2021: A Look Back In The Year Of Local Metal, Hard Rock, And Punk

Another year is almost in the rear-view mirror, so let's recap all of the highs and lows from the local metal, hard rock, and punk scenes to end 2021 with! Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing malaise with few concerts and minimal public activity from many local bands, this was the slowest year in SMS history, but I promised years and years ago that I would have a new post at least every three days, and throughout this whole pandemic, I have never broken that promise! The pandemic has absolutely affected everything once again, not helped by Ontario being thrown into lockdown from December 2020-February and again from April-June, not to mention the introduction of vaccine passports this fall, and now the omicron variant of COVID-19 running wild. I can only hope that 2022 brings a little more normalcy as we figure out how to keep everyone as safe as possible!

That all said, Sault Ontario did start to see the return of some big concerts this summer as vaccination rates went up and some restrictions started to ease, and there were some very promising signs of activity from established and new bands alike, so hopefully we can touch on most of the big stories and events from the past year below!

In terms of multi-act events, July saw Rotaryfest returning in a temporary(?) drive-thru format later that month with 15 bands playing to attendees at the former Lowe's Plaza parking lot. In August, a near normal concert experience hit nearby Ophir when The Northern Vibe Festival returned with a full slate of local and Sudbury musicians, while the expanded Wyld Stallyns headlined an Entomica fundraiser at The Bushplane Museum, and the debuting These Magnificent Tentacles (among others) opened for Sibling at The Klub in September. A relatively busy October was toplined by the long-delayed Buckcherry concert at Soo Blaster alongside openers Redundant & Bad Chug, while fans could also see Alien To The Ignorant at Mellow D's Underground and The Soo Fighters opening for Lockdown on Halloween weekend at The Rockstar Bar, with Sudbury tribute band Just Leppard playing there in November.

And of course, a number of bands hit the weekend bar cover circuit for shows from February-April and June-December, with Fort Creek, Soundcheck, and Tym Morrison playing multiple times throughout 2021, and bands like The Uncanny Valley and the reunited Handsome Sandwich & Tripod The Dog also headlined a few solo concerts in the past year. Hopefully many of the above bands (and much more) will play live in 2022!

Over in Sault Michigan and the eastern U.P., the biggest hard rock concert of 2021 saw Cheap Trick open for The Goo Goo Dolls outdoors at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino in August, but anything planned for after then from heavier acts was called off, alas. A handful of touring bands hit Kewadin Casino lounges once they started booking live bands again in July, like fan favouites Peril, Scarkazm, and Spun, plus newcomers Fyrbird, and Wisconsin's own Sunspot during the Michigan Paranormal Convention. The busiest local hard rock band on the E.U.P. circuit was Tarnished, who got around to numerous headlining gigs and community events both locally and into the western U.P. and downstate, while 415E & their new sister band Rhythm & Brews also played live in late 2021, and Project 906 got to play a few shows in between their drummer changes. Here's to much more in the new year!

A lot of big news stories hit our news desk in 2021, but a pair of major local musician deaths on both sides of the border rocked each half of the Twin Saults, starting with the loss of former Highway 63/Monkey's Uncle frontman Henry Switzer in February at the age of 49, after dealing with some lengthy health issues. Henry was a very talented singer, guitarist, and instructor who is dearly missed by his family and friends in Sault Michigan and area, and it's still strange to not cover shows from his bands on the site! On this side of the border, fans mourned the sudden death of prolific local rock drummer Chris Thompson last month of complications from a heart attack, at the age of 42. Like Henry, Chris was a committed husband and father who was a mainstay of the local scene from his prolific work in bands like Fitswitch, Eclipse, Project 421, and Giwakwa, and I hope his family and friends kept the good memories close over the holidays!

We also lost veteran local radio DJ, sportcaster, and former Rock 101 news anchor John Bell this year, as well as the late Sault Ontario actor/director Pirie "Bear" Kaufman, who had a well received benefit concert during his cancer battle a few years back. All will be missed by the lives they touched!

In terms of general news stories, the COVID-19 pandemic helped direct the path of many of them, like the cancellation or postponement of more concerts, like Black Label Society and Great White in Sault Michigan, and Queen: It's A Kinda Magic and The Sky's The Limit in Sault Ontario. For venues, The Tech re-opened with ambitious plans, The Canadian Nightclub became The Canuck after being bought by new ownership, and The Harp closed in advance of lockdown #3. Despite all of the obvious issues, The Sugar Island Music Festival (sans heavier acts) returned in August, while Coronafest returned for another go-around in the spring, and the ever prolific Mike Haggith brought back monthly live-streamed concerts in the last quarter of 2021, going along with his increased presence in Thompson, Manitoba, including Shaw TV hosting gigs and even a return to the stage there, complete with a full backing band!

Over in Sault Michigan, Heavy Lies The Crown & Theatre of Night released new music videos in advance of planned albums, while Tarnished entered their 2020 video for "Metalyn" in the Soo Film Festival, and kept busy otherwise with new viral video content and their new single "SDR&R". Project 906 also released songs for a planned EP, while Sault Ontario's Apocalypse Afterparty put out their own smokin' music video for their "List of Demands" cover. On the (internet) radio dial, The Borderline kept up a busy locally-devoted slate of programming on such flagship shows as Sev's Cellar, Across The Tracks, and starting in July, Josh Amendola's own Metal Morpheus, giving metalheads an hour of extreme metal and genre pioneers every Sunday night! As well, Lake Superior State University relaunched their campus radio station on Live365 with a better player and new music rotation. Here's to a bigger and better 2022 ahead with lots of positive news stories!

For new albums, no one had a busier year than Mike Haggith, who put out his delayed 51st canon solo album "Bridges" in November (and on vinyl too!), sandwiched between the expanded deluxe edition of his old local band The Din's 2016 studio album "Give In To The Din" from October, and that group's belated live album "Technically Live" on Sunday from the "Give In..." release party! Vinylphiles got another treat this month when Soolebrity Records re-issued defunct local punk trio Room 206's 1994 album "2 Innies & 1 Outie" in limited quanities! Also this year: St. Ignace, Michigan's Heavy Lies The Crown just put out their self-titled full length album, while earlier in the year, we got digital exclusive albums from Swampgut, solo projects Malignant Neoplasm, Slumshine, and Molten Imp, and as a score for their D&D podcast, the kinda reunited Late & Loud. Fingers crossed there's more ahead next year!

Mercifully, things opened up enough for both Sault Ste. Maries to get a handful of new local metal, hard rock, and punk bands. Arguably the biggest debut was for Jonesy Land, the punk/country supergroup from Rising Tide and Lake Effect alumni that played this summer at Rotaryfest & The Northern Vibe Festival, and even had a music video to show for it! While the band proper isn't new, local/Ottawa hard rock quartet Bad Chug finally played their first local date when they opened for Buckcherry in October, while the eclectic duo These Magnificent Tentacles also played live for the first time. Sault Michigan welcomed 415E sister band Rhythm & Brews to the live stage this summer, while other newbies north of the bridge included promising young punk band Vanity, industrial metal solo project Molten Imp, and the short-lived Dealing Without. Here's to more in 2022!

With bands back to playing live in one form or another, long delays and changes in personal lives did lead to a lot of lineup turnover. Sault Michigan's Tarnished were hit the hardest, with the departure of drummer Gary Croad, bassist Josh Fair replacing him behind the kit, new bassist Donald Alexander's brief stint, frontman Alex Traynor temporarily moving to bass, and ultimately adding Isaac Royer to restore their lineup. Gary also factored into Project 906's drummer shifts, replacing Tommy Korcal this year before ceding way for Odin Osogwin. In Sault Ontario, Taylor Emlaw & Mitch Sirie joined Jesse & Johnny in the new-look Handsome Sandwich, cousins Chris & Elijah Nielsen belatedly replaced Frank & Fred in Re:Born, Arthur Lacasse & the late Chris Thompson joined the revived Soo Fighters, and Ben Garcia joined The Wyld Stallyns on bass, among other lineup changes from the past 12 months!

In terms of notable local bands to announce their demise or breakup, we didn't get much of that in writing in 2021. Sault Michigan's Mackinaw Trail basically ended when Henry Switzer died, Jack Spades as we knew it ended after J.D. moved out of town, Dealing Without were effectively absorbed into the reunited Half Past, and Black Cloud deleted their social media accounts, but most of the apparent dissolutions were via extended periods of inactivity. Notable acts like The Inner City Surfers, Shit Liver, Stegadeth, Foothill Road, Skeyes of Seven, The Bridge Heads, and Sault Michigan's SweetKenny and Hubbard hit our one year inactivity threshhold during 2021. As well, it has been over 6 months since we last heard from the likes of Destroilet, Kraken Mara, Swampgut, and Kush Wood, among others. The pandemic hits hard for many of us, and hopefully some of these bands will return next year!

As always, we'll end our retrospective with comebacks and returns, and given that a lot of bands didn't or couldn't play live between March 2020 and June 2021 (weekend bar cover bands excepted), the summer re-opening did allow for a few months of some bands playing live again, like the new Bad Chug, Handsome Sandwich, Soo Fighters, Uncanny Valley, and Wyld Stallyns lineups, plus the returns of A Dire Setback, The Apocalypse Afterparty, The Bear Hunters, Frightlight, Redundant, Tripod The Dog, and Sault Michigan's 415E. Outside of the live stage, Tool tribute Parabol returned after a pandemic break and social media relaunch, Kraken Mara resumed their EP recording plans, and solo acts like Mike Cliffe, Ted Olson, The Shaner, and Stonesmith GC came back with new original music. Hopefully everyone keeps at it as we enter what will hopefully be a better year ahead!

2021 was a challenging but still newsworthy year that had good stuff to remember and look back on, and 2022 can't be worse and less eventful..... I hope! Like last year, I'm not going to do a post looking ahead to what we may expect in 2022, as frankly, no one knows what to expect, with the COVID-19 pandemic still being quite prevalent in Ontario, Michigan, and elsewhere, but we'll be back with more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone, and have a Happy (and safe) New Year!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Scarkazm), New Album Updates, And More!!

In what may be our final news post of 2021, I have lots of updates from a trio of December album releases from local bands (one brand new, two with new details), plus a new music video of sorts, but leading off, we have a concert preview/SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT to take stock of! Here's what you should know!

A relatively quiet New Year's concert weekend for heavier bands in the Soo area will still net a couple of gigs in Sault Michigan TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, as Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm will end 2021 and ring in 2022 at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino! Apologies for the short notice on SATURDAY'S New Year's Day show, Kewadin never advertised it on their entertainment page for The Rapids Lounge, but Scarkazm confirmed that they are playing twice this weekend as usual via their Facebook event page for the latter. Venue advertising seems to focus on the New Year's Eve party trappings tomorrow, and given that December 31st is a Friday this year, that would normally bode well for partying to send the year out! Alas, we're not in a normal year, so if you do come out tomorrow (or SATURDAY), please use common sense and follow the casino's public health guidelines.

Last seen at The Rapids Lounge in October, Scarkazm's brand of original metal and covers should be a fine way to celebrate the holiday, so don't miss out on the party tomorrow or the more relatively standard concert on SATURDAY! Both shows have no cover charge, 21+ age limits, and 9:00 PM start times. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Scarkazm live!

Next up, we have another new local album release to take note of on the SMS, as defunct Sault Ontario hard rock/power pop trio The Din's third live album was released yesterday on their Bandcamp page! Entitled "Technically Live", this is the almost complete set that The Din played at The W.W. Baldwin Auditorium at The Tech on August 12th, 2016 as part of their release party for their debut studio album "Give In To The Din", and now that the album is out, I can confirm that the audio was a soundboard recording and not taken from Shaw TV's video of the concert. As previously teased in his live-streamed concert last month, the album features all nine songs from the original release of "Give In To The Din", plus the usual live "75" intro "Leamington, Ontario", the then-unreleased "Differences", and four outside covers. The live album does not feature frontman Mike Haggith's solo song "Of Cars & Criminals", which directly preceded "Flux" in the concert proper, but you can watch Shaw TV's footage of it at this link.

No word on why "Of Cars & Criminals" didn't make the cut, but an acoustic version was on their first live CD, 2016's "The Din Does Laundry". On Bandcamp, you can buy "Technically Live" on a "name your price" model (if you so desire, you can download it free), but CD copies will run you $10 on Kunaki, which has been Mike's go-to service for physical albums this year. As I just reviewed the deluxe edition of "Give In..." on the site in October, I can't review another Din album until April at the earliest due to my 6 month anti-bias buffer rule, but a review is in the cards for the second quarter of 2022! Buy or stream "Technically Live" at the above links!

Also, this is more cleaning up the obvious from two other new album releases from this month, as both defunct local punk band Room 206's newly re-released 1994 album "2 Innies & 1 Outie" and St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore quintet Heavy Lies The Crown's full-length self-titled album are available to buy in mp3 format, with expanded ways to hear them on streaming services too! I alluded to these in yesterday's review of the former on the SMS, but I haven't discussed these in a proper post yet. If you're too late to buy a vinyl copy of "2 Innies & 1 Outie" or don't buy/collect vinyl records, you can still hear the remaster on Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Music, while digital download copies are for sale on Amazon for $9.49. Heavy Lies The Crown's new album was on Spotify from the get-go, and while it's not presently streamable on YouTube, it is also on Amazon for the same price!

Yes, you can stream the H.L.T.C. album on Amazon Music also, but that digital download version on the Amazon store is what unlocks it for our first album review of 2022! I don't historically review free stream-only albums, and if physical copies aren't imminent, there has to be at least the option to pay for downloadable files, rather than exploit a streaming service and hope for a good ad revenue return. As only one of the two has a full YouTube stream, here's Room 206's album opener "My Trip"!

Finally, here's a Christmas surprise from local independent label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel, namely a music video for 2012-2019 grindcore duo Rotopsy's fan favourite song "Cops N Moms"! The label's first upload in seven months, the video syncs up the typically (for them) song with assorted clips of Dylan & Tyler performing live at both concerts and jam sessions. Nothing is stated regarding a possible Rotopsy reunion, for the record, and the song proper is from 2014. Not badly edited, and this is definitely one of Rotopsy's more accessible tracks, so fans will wanna give it a watch below!

That's all for today, but barring any more late notice New Year's weekend shows, we'll end the year with our 2021 retrospective post, so look for that tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Room 206 - "2 Innies & 1 Outie" Album Review!!

It's now time for our final monthly CD review of 2021 on The Sault Metal Scene, and our milestone 150th total! We have quite a notable new-ish release to satisfy both markers, as the album in question is the brand new re-release of defunct local punk band Room 206's 1994 album "2 Innies & 1 Outie"! Surviving details on the original release are minimal, but this album was put out independently on cassette tapes at the time, before fan and prolific local punk musician Mikey Hawdon set plans in motion to give this Room 206 tape a proper remaster & re-release on vinyl, through his new boutique label Soolebrity Records. After months of teasers, the one-sided records were officially released on Wednesday, and I absolutely pre-ordered one well in advance! "2 Innies & 1 Outie" was originally recorded locally at Satellite Sound Studios with engineer/co-producer Bob McLeod, while the remastering was done by Steve Rizun at Drive Studios in Toronto.

The two bonus covers by modern super-groups were recorded separately, but the vocals were also tracked at Drive Studios, with guitar recorded locally with Dustin Jones at Tidal Records, and the songs were mixed by Scott James at Greyskull Musik in Sweden. Room 206 are represented here by singer/guitarist Mike Yorke and drummer Al Watson (both ex-Totally Confused) alongside bassist Brad "Example" Lacell, who has played alongside Soolebrity Records head Mikey Hawdon for years in The Inner City Surfers. The bonus songs feature Mikey on vocals & guitar, Room 206 alum & Surfers bandmate Dave Bahun on lead guitar, No Use For A Name's Matt Riddle on bass, and mixer Scott James on backing vocals. Ex-Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfeiffer features on "Good Enuff", while No Doubt's Adrian Young drums on "I'll Be Around", which also features backing vocals from Surfers frontman/Tidal Records owner Dustin Jones.

Given that the original tape run of "2 Innies & 1 Outie" is 27 years old, it's obviously out of print, and I've never seen it for sale in the wild, but the vinyl remaster retails at $40. Only 206 copies (a fitting number!) have been pressed, and limited copies were on sale at The Rad Zone, so check there or contact Mikey directly if you want to see about availability if you didn't pre-order. Yes, the album is available digitally, which has somewhat flown under the radar on social media, but you can buy it in mp3 copies from Amazon for $9.49, and you stream all 10 songs on Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Music, with song names below linked from YouTube.

Featuring 10 songs running for about 27 minutes, let's begin this review with the album's opening song, "My Trip"! Complete with a live-style introduction where they seem to briefly forget the complete band name, this song is about striving for something new for a change of pace, and though Mike isn't specific, he invites you to experience it first hand with him. This a melodic skate punk song with a good upbeat energy and a nice drum showcase for Al at the end, and while there's not a lot of unique hooks compared to similar bands of the period & to come, it delivers the requisite punk blast to lead off! Next is "I'm Feelin' Fine", which seems to be about reassuring someone that everything's alright when it really isn't. A shorter and faster song, the catchy hooks and drum beats are in full force on this one, but the echo on Mike's vocals are a little overdone on the verses

Fun song while it lasts, and I can see it being a live favourite to sing along with thanks to it's relatively simple chorus, but again, it's over before you know it. The shortest song of the original tape is next, namely "Garden Of Life", whose lyrics are more introspective and optimistic, aiming to show a friend how life should be lived (this kinda feels like a companion to "My Trip"). A fast paced drum solo kicks off this distorted bass-laden song, which suffers from the scratchy instrumentation and repetitive chorus, though the aggressive, hardcore ending stretch gives it a solid exclamation point! Not my favourite song on the album, but it ends well! Fourth is "Ride My Rocketship Of Love", and despite the title's strong adult innuendos, the lyrics have nothing to do with that, instead being about looking forward to a bright future despite society trying to get you down and internalizing your issues.

The slowest song so far on this album, the combo of Mike's melodic singing and the distorted, scratchy instrumentation doesn't really gel for me compared to preceding tracks, though Brad's bass playing is technically sound, and I like the drumming again! I would have either sped this track up or stripped it down even further, as it's in a bit of a gray area for me and not firing on all cylinders in either direction. Fifth on this album is "Anyways", which alludes to standing up for oneself and being your own person, away from the shadow of a bad influence. This is more of a Foo Fightersy power pop song, if slightly grittier, and while solidly performed, I wouldn't say this works as well for Room 206 as their faster, more punk-driven earlier songs, especially with the very abrupt ending. Not a bad song all the same, Mike's guitar work and vocals work well, but I do prefer them faster and punkier than this.

"Nature Calls" is next, with the title being a metaphor for escaping a bad situation, perhaps some sort of familial oppression. While not too far removed musically from "Anyways", this song is more aggressive and has a little more of a punk edge, plus some of Brad's better bass work on offer, and even a mini guitar solo during the bridge. Nothing groundbreaking, but this relatively long song has a lot of room to maneuver and include lots of strong components, and it's one of the better songs on the back half of the original album! Next is the longest song on offer, "Pretentious", with Mike giving advice about how to live, for better or worse, and honestly, the lyrics don't sound all that pretentious to me. This song is softer and relaxed (if not quite a "ballad"), augmented with heavier choruses, more great bass from Brad, and some strong and impassioned vocals from Mike, and some more progressive timing as the song ends.

While punk diehards aren't going to prefer "Pretentious", it's arguably the best song on the album in terms of showcasing Room 206 as musicians, so don't bypass it, even if it feels slow moving at first! The original tape concluded with "Pretend To Be", where you're invited to join in on a "flight", which may or may not be aided by alcohol to create the voyage in question. A little more of a grungy song with more of a melodic groove, this makes good use of Mike's vocal range and some more very solid drumming from Al, and it ends the 1994 version of the album on a high note! Again, the punk content slowed down on side B(?), but Room 206's talent was clear, even at this early stage! As for the bonus tracks, first is the very quick "Good Enuff", which Room 206 did record a studio version of for the 1995 Barely Legal Records compilation CD "Punk: The Next Generation".

For comparison's sake, I did listen to Room 206's version before the 2021 all-star cover, and both takes are about complacency in one's life when you should really be doing more, not just being a passive observer. It's almost an unfair fight given who recorded the new version, let alone with 27 years of production upgrades, but I definitely prefer the cover musically to the original, including a beefier, more dynamic sound, and how Mikey's vocals don't sound like they were recorded through a telephone! If you like Mikey's post-Lion Ride solo efforts as a punk frontman (especially The Fairmounts), this will be right up your alley, and he and Dave pair extra well on guitar! The remaster closes with the supergroup's cover of "I'll Be Around", which was called "Sit & Drool" on their posthumous MySpace page, though I forget if that was a studio recording or not.

Lyrically a defiant number about letting one set their own course when the time is right, this is another fun skate punk song that pairs extra well with the "Good Enuff" cover, especially with it's melodic guitar line, well timed backing vocals, and very solid drumming from Adrian, and it gets in & out without overstaying its welcome! It's not fair to compare these covers from 2021 to the original indie tape, but fans of Mikey & Dave's extensive local music catalog should eat both of these covers up, and they're a great bonus!

So, what are my final thoughts on Room 206's debut album('s new remaster)? Overall, this is a strong album that 1990s and skate punk fans will definitely enjoy, and even if you're not a genre diehard, there's some surprising diversity on offer too! For a 27 year old indie cassette tape to get re-born like this is a testament to it's quality, and everyone in Room 206 at the time delivered, with Al Watson's very underrated drumming, quality low-end bass lines by Brad Example, and strong guitar riffs & melodic vocals by Mike Yorke.  The first half of the album is more or less the punk half, before they spread their wings into more power pop and alternative stylings, and while I tended to prefer songs like "My Trip" and "I'm Feelin' Fine", the musicianship on songs like "Pretentious" can't be denied. On the flip side, the short song lengths were sometimes too short, and "Ride My Rocketship of Love" didn't know what it wanted to be.

As for the production quality, I can't 100% tell you how much better Soolebrity Records and Drive Studios made "2 Innies & 1 Outie" sound, as I've never owned the original tape, and the two songs from it on their MySpace page obviously no longer work, but the vinyl definitely sounds better than a cassette would! At the same time, the limitations of the original recording methods are present, as songs can sound tinny and scratchy, especially compared to the bonus covers, which obviously have way better production quality, but again, it's not a fair comparison. Mikey, Dave, Matt, Scott, and crew paid strong tribute to Room 206 with their take on two non-album originals (fittingly both skate punk songs at that), and in lieu of a Room 206 reunion, they're a very cool bonus for fans of theirs and of Mikey's extensive catalog! You just may have to stream the songs at this rate, or buy the mp3s on Amazon, given the very limited vinyl print run.

