LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Fort Creek, Tym Morrison, And The Uncanny Valley), Plus A New Video!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to apologize for a pair of missed concerts this past weekend, as local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck returned to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for concerts this past Friday & Saturday. A Facebook event page was posted the previous Sunday to plug the dates, but they completely slipped us by last week, which I profusely apologize for. Hopefully Soundcheck's latest return from lockdown was a hit for all involved, and I will work to ensure we don't miss their next gigs on here! Now, we have LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, some on SHORT NOTICE, plus a new video, so here's what you should know!

Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to The Mike Case Memorial Stage at The Trading Post for his second solo gig there TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, this concert was only announced via it's Facebook event page on Tuesday. Last seen at the aforementioned Reggie's Place on Sunday, this will be Tym's second Friday nighter at the outdoor stage beside The Big Moose Ice Cream Parlor in a three week span, and clearly his July 15th show there went well if he's already been asked back! If you're up for some evening hard and classic rock covers way down Great Northern Road, keep TOMORROW'S show in mind! Once again, this is a 7:00 PM affair (also advertised for 2 hours again), and there is no advertised age limit or cover charge. See above for more details, and for a preview, here's a new original song of Tym's! 

Uploaded to his YouTube channel on Tuesday, this is a metal song inspired by the classic Canadian animated series Inspector Gadget, as set to still images and slowed down video from the cartoon, plus similarly related live action clips, and a personal message on Dr. Claw's computer monitor that I won't get into here. This isn't really a cover of the theme song, at least not note for note, but the influence is there. Strongly done instrumental with a low bassy tone throughout, so metalheads and Inspector Gadget fans should be on board, and as someone who enjoyed the show as a kid, I definitely am! Give this song a listen below, and don't miss Tym TOMORROW at The Trading Post!

Next up, local southern hard rock quintet Fort Creek will return to the stage for the first time since the end of the most recent lockdown when they rock Reggie's West on Korah Road TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Again, apologies for the short notice, these dates were only announced on their Facebook page on Sunday, and while Fort Creek are calling this "a last minute booking", I wouldn't necessarily call five days' notice "last minute". Last seen at the same venue in late March, with Bones' shoulder surgery and the third lockdown putting them on the shelf until now, this should be a fine opportunity for fans to safely and responsibly check out Fort Creek's hard hitting brand of covers, so welcome them back to the stage (again) TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! Note that the latter date will be when they reveal the winner of their latest Facebook giveaway contest. Both shows are 9:00 PM affairs with no announced cover charges and 19+ age limits, as usual for The Reggievelt.

Of course, mask up, and please respect all pandemic safety protocols and social distancing restrictions at The Reggievelt to ensure everyone has a safe and fun time. Yes, a lot of people have had vaccine shots by now, but not everyone has, we're not out of the woods yet. Visit the above links for more details on TOMORROW & SATURDAY'S concerts, and for a preview, here's Fort Creek live at Reggie's West earlier this year!

We're not done for new Fort Creek gigs either, as they will make their Rockstar Bar debut on Saturday, August 14th as part of the 864 Queen Street East venue's long awaited return to live concert bookings! The band announced this show via their own Facebook event page on July 17th, but given The Algonquin Hotel's upstairs venue's relative quietness about live music in recent months, I was waiting for them to confirm the date before covering it here. You may recall that The Rockstar Bar briefly tried bringing live music back in August 2020 after the first lockdown ended, but that trial run only lasted for a few weeks before provincial guidelines restricted nightclub activity at the time (the bar has otherwise been open when not locked down, albeit with social distancing guidelines, and the patio followed suit this summer). On Wednesday, their Facebook group confirmed six single-band concerts taking place upstairs next month, so who else is coming in August 2021?

