To close another month at the SMS (I am off tomorrow for my birthday), here's this month's delayed YouTube Channel Profile, as we're again spotlighting a YouTube channel whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and/or concerts, as randomly selected from our YouTube subscriptions! We're staying in the E.U.P. for this month's selection, courtesy of a very familiar local hard rock musician, so here's what you should know!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex Traynor (http://www.youtube.com/MrAlextraynor1)
Owner: Tarnished singer/guitarist & solo musician Alex Traynor, previously known from his work fronting Sault Michigan-area groups Banned and Traynwreck
Channel Timeline: Launched on September 30th, 2011; Current videos uploaded from July 2015 through April 2019
Channel Summary: The
official YouTube channel for Alex's now-inactive solo project, it features the three music videos he made for his EP "Crazy World", plus a promotional video and an earlier cover song.
Why You Should Watch: While not the most amply stocked YouTube channel, it will be of high interest for fans of Alex's solo career, especially as Tarnished took on songs from "Crazy World" for their live setlist, while his early cover song is an amusing rocked-up take! Note that I am fairly certain Alex uploaded videos here in the channel's early years that have since been taken down. Also note that he has not posted official Tarnished videos here, as they have their own YouTube channel (as did Banned).
Oops, I Did it Again (Cover): The earliest surviving video on Alex's channel (and only one not from his EP release cycle) is this audio cover of Britney Spears' "Oops!... I Did It Again" from July 2015, back when he was still fronting Banned. Set to assorted pictures of Alex with his guitar and his old Nightmare Before Christmas hat, the studio cover shows Alex's raw talent at his then-young age (he was 20 at the time), and while not over-the top in campiness or humour, covering a bubblegum pop song like this is a good sign that Alex doesn't take things too seriously!
Crazy World (Official Music Video):
In the lead up to the release of "Crazy World" in March 2019, Alex made & released three music videos on his YouTube channel, starting with one for the title track the previous October, as preceded by a promo video teasing the final product. By far his most popular upload on the channel, the video features Alex performing the song while walking in the woods along a set of train tracks, meeting a mysterious fortune teller, and eventually falling victim to a curse of some kind. While definitely not Alex's heaviest original song, it shows his musical diversity well and would be an ideal live sing-along experience, so fans will take to it!
Jack O'Lantern (Official Music Video): The heaviest of the three "Crazy World" singles is the second one, "Jack O'Lantern", which takes strong musical cues from Avenged Sevenfold. It's a shame that this video wasn't released until February 2019, as it was clearly shot in October with a very seasonal motif, with Alex going to and performing at a Halloween party that eventually attracts creatures of the night as attendees to dance the night away. Well shot with effective use of Halloween party lighting and props, though I'd have tried to get more extras in costume to fill out the party. The song proper shows Alex's hard rock skills very well and his nicely developed vocals, but again, A7X vibes are definitely present here! Click here for the third music video for the near-ballad "What Everything Is Like (High Life)".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profile! This series will return on or around June 26th like normal, when our newest random selection is YouTube user soanso77's channel, featuring six disparate videos featuring Sault Ontario punk veterans The Inner City Surfers! Look for that and much more on the site next month! Thanks everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment