A New Local Band & Local Internet Radio Station, Plus A New Interview Video!!

Here's another news post to help keep things moving on the SMS while we have no concerts to preview, and here, we have a new interview featuring a familiar face, lots of details on a new internet radio station with a lot of local relevance, and leading off, here's some early details on a new band!

We have a new local band to add to our Sault Ontario band links, and they are The Isolation Sessions, the new band from half of 2008-2012 hard rock band Half Past's final full lineup! If you follow the Musicians Wanted Facebook group, this is the new acoustic project that their ex-bassist Arthur Lacasse was posting about band member searches for, and he has returned to the guitar in this group. Joining him in The Isolation Sessions is singer Jordan Rains, who fronted Half Past's final gigs in mid-late 2011, and it's great to see the guys in an active project together after 9 years! Currently, Art & Jordan are still looking for a bassist and cajon-playing percussionist to complete their lineup, so message them above for details on that front. On their new Facebook page, they acknowledge that they launched this new band in a hard time, but despite the ongoing pandemic and self-isolation, "that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make things better for ourselves, or each other."

The Isolation Sessions' cover range fits in the Half Past mold, albeit unplugged, with Alice In Chains, Default, Seether, and Three Days Grace cited as bands they're tackling. In their first video postings, you can hear them cover Staind's "Epiphany" and as embedded below, you can see Jordan & Arthur covering Seether's "Plastic Man". These are spare but affecting renditions that suit Jordan's vocal style nicely, and it'll be interesting to see The Isolation Sessions on stage when they (and everyone else) is able, but give their first video a look below, and read more above!



Next up, this is admittedly overdue to hit the site, but a new internet radio station has launched in Sault Ontario with a decidedly local focus! After months of teasers, local promoter Adrian Vilaca debuted The Borderline Radio on February 29th as an all-local station that is devoted to Sault Ste. Marie-area artists and natives in their rotation, though you may hear touring acts who have/will play here as well. Following Energy Rock Radio's move to B.C., Audiofumes going inactive, and VM Radio's quiet dissolution in early 2017, there is a theoretical opening for a locally based radio outlet that regularly plays local musicians! Unlike VM Radio, The Borderline is a single station with no genre focus, though heavier and punk acts are definitely among the rotation. Commercials are limited, streaming is free, and the exposure possibilities are definitely strong if your music is played. Another difference from VM Radio is that The Borderline does have scheduled programming with local hosts.

Among the shows are Mystical Visions & Cosmic Vibrations, where Telephone & Address frontman Christopher Shoust explores local musicians of decades past, while Smart As Trees (solidly relevant Hip reference) features Adrian himself interviewing notable local musicians. Such familiar artists as Brian Tremblay and DJ Seith also host programming, among others, and some shows explore non-musical topics of local relevance as well. A regularly updated schedule of upcoming programming can be found on the Mike's Lunch Music Facebook group, ran by Borderline staffer Mike Severin, who is recommended to contact if you or your band want to submit music for the rotation. The Borderline is still relatively new, but their website is cleanly designed and the streaming player works flawlessly! It'd be nice to see this listed on TuneIn Radio or with it's own mobile application, but maybe it will get wider exposure beyond their website in time.

In terms of the playlist, metal and punk songs are not the majority (The Billy Bastards had recently played as of this writing), but I concede that it'd be very jarring to have a death metal band between folk and indie rock musicians, especially if The Borderline stays as one station in the long term. Nothing is finitely stated, but I can see metal (in particular) being reserved for late night or for a future specialized program. I'm curious to see where The Borderline goes from here, and definitely check it out at the above links, or contact them above to submit music or to inquire about a role!

Finally for today, here's a new video that, while not locally produced, has a definite relevance for local readers, as it's an interview with ex-Woods of Ypres guitarist Joel Violette! Of course, he played on "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" and the "Home" vinyl single, and frontman David Gold also played in Joel's New Brunswick-based black metal project Thrawsunblat, who have continued on following David's passing in December 2011, even adding late-era Woods members Brendan Hayter & Rae Amitay to their lineup the following year. No one in Thrawsunblat is from the Soo, hence why we don't cover them day to day, but they have released three studio albums, three EPs, and a live album since 2012, with "Woods V" producer Siegfried Meier usually at the controls, so Joel has truly picked up where Woods of Ypres left off in more ways than one. The interview in question is planned for inclusion in an upcoming Maritime Metal documentary, so what should you look for here?

Shot in a Fredericton park, the video features Joel talking about Woods of Ypres' influence on him before joining the band, Thrawsunblat's first ever show just this year, how he and David hooked up as musicians, his tenure in Woods of Ypres (the Soo does come up), David's death, and their Juno Award win, before Joel sings Thrawsunblat's song "Maritime Shores" a capella in the park. In this form, the east coast folk aspect is very apparent, and if you like especially the early black metal era of Woods, Thrawsunblat are required listening even moreso, and Joel is a very capable lead singer for clean & harsh vocals alike. Check out the interview below!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site next week! Thanks everyone!