 

Southern rockers Bone Yard and their acoustic side project The Bearded Lounge are up first, splitting the August 6th & 27th weekends (in both cases, The Bearded Lounge are on Friday, Bone Yard on Saturday). Taking things a little heavier, Fort Creek will rock The Rockstar Bar on the 14th as already mentioned, which will be odd in a way to see them not at a Reggie's-branded venue, but the other date will see young local garage/hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley finally make their Rockstar Bar debut on Saturday, August 21st! Last seen at Rotaryfest (like Bone Yard), this isn't The Uncanny Valley's first attempt to play here, as they were booked for a Rockstar Bar show in September 2020 that was cancelled when all other shows there were called off. Hopefully Adrian, Matt, Brendan, and Dylan continue with their upward momentum next month with a solid night of covers and originals!

A 9:00 PM start time is likely for all of The Rockstar Bar's upcoming gigs, which remain 19+ and have no announced cover charges. Once again, please respect any and all social distancing and public health guidelines at The Rockstar Bar to ensure everyone's safety, don't forget your mask, and hopefully things go smoothly there so the return of live music upstairs at The Algonquin makes it longer than a few weeks! Visit The Uncanny Valley's event page and the above links for more details, and that's all for today, but stay tuned for more news on the site this weekend! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: RezThrasher's Channel

It's now time for our last monthly feature post at the SMS for July 2020, namely this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This monthly feature series looks at 1-3 YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk artists/concerts, in order to spotlight their public uploads for modern day readers and encourage hits and subscriptions. This month's randomly selected profile gives us some intriguing early videos from one of the biggest local hard rock bands of the late 2000s and early 2010s, so here's what you should know on it!

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RezThrasher's channel (http://youtube.com/rezthrasher)

Owner: Former Garden of Bedlam bassist Evan Belleau

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 8th, 2006; Videos posted from January 2008 until July 2009

Channel Summary: Evan primarily dedicated his personal use channel towards videos from the early run of his 2007-2015 local hard rock quartet Garden of Bedlam, who feature in five live concert videos from a set at a local festival, and two early jam session covers. His sole video without his bandmates features Evan playing an original bass line towards a proposed future song.
 
Why You Should Watch: This channel is a must watch for fans of Garden of Bedlam, especially those who were around the band in their initial public rise in 2008, and it's interesting to see their early originals and covers in this still proficient state! The solo video of Evan's also shows promise towards the future, even if the visual quality can show it's age to a point. Note that while this channel has seen some personal use in the past decade or so, there have not been any videos afterward to document Garden of Bedlam's local run beyond 2008, but the band's official YouTube channel & guitarist Josh Belleau's own YouTube channel will fill in some blanks.

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Headup cover: If you followed Garden of Bedlam's earliest concerts, you'll know that Tool and The Deftones were frequently covered by them live, and this is reflected in Evan's first two jam session videos from January 15th, 2008, of their classic lineup covering Tool's "Ænema" and, as featured here, The Deftones' "Headup". Featuring Evan alongside singer Erik "Buzz" Boissineau (ex-Barfly/Changing Lanes), his cousin Josh Belleau on guitar, and ex-Papa Fogals Chair drummer Derek Turner, both covers are strongly done, especially given the band's lack of live experience together, though the dark and fuzzy video quality really dates both of these.

Garden of Bedlam - Sober (Tool Cover): Most of Evan's uploads come from Garden of Bedlam's set at the annual Hempfest in August 2008 nearby Ophir (on the grounds of the current Northern Vibe Festival), back when the local marijuana culture event was still under it's original ownership. The Hempfest videos include two early original songs ("The Truth Will Set You Free" & "Sovereignty"), plus covers of Godsmack's "Awake" and two more Tool songs ("46 & 2" and the channel's most popular upload, "Sober"). A good crowd of festival-goers witness this solid performance, and as you'd expect, Garden of Bedlam definitely knew their way around Tool songs! Also, despite the age of these videos and the lack of zoom, the video & audio quality is more than respectable, with every band member clearly audible!

 

Something New: Almost a year after his final Garden of Bedlam uploads, Evan posted one last video in July 2009 of him playing a solo bass track. He noted in the description that this had "minimal structure right now", and he was seeking input on it, despite turning off comments for the video proper. The song in this form sounds fine, and it sounds familiar, but I don't know off hand if it became a later Garden of Bedlam original. Not bad audio quality either, and hopefully we hear more music from Evan down the line!