If you have any appreciation for the Windsor Park era of local punk music, then the remaster of "2 Innies & An Outie" will be very worth your time, and kudos to Mikey for bringing this important piece of his early fandom back like this! Hopefully Soolebrity does something similar for more classic local albums, but stream the whole thing for yourself above, and I hope you guys liked this month's album review! So, what will be our first monthly CD review of 2022? In all likelihood, we'll lead off the year with the brand new self-titled album from St. Ignace, Michigan metalcore band Heavy Lies The Crown, which is now available to buy in mp3 format on Amazon! It can also be streamed on Amazon Music too, but neither form of availability has been promoted by the band on Facebook. Look for that album review at some point in January, and stay tuned for either a new news post or our 2021 retrospective post on the site next! Thanks everyone!

YouTube Channel Profile Series: Garrett Rogers

It's now time for this month's YouTube Channel Profile, and in our last installment of this series of 2021, we're again looking at a randomly selected YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, or punk musicians/concerts. Our random selection gave us quite a fitting channel to look at this month, given the extremely sad events of over a decade ago this month, so here's what you should know!

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Garrett Rogers (http://youtube.com/deformedpie) 

Owner: YouTube user Garrett Rogers, who I don't believe is from Sault Ste. Marie

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 24th, 2010; Videos uploaded from October 2015-July 2016

Channel Summary: A metal fan with a clear appreciation for defunct local blackened doom metal band Woods of Ypres, all but five of Garrett's uploads comprise of Woods of Ypres' entire studio catalog of original songs (as of 2021), all represented with the song alongside its album cover. The only songs not here from released albums are the cello cover of "Allure of the Earth" from that single, the Necramyth bonus disc from "Woods IV", and the producer's mix of "Finality" from "Woods V" on vinyl. Garrett's only non-Woods videos are still related, namely New Brunswick black metal band Thrawsunblat's 2016 EP "Metachthonia" (remember, Thrawsunblat feature the surviving members of Woods of Ypres' final lineup, including Joel Violette from "Woods V").
 
Why You Should Watch: If you love Woods of Ypres and have been mourning the 10 year anniversary of frontman David Gold's death this month (hard to believe it's been a decade already), then this channel will quench your thirst! Granted, this is a fan channel and not official through any band or label-linked account (I don't believe), so keep that in mind, but if you just want a convenient spot to hear the vast majority of Woods of Ypres' recorded output, keep DeformedPie in mind!

 Our Recommended Videos To Check Out:

 

Woods Of Ypres - Deepest Roots And Darkest Blues: If you count the songs on the five canonical Woods albums + the "Home" single, you'll come up with one more song than Garrett uploaded. The discrepancy comes from his combining "Deepest Roots: Belief That All Is Lost" and "Darkest Blues: Relief That Nothing Can Be Done" from 2007's "Woods III" into one seven minute continuous track for his song uploads. There's no major break in between, so they blend together as one suite, as they were intended to on the album. These provide melodic black metal from the tail end of Woods of Ypres' Southern Ontario era that fans will still easily be able to, and the evocative lyrics certainly don't hurt this song's cause!

 

 

Woods Of Ypres - Wet Leather: Surprisingly, Garrett's most watched video is a song from the Thrawsunblat EP he uploaded, with "Fires That Light The Earth" garnering over 18,000 views! While a great band that carries the Woods torch very well, they're not local, so the most viewed Woods of Ypres video here is "Wet Leather" from 2009's "Woods IV: The Green Album", their only song here to crack 3,000 views (and by a healthy margin, at that). A nicely paced doom metal song best known from the "Life is just pain and piss..." lyrics, this is a fan favourite from their local era, and I'm not surprised it got a lot of hits on this channel!

 

Woods Of Ypres - Death Is Not An Exit: Given how the lyrical themes from 2012's "Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light" have been connected by fans to David's passing in December 2011, especially with that album's posthumous success and accolades, it made perfect sense to feature a song from the album here. Death, loss, and mourning are heavy themes on the record, but I went with "Death Is Not An Exit" here because it's less sorrowful and morose, and more optimistic about what David felt that death meant. I've had to reconcile that a lot myself, having lost my mother to cancer last fall. It's a shame that Woods of Ypres didn't get their true breakthrough until David was gone, but thankfully, his music never will be!

