Sunday, November 27, 2022

YouTube Channel Profile Series: quasarwaves, These Magnificent Tentacles - Topic, and steelsour7319's Channels

Here's this month's YouTube Channel Profiles, continuing our monthly feature spotlights of YouTube channels whose content is at least half devoted to local metal, hard rock, and/or punk artists and/or concerts! As the first channel that we randomly selected only had one video, and the second only had four songs (one a re-recording) primarily from one EP, we're tripling up this month, but there's an interesting array of performances to take in, so here's what you should know! 

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Lee T Maines (http://youtube.com/quasarwaves)  

Owner: Former Gates of Winter frontman and Woods of Ypres guitarist Lee Maines

Channel Timeline: Launched on January 8th, 2010; Only surviving video posted on December 2nd, 2011

Channel Summary: As fans should remember, local progressive death metal band Gates of Winter slowly worked on a third album named "Perihelion" from their 2010 return from hiatus as a studio project through their last public activity in 2016, with most teaser clips from the sessions being taken down as the guys worked on perfecting the material. Alas, the album never came out, but one of the few surviving clips is Lee's only remaining video on his YouTube channel, where he played 51 seconds of the riff from a song tentatively named "Wormhole Mechanics" to test track mirroring. It's a shame that "Perihelion" was never finished, as Gates of Winter's pure technicality was excellent on their 2010s sample media, and Lee's in fine form here, but hopefully we'll hear completed songs in some form down the line!


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These Magnificent Tenatcles - Topic (http://youtube.com/channel/UCJIHHa1lrPJwMyCeErf9k8g)

Owner: An original member of local alternative/punk band These Magnificent Tentacles, identity unclear, though the uploaded music was from their run as a duo

Channel Timeline: Launched on March 23rd, 2022; All videos uploaded that same day

Channel Summary: This is an auto-generated YouTube channel made to host songs submitted by Brent & Steve to YouTube Music, thusly featuring their debut EP "Surfacing..." from the previous month and the original (but very similar) studio version of its opening song "The Abyss", which is actually the most viewed upload there. These Magnificent Tentacles have since expanded to a full five-piece band, but have been publically dormant for four months now, so it remains to be seen how fast they could put out new material for streaming services. Still, these are entertaining and varied songs that point to a promising future, and hopefully that will be realized in 2023!


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Steel Sour (http://youtube.com/steelsour7319)  

Owner: A member of 2018-2019 local hard rock band Steel Sour, identity unclear

Channel Timeline: Launched on May 9th, 2019; Only video uploaded that same day

Channel Summary: The official YouTube channel for this short lived group, their jam session video cover of The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" was their final public act before dissolving later that year. Steel Sour featured a massive seven piece lineup (at least for this jam), including Robert Nevitt on vocals, backing vocalist Nicole Ambeault, guitarists Rick Atkins, Randy Russell, and Fred Dunn, bassist Steve Bentley (with impressive wig), and drummer James White, notably featuring multiple members of Re:Born, Lockdown, Big Mistake, and Dealing Without. Despite the manpower in this basement, the cover is lively, energetic, and doesn't feel rushed, and it's a shame that Steel Sour didn't keep going!


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I hope you guys liked this month's YouTube Channel Profiles! To end 2022 in this series, we're doing multiple channels again, as the first randomly selected channel only has one video, and the second only has a handful of similar uploads. As such, we'll be looking at the channels of YouTube users AtYourC3rvix (featuring a live Uncanny Valley video) and mikemccleary3123 (featuring five original songs of his, some with accompanying videos or lyric tracks). Look for them on or around Boxing Day, nd stay tuned for more news & notes (and this month's CD review) in the coming days! Thanks everyone! 

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