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Our next randomly selected channel in this series will be YouTube user rubbs001's channel, featuring videos from a band active during Garden of Bedlam's early heyday, namely defunct Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Nixxon Dixxon! Look for this on or around August 26th, and for more news and notes on the site later this week! Thanks everyone!

Molten Imp - "Double Dose (Me)" EP Review!!

It's now time our our 145th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and we have another new release to look at this month, namely new local noise/industrial metal solo project Molten Imp's debut paid single "Double Dose (Me)"! Independently released to their Bandcamp page on May 28th, this is a single on the surface (only two songs representing "side A" & "side B" are streamable for free), but paid downloads include two bonus tracks, so this is more of a covert EP in content. Self-produced and mixed, it was mastered only by Dustin Goodall at Unsalted Audio. Molten Imp's only publically credited member is former AlgomA singer/guitarist Boyd Rendell (a.k.a. Darby Wigwaus), marking his first paid musical release since AlgomA & Shit Liver's split cassette tape "Trading Faces" in 2017. "Double Dose (Me)" is available for $4 on Bandcamp as a digital download, which is the only way you can hear all four tracks, so keep that aspect of the single in mind.

With four songs running for over 11 minutes in length, let's begin this review with the first track, "Double Dose (Me)/Steeltonia"! Both of the two public songs have two titles like that, FYI, but only this one has a full break that could hint at the titles being separate songs. This track slowly ascends from a techno/electronica track into more of an aggressive noise metal song about 2 minutes in, complete with Boyd screaming, if with more processing and not as full-throat as we saw with his live bands. The music in offer is more electronic based than metal, with lots of feedback and distortion early, though the percussion feels a little too robotic. At 3:47, the apparent "Steeltonia" section begins, and it's just a cascade of ominous noise to end "side A". Heavy yet not all at once, the first song sets the tone well for Molten Imp's hybrid sound, especially if you like industrial and noise rock!

"Side B" is the slightly longer "Rusted Hinges/News At 11:11", which opens up in much heavier and distorted territory, with lots of ominous vocals layered in the background, plus some occasional beeping. It's certainly moshable but it can take some sifting to separate the instruments, aside from the pounding percussion. Though there's not a complete break, the last two minutes again signifies a musical shift, so if this is "News At 11:11", the song is more of an industrial techno piece with a catchy percussion line and sort of an upbeat factory nature to the music. Honestly, this kind of feels like it'd fit well as the background music in a beat 'em up video game, though I'm sure that was intended. Entertaining track(s) for what it is/they are, and metalheads will get their fix early! This is where "Double Dose (Me)" ends for free streamers, but if you bought it, what are the bonus tracks?

The extra songs are entitled "Beat I" & "Beat II", and run for 16 and 18 seconds apiece. "Beat I" is just a percussive bass beat with some Christmasy jingling in the background, while "Beat II" is faster, less predictable, and has a little more distortion on the beats (and no jingling). For me, "Beat I" is catchier, but "Beat II" feels more like part of a full song. Are these worth buying "Double Dose (Me)" to get? That's subjective, but they certainly didn't hurt as freebies, especially if you're more of a drum-and-bass fan!

So what are my final thoughts on Molten Imp's debut paid single? It's a short listen, but it's an interesting and creative genre hybrid that makes a solid first impact! Compared to their free one-off singles before this, the songs on "Double Dose (Me)" definitely have more of a metal aspect, but rather than go the obvious route or just relive AlgomA's run, Boyd seems to be deconstructing the genre here, mashing up metal song elements with industrial and noise music on the two primary singles. Do I have a song preference? I'd say the title track is more tuneful and catchy for my liking, and benefits from screamed vocals, but the all-noise "Steeltonia" didn't do a whole lot for me. "Rusted Hinges" certainly is the heaviest song half on offer, but it's not as catchy as "News At 11:11", which is more of an electronic song. Still, it works while it lasts, and shows more of Molten Imp's diversity!