 

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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! To kick off 2022 in this series, we're taking a look at another randomly selected single YouTube channel, that being from YouTube user Jon Tiberious (a.k.a. Late & Loud guitarist Jonathan Tiberi), whose channel features an array of musical content despite it's seeming brevity! Look for that on or around January 26th, and for more news and content on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Merry Christmas From The Sault Metal Scene!!

Merry Christmas, everyone! With post counts down due to the pandemic and holiday commitments, let's revive an old chestnut of the site, where I'd share some seasonal videos and covers from local musicians on Christmas Day, just as a present to you guys. We're gonna lean heavily into the recent catalog of prolific local punk frontman & dtummer Mikey Hawdon, who has achieved a new level of recognition with his Mikey & His Uke series of collaborative covers during the pandemic! We only really talk about the covers on the SMS when he enlists more local talent or makes the local news, as I believe he still lives in Southern Ontario, but it's the holidays, and earlier this week, he finally tackled a Christmas song in the series! In this case, it's The Vandals' "Oi To The World" from their punk Christmas album of the same name, and Mikey enlisted another talented band for this one!

Alongside him on guitar (and initially, ukelele), he's joined by vocalists Sirae Richardson, Erin MacKenzie, and Brianne McWane from twelve-piece Boston band The Doped Up Dollies, plus ex-Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George, Buck-O-Nine bassist Andy Platfoot, and Goldfinger drummer Darren Pfeiffer (a frequent guest on his own). Fun cover for punk fans with lots of upbeat performances, and given the high number of punk Christmas albums, it was only natural for something from those to get the Mikey & His Uke treatment finally! Give it a watch below!

Next up, this was an album that I already mentioned on the SMS seven years ago today, but let's shine a spotlight on Mikey's most recent non-uke band with him on vocals & guitar, namely Toronto punk quartet The Fairmounts, who were featured on the 2011 compilation album "Christmas with The Salads & Friends"! Yes, The Salads (the Newmarket ska punk band of "Get Loose" fame) curated a 15 song compilation CD of Christmas carols and seasonal songs from 14 different Canadian bands, with The Salads themselves playing the first two. Readers may recognize illScarlett, The Killing Time Band, and The Johnstones among the performer lineup, with The Fairmounts offering up what appears to be an original song named "Christmas Tradition". This one is a straight-forward song about fondly remembered Christmas traditions, and it's not tongue in cheek at all beyond being played by a punk band.

Fans of Mikey's vocal/guitar exploits post-Lion Ride will be right at home with The Fairmounts' offering here, so give Mikey, Phil, Simon, and Andrew's own punk carol a listen below, and hopefully we'll hear more from them in one form or another when the pandemic eases up!

And yes, Mikey pulled double duty on "Christmas with The Salads & Friends" via his then-role as drummer with local Celtic punk band Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide! As you may recall us mentioning on the site in 2014, Dustin, the Jaaskelainens, and Mikey recorded their own skewed take on "The 12 Daze of Christmas" (sic), with all of the gifts being changed from birds and rings and such to alcohol (starting with Dustin getting a straight shot of warm whiskey). Aside from the boozy lyrics, this is a fun cover that is played straight in regards to their genre, so fans will definitely take to it! Hopefully we hear more from The Tide in the new year!

If you want to hear studio versions of Christmas songs from local metal, hard rock, and/or punk bands, there are a few other options out there. The original crash band Sykotyk Rampage included a medley of Christmas songs as only they can play them (entitled "Christmas Melody") at the end of their 2012 album "The Cross", which is largely a concept album about religious skepticism. More recently, Late & Loud included two Christmas songs ("Green Slays" & "Dirge of the Bells") way out of season in their podcast score album "Late & Legends 1" from April 2021. But of course, the titans of Christmas metal in this area are Sault Michigan classical metal band Theatre of Night, who have their 2010 instrumental album "Christmas Night", later carols with far-flung vocalists Gaby Koss & Ida Elena, their Christmas tours from 2017-2019 with ex-I.S.O.M. vocalist Rachel Mender, and most recently, two studio re-recordings with their current lineup towards a second Christmas album, complete with official music videos.

Visit Theatre of Night's YouTube channel and Reverbnation page to see and hear everything seasonal they have to offer so far! Their two newest music videos teased that they were recording a second Christmas album, this time with Craig & Steve joined by Rachel, Erik, and their still-unrevealed new bassist, but if the aim is to put that out in time for Christmas, then I wouldn't expect it until late 2022. Rather than re-post something I just covered this year, why not re-watch their full Christmas concert in Holland from 2019? If you want a TSO-style brand of metallized carols, this should do the trick, but there's way more where that came from in Theatre of Night's online pages!

