interview footage here isn't too long, but it's nice and casual, and Greig even name drops the Soo at one point, so give this interview a look below, and don't miss them at Rotaryfest next month!



Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news stories from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• Local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback were added as late openers to The Elements' Rockstar Bar show last night, as per the Facebook event page. Solid choice, hopefully A.D.S. delivered a solid set and helped out before The Elements took the stage! Apologies though for this not making the site beforehand, we admittedly couldn't rush a new post in time to include mention of them being added to the bill.
• We have moved local hardcore quintet As It Stands back to our inactive local band links due to a year's inactivity. After their prior local runs from 2005-2014, the band had reunited last spring to play at the CKY concert on June 8th, 2017, but quietly dropped out beforehand, with no public statements following their exit. It would have been awesome to see As It Stands back on stage after far too long, one-off or not, but hopefully we see Justin, Garrett, Albert, Angelo, and John back together at some point down the line!
• We have also moved local death metal band Exploring Detritus to our inactive band links, as they have not posted a new Facebook page update (a flashback video share aside) since June 1st of last year. Primarily active with a handful of live dates in 2016, nothing much really followed last year, but hopefully Joey, Dan, Jeph, and Kevin resurface at some point, they had a lot of promise! In our band links, they're now listed under their old name Kaepora Gaebora, which their concerts were played as, but if they resurface under the Exploring Detritus name, we'll change it back.
• Local indie/acoustic project The Autumn Roots and indie/prog quartet The Wild Iris have both indicated on their respective Facebook pages that they'll be playing Rotaryfest's Stage 2 this year, expected for Saturday, July 21st at Clergue Park near the Art Gallery. These acts have not been confirmed by Rotaryfest proper at press time, but if accurate, this would seem to indicate that Stage 2 is not going with the band reunion theme like Stage 1 is doing, or at least not as in-depth. We'll keep you posted when more comes out on this year's Second Stage!
• In one more band link alteration, we have removed local punk duo Slow Children Playing from our band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook (and only online) page for unannounced reasons in recent months. Active as a sporadic studio project from 2014-2017, Slow Children Playing had some promise and originality, and while I wish they hadn't deleted their page, hopefully Don and Caleb turn up in this or other projects in the future!
• Reunited classic/hard rock cover veterans That's Chester reformed for the first time in almost two years when they played during drummer Ric Datson's regular jam night event with his current band Mojo at Reggie's West on June 7th, as per That's Chester's Facebook page. Hopefully that was a fun way to shake off the rust in advance of their (otherwise) one-off reunion at Rotaryfest next month!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for last month's poll results on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!