The two short "Beat" tracks don't hurt things as a bonus, but they're not essential to the experience. As my musical tastes go, Molten Imp aren't dead center, but this is an interesting first single, and I'm curious to see what kind of experimental paths Boyd goes with next in their future releases! Buy or stream "Double Dose (Me)" at the above links, and I hope you guys liked this month's CD review! So, what are we reviewing on the site next month? I'm not sure, but check our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post next week for ideas on upcoming albums that could be next. If nothing new comes out from a local hard rock, metal, or punk act, we'll dip into the archives, but our 6 month anti-bias buffer period remains in effect, so don't expect Molten Imp, Late & Loud, Slumshine, or Swampgut to be next in the event any of them have something new on sale in the month ahead.

Keep an eye out by August 31st in any event, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site in the coming days! Thanks everyone!

Tym Morrison Concert Preview, Rotaryfest Fallout, And New Videos!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this Friday evening, and it includes a concert preview for this weekend, some news and notes from the return of Rotaryfest this past weekend, and a couple of new videos. Things have been quiet lately, but hopefully this will help, and here's what you should know!

 

Local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will return to Reggie's Place on Queen Street East for one night only THIS SUNDAY NIGHT! Last seen at The Mike Case Memorial Stage at The Trading Post last week, this will be Tym's second show of the month at the downtown Reggie's, following his patio gig there on Canada Day. No word on if he'll be confined to the patio again or if he'll be properly indoors, but remember that we were still in Stage 2 on July 1st. Given Reggie's long-term Sunday matinee gigs, I'm surprised that Tym's show is in a later timeslot, especially on a work night, but hopefully he delivers a fun night of classic covers for patrons at Reggie's on Sunday, and with his vast setlist, you know he'll play something for everyone! This is a 19+ event at 7:00 PM with no announced cover charge. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's Tym live in concert before the pandemic!

Next up, here's some fallout from the drive-thru Rotaryfest at the former Lowe's Plaza from this past weekend! SooToday posted this article featuring photos by Violet Aubertin of activities at the festival on Saturday afternoon, including a few pictures of The Northern Jazz Ensemble and Spyder's Web's sets. Not as populated as it would be when I came later that day, but still nice to see a little normalcy, if adapted for the times! Four pictures of classic rockers Obsession's set from later that night can be seen in The Sault Star's photo album from the festival, photographer uncredited, and while the picture quality is better, the focus here is more on attendees having fun. The Sault Star's Brian Kelly published this article online/in the paper on Monday which features reflections from Rotary Club personnel on how successful this year's festival was in spite of the pandemic.

Nice read that shows that the changes they made this year worked for the best, but what about 2022? Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the first local Rotary Community Day Parade, and Rotary Club president Michael Stone is quoted as saying “I think the plan is for it to be a lot bigger than what we’re doing this year". A presumed return to Clergue Park would definitely allow that, but how big are we talking for the milestone year? Time will tell, but congratulations all around for pulling off Rotaryfest at all this year! Also, we do have a video from one of the heavier acts to share today, courtesy of young local garage/hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley's set on Saturday afternoon! This was uploaded to what I believe is new bassist Brendan Betrand's personal YouTube channel on Tuesday, and it features the band covering about half of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times".

Unfortunately, the uncredited filmer was both far away from the stage AND shot the video in a vertical orientation, but they do zoom in a bit. The Uncanny Valley seem to have a good grasp on this Zeppelin classic, and Adrian's voice is a good match, so if you've missed this rising young band since last year, give their Rotaryfest video a watch below!

Finally for today, here's a new video from St. Ignace, Michigan progressive metal band Heavy Lies The Crown's YouTube channel on Wednesday, and it serves as a playthrough video with bassist Danny Tucker playing alongside the studio track for their song "Time Diffuser" from their 2019 debut EP "Scatter Brain". Recorded outside with some post-production effects and extra camera angles (including Danny providing backing vocals in close-up), the unique setting gives this video some extra interest, even if it isn't the most metal visualization. Danny's a solid bassist as shown here, so give his playthrough a watch below!

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