That's all for today, but have a Merry Christmas, and stay tuned next for this month's YouTube Channel Profile! Thanks everyone!

Room 206 Vinyl Re-Release Information, A New Video, And Much More!!

Before everyone opens their presents under the Christmas tree, here's a new news post on this Friday morning, and it includes a new concert video, some assorted recent updates, and leading off, new details on a major album re-release for you classic punk fans! Here's what you should know!

As you may know by now, the long-anticipated vinyl reissue of defunct local punk band Room 206's 1994 album "2 Innies & An Outie" was officially released on Wednesday! Remastered and pressed on vinyl by veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon's new local boutique label Soolebrity Records, pre-orders for Saultite customers can be picked up at The Rad Zone, and surprisingly, there are limited copies for sale for $40, so there must have been less than 206 pre-orders, which is all that will be made. Unless I have missed something, there is not a digital streaming/download copy of the album (at least, not yet). I definitely pre-ordered one in the summer and I finally have the album in my possession (copy #72), making up for the fact that I've never seen a cassette copy of it in the wild. Elements of the album's contents have made their way to Facebook already, but what can I glean from it?

If you didn't see the photo teasers on the Mike's Lunch Music Facebook group, the album comes in a plastic sleeve with the information sticker in the bottom right, and inside, you get a sheet with a collage of band photos & documents on one side, and lyrics, credits, and liner notes on the other, as well as a Soolebrity Records sticker. The remaster-specific information includes the credits for the bonus covers of Room 206's "Good Enough" & "I'll Be Around", which feature Mikey himself on vocals & guitar and his Inner City Surfers bandmate Dave Bahun on lead guitar, plus No Use For A Name/Face To Face bassist Matt Riddle (no, not the wrestler), and mixer Scott James from Greyskull Records on backing vocals. Goldfinger's Darrin Pfieffer drums on the former and No Doubt's Adrian Young drums on the latter, which also features Surfers/Rising Tide frontman Dustin Jones on backing vocals.

As for the record proper, it is in a nice translucent gold vinyl, and confirming prior photos, all ten songs are on side A. There is no side B, it's completely smooth and does not have it's own label, which does strike me as odd given that "2 Innies & An Outie" was originally on a cassette tape (unless that was single-sided too?). It's great to finally have the Room 206 vinyl remaster for myself, so visit The Rad Zone A.S.A.P. (well, after the holidays) to see if they have any copies left in stock, and look for our review next week!

Next up, here's a new live video of local garage/hard rock quartet The Uncanny Valley during their Rockstar Bar debut back in August! For one reason or another, the video of this song (their new original "Fumbling Through") was only just posted to their YouTube channel on Monday, marking their first video there in over a year and their first from a public concert (their Rotaryfest video is on a separate personal YouTube channel). Our best look yet at The Uncanny Valley's current lineup, the video prominently shows a keyboard on stage, though I have not seen footage of them making use of that instrument yet, let alone which band member plays it.  The song proper is solidly composed with more of a southern rock bent and a deliberate pacing, so it should play well with fans, but the bright & warm stage lighting isn't optimal for viewing the band. Give their new live clip a watch below!

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

 

• Wyld Stallyns bandmates Jesse Cook & Jonas Gasperas are looking for a bass player to join their current band, and while they play all genres, "funk is a must". It is not clear whether this search is to fill a vacancy in The Stallyns (who featured Ben Garcia on bass after becoming an electric band this summer) or not, but note that they have not been seen live since August, pandemic acknowledged. If you want more details, message Jonas at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from Tuesday!
  
• Former local rock bassist Nathan (Jonna) Bouliane is back home in Sault Ste. Marie through early January, and he has his equipment on hand if any local musicians with studio recordings want to record a music video while he's in town, as per the Musicians Wanted Facebook group last week. Nathan has extensive work in film production via his own McBully Productions imprint, most recently via the video for Ottawa folk musician Almyr Jules' song "Don't Go", so message him here or above if you want any details on possibly shooting a video with him!
• I have removed 2011-2012 Sault Michigan hard rock band Swayze Train from our inactive band links, as their last surviving online page on Reverbnation doesn't have enough surviving band info to warrant an informative inclusion (their Facebook page has long since been taken down). The bridge between fellow early 2010s local bands Electric Motor Fish and Toast, Swayze Train had a talented lineup, and hopefully Melissa, Mike, Scott, Tony, and Tyler are doing well!

That's all for today, but have a Merry Christmas, and we'll see you guys with more news and notes on the site soon, including this month's YouTube Channel Profile on Sunday if all goes well! Thanks